Leviticus 14:33-57

Instructions for Cleansing Houses

33 Then Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,
34 "When you come into the land of Canaan, which I [am about to] give to you [as your] possession, and I put {mildew} in a house [in] the land of your possession,
35 then the one who {owns the house} shall come and tell the priest, saying, 'It appears to me [that] an infection [is] in the house.'
36 And the priest shall [issue a] command, and they shall clear out the house before the priest comes to examine the infection, so that all that [is] in the house might not become unclean; and {afterward} the priest shall go to examine the house.
37 And he shall examine the infection, and {if} the infection on the house's wall [has] yellowish-green or reddish spots and its appearance [is] deeper than [the surface of] the wall,
38 then the priest shall go out from the house to the house's entrance, and he shall confine the house [for] seven days.
39 And the priest shall return on the seventh day, and he shall examine [the infection], and {if} the infection has spread on the house's wall,
40 the priest shall [issue a] command and they shall remove the stones on which [is] the infection, and they shall throw them {outside the city} on an unclean place.
41 Then they shall scrape off [the plaster] from all around the house, and they shall pour out the plaster, which they scraped off, {outside the city} on an unclean place.
42 And they shall take other stones, and they shall {put} [them] in place of [those] stones, and they shall take other plaster, and they shall replaster the house.
43 "But if the infection should return and it breaks out in the house after they have removed the stones and after scraping off [the plaster] of the house and after it has been replastered,
44 then the priest shall come, and he shall examine [the infection], and {if} the infection has spread in the house, it [is] a destructive {mildew} in the house--it [is] unclean.
45 So he shall break down the house, its stones and its wood and all of the house's plaster, and he shall bring [it all] {outside the city} to an unclean place.
46 And the person who enters into the house [during] all [the] days [that] he confined it shall become unclean until the evening.
47 And the person who sleeps in the house must wash his garments, and the person who eats in the house shall wash his garments.
48 "And if the priest comes again and examines [the house] and {if} the infection has not spread in the house after being replastered, then the priest shall pronounce the house clean, because the infection is healed.
49 And he shall take two birds and {cedar wood} and a {crimson thread} and hyssop to cleanse the house;
50 and he shall slaughter the first bird over fresh water on a clay vessel.
51 Then he shall take the {cedar wood} and the hyssop and {the crimson thread} and the living bird, and he shall dip them in the slaughtered bird's blood and in the fresh water, and he shall spatter [them] on the house seven times.
52 Thus he shall purify the house with the bird's blood and with the fresh water and with the living bird and with the {cedar wood} and with the hyssop and with {the crimson thread}.
53 And he shall send the living bird {outside the city} {into the open field}; and so he shall make atonement for the house, and it shall be clean.
54 "This [is] the instruction for any infectious skin disease and for the diseased area of skin,
55 and for a {mildew} of the garment and for the house,
56 and for the swelling and for the epidermal eruption and for the spot,
57 to teach {when something is unclean and when something is clean}. This [is] the regulation of the infectious skin disease."

Leviticus 14:33-57 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO LEVITICUS 14

This chapter treats of the purification of lepers, and the rules to be observed therein; and first what the priest was to do for his cleansing when brought to him, by making use of two birds, with cedar wood, scarlet and hyssop, as directed, Le 14:1-7; what he was to do for himself, shaving off all his hair, and washing his flesh and clothes in water, Le 14:8,9; the offerings to be offered up for him, two he lambs and one ewe lamb, and a meat offering, with a particular account of the use of the blood of the trespass offering, and of oil put upon the tip of his right ear, the thumb of his right hand, and the great toe of his right foot, Le 14:10-20; but if poor, only one lamb was required, a meat offering of one tenth deal, and two turtle doves or two young pigeons, and blood and oil used as before, Le 14:21-32; next follow an account of leprosy in an house, and the signs of it, and the rules to judge of it, Le 14:33-48; and the manner of cleansing from it, Le 14:49-53; and the chapter is closed with a recapitulation of the several laws concerning the various sorts of leprosy in this and the preceding chapter, Le 14:54-57.

Footnotes 54

  • [a]. Or "And"
  • [b]. Literally "an infection of skin disease"
  • [c]. Or "and"
  • [d]. Literally "the house [is] for him"
  • [e]. Or "and"
  • [f]. Literally "after thus"
  • [g]. Literally "look" or "behold"
  • [h]. Implied by the context
  • [i]. Or "and"
  • [j]. Or "close up"
  • [k]. The direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
  • [l]. Literally "look" or "behold"
  • [m]. Literally "to from an outside place of the city"
  • [n]. Or "And"
  • [o]. Hebrew "he"
  • [p]. The direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
  • [q]. See HALOT 862 s.v. 3.b
  • [r]. Literally "to from an outside place of the city"
  • [s]. Literally "bring"
  • [t]. Hebrew "he"
  • [u]. See HALOT 862 s.v. 3.b
  • [v]. Hebrew "he"
  • [w]. Implied by the context; Hebrew "plaster"
  • [x]. Or "And"
  • [y]. Hebrew "he"
  • [z]. The direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
  • [aa]. Implied by the context; or "plaster"
  • [ab]. Or "and"
  • [ac]. The direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
  • [ad]. Literally "look" or "behold"
  • [ae]. Literally "infectious disease"
  • [af]. Or "And"
  • [ag]. See HALOT 862 s.v. 3.b
  • [ah]. The direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
  • [ai]. Literally "to from an outside place of the city"
  • [aj]. That is, the priest
  • [ak]. Or "closed up"
  • [al]. The direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
  • [am]. Literally "look" or "behold"
  • [an]. Implied by the context; or "plaster"
  • [ao]. Or "and"
  • [ap]. Literally "wood of cedar"
  • [aq]. Literally "crimson thread of [the] worm"
  • [ar]. Or "And"
  • [as]. Literally "wood of cedar"
  • [at]. Literally "the crimson thread of the worm"
  • [au]. The direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
  • [av]. Or "And"
  • [aw]. Literally "wood of cedar"
  • [ax]. Literally "the crimson thread of the worm"
  • [ay]. Literally "to from an outside place of the city"
  • [az]. Literally "to the faces of the field"
  • [ba]. Literally "infectious skin disease"
  • [bb]. Literally "on the day of the unclean and on the day of the clean"
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