Leviticus 14:1-32

Law of Cleansing a Leper

1 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

2 "This shall be the law of the leper in the day of his cleansing. ¹Now he shall be brought to the priest,

3 and the priest shall go ²out to the outside * of the camp. Thus the priest shall look, and if the infection of leprosy has been healed in the leper,

4 then the priest shall give orders to take two live clean birds and ³cedar wood and a scarlet string and hyssop for the one who is to be cleansed.

5 "The priest shall also give orders to slay the one bird in an earthenware vessel over running water.

6 "As for the live bird, he shall take it together with ⁴the cedar wood and the scarlet string and the ⁵hyssop, and shall dip them and the live bird in the blood of the bird that was slain over the running water.

7 "⁶He shall then sprinkle seven times the one who is to be cleansed from the leprosy and shall pronounce him clean, and shall let the live bird go free over the open field.

8 "⁷The one to be cleansed shall then wash his clothes and shave off all his hair and bathe in water and ⁸be clean. Now afterward, he may enter the camp, but he ⁹shall stay outside * his tent for seven days.

9 "It will be on the seventh day that he shall shave off all his hair: he shall shave his head and his beard and his eyebrows *, even all his hair. He shall then wash his clothes and bathe his body in water and ¹⁰be clean.

10 "Now on the eighth day he is to take two male lambs without defect, and a yearling ewe lamb without defect, and three-tenths * of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering, and one ¹¹log of oil;

11 and the priest who pronounces him clean shall present the man to be cleansed and the aforesaid before the LORD at the doorway of the tent of meeting.

12 "Then the priest shall take the one male lamb and bring it for a ¹²guilt offering, with the ¹³log of oil, and present them as a ¹⁴wave offering before the LORD.

13 "Next he shall slaughter the male lamb in ¹⁵the place where they slaughter the sin offering and the burnt offering, at the place of the sanctuary -for the guilt offering, ¹⁶like the sin offering, belongs to the priest; it is most holy.

14 "The priest shall then take some of the blood of the ¹⁷guilt offering, and the priest shall put it on ¹⁸the lobe of the right ear of the one to be cleansed, and on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot.

15 "The priest shall also take some of the ¹⁹log of oil, and pour it into his left palm;

16 the priest shall then dip his right-hand finger into the oil that is in his left palm, and with his finger sprinkle some of the oil seven times before the LORD.

17 "Of the remaining oil which is in his palm, the priest shall put some on the right ear lobe of the one to be cleansed, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot, on the blood of the guilt offering;

18 while the rest of the oil that is in the priest's palm, he shall put on the head of the one to be cleansed. So the priest shall make ²⁰atonement on his behalf before the LORD.

19 "The priest shall next offer the ²¹sin offering and make atonement for the one to be cleansed from his uncleanness. Then afterward, he shall slaughter the burnt offering.

20 "The priest shall offer up the burnt offering and the grain offering on the altar. Thus the priest shall make atonement for him, and ²²he will be clean.

21 "²³But if he is poor and his means are insufficient, then he is to take one male lamb for a ²⁴guilt offering as a wave offering to make atonement for him, and one-tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering, and a ²⁵log of oil,

22 and two turtledoves or two young pigeons which are within his means, ²⁶the one shall be a ²⁷sin offering and the other a burnt offering.

23 "²⁸Then the eighth day he shall bring them for his cleansing to the priest, at the doorway of the tent of meeting, before the LORD.

24 "The priest shall take the lamb of the guilt offering and ²⁹the log of oil, and the priest shall offer them for a wave offering before the LORD.

25 "Next he shall slaughter the lamb of the guilt offering; and the priest is to take some of the blood of the guilt offering and put it on ³⁰the lobe of the right ear of the one to be cleansed and on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot.

26 "The priest shall also pour some of the oil into his left palm;

27 and with his right-hand finger the priest shall sprinkle some of the oil that is in his left palm seven times before the LORD.

28 "The priest shall then put some of the oil that is in his palm on the lobe of the right ear of the one to be cleansed, and on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot, on the place of the blood of the guilt offering.

29 "Moreover, the rest of the oil that is in the priest's palm he shall put on the head of the one to be cleansed, to make atonement on his behalf before the LORD.

30 "He shall then offer one of the turtledoves or young pigeons, which are within his means.

31 "He shall offer what he can afford *, ³¹the one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering, together with the grain offering. So the priest shall make atonement before the LORD on behalf of the one to be cleansed.

32 "This is the law for him in whom there is an infection of leprosy, whose means are limited for his cleansing."

Read Chapter Compare

Leviticus 14:1-32 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.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 31

1. Matthew 8:4; Mark 1:44; Luke 5:14; Luke 17:14
2. Leviticus 13:46
3. Lev 14:6, 49, 51, 52; Numbers 19:6
4. Leviticus 14:4
5. Psalms 51:7
6. Ezekiel 36:25
7. Leviticus 11:25; Leviticus 13:6; Numbers 8:7
8. Leviticus 14:9, 20
9. Numbers 5:2, 3; Numbers 12:14, 15; 2 Chronicles 26:21
10. Leviticus 14:8, 20
11. Lev 14:12, 15, 21, 24
12. Leviticus 5:6, 18; Leviticus 6:6; Leviticus 14:19
13. Leviticus 14:10
14. Ex 29:22-24, 26
15. Exodus 29:11; Leviticus 1:11; Leviticus 4:24
16. Leviticus 6:24-30; Leviticus 7:7
17. Leviticus 14:19
18. Exodus 29:20; Leviticus 8:23, 24
19. Leviticus 14:10
20. Leviticus 4:26; Numbers 15:28; Hebrews 2:17
21. Leviticus 14:12
22. Leviticus 14:8, 9
23. Leviticus 5:11; Leviticus 12:8; Leviticus 27:8
24. Leviticus 14:22
25. Leviticus 14:10
26. Leviticus 5:7
27. Lev 14:21, 24, 25
28. Leviticus 14:10, 11
29. Leviticus 14:10
30. Leviticus 14:14
31. Leviticus 5:7

Footnotes 19

[a]. Lit "mark, stroke," and so throughout the ch
[b]. Lit "scarlet color and"
[c]. Lit "living"
[d]. Lit "scarlet color and"
[e]. Lit "living"
[f]. Lit "flesh"
[g]. I.e. Approx one bu
[h]. I.e. Approx one pt
[i]. Lit "them"
[j]. I.e. Approx one pt
[k]. I.e. Approx one pt
[l]. Lit "hand is not reaching"
[m]. I.e. Approx one bu
[n]. I.e. Approx one pt
[o]. Lit "his hand reaches"
[p]. I.e. Approx one pt
[q]. Lit "from those which his hand can reach"
[r]. Lit "his hand can reach"
[s]. Lit "hand does not reach"