Leviticus 14:1-10

1 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

2 This is the rite of a leper, when he is to be cleansed. He shall be brought to the priest:

3 Who going out of the camp, when he shall find that the leprosy is cleansed,

4 Shall command him that is to be purified, to offer for himself two living sparrows, which it is lawful to eat, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop.

5 And he shall command one of the sparrows to be immolated in an earthen vessel over living waters.

6 But the other that is alive, he shall dip, with the cedar wood, and the scarlet and the hyssop, in the blood of the sparrow that is immolated:

7 Wherewith he shall sprinkle him that is to be cleansed seven times, that he may be rightly purified. And he shall let go the living sparrow, that it may fly into the field.

8 And when the man hath washed his clothes, he shall shave all the hair of his body, and shall be washed with water: and being purified he shall enter into the camp, yet so that he tarry without his own tent seven days.

9 And on the seventh day he shall shave the hair of his head, and his beard and his eyebrows, and the hair of all his body. And having washed again his clothes, and his body,

10 On the eighth day, he shall take two lambs without blemish, and an ewe of a year old without blemish, and three tenths of flour tempered with oil for a sacrifice, and a sextary of oil apart.

Leviticus 14:1-10 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.