Leviticus 14:47-57

47 Anyone who eats in that house or lies down there must wash his clothes.

48 "Suppose after new stones and plaster have been put in a house, the priest checks it again and the mildew has not spread. Then the priest will announce that the house is clean, because the mildew is gone.

49 "Then, to make the house clean, the priest must take two birds, a piece of cedar wood, a piece of red string, and a hyssop plant.

50 He will kill one bird in a clay bowl containing fresh water.

51 Then he will take the bird that is still alive, the cedar wood, the hyssop, and the red string, and he will dip them into the blood of the bird that was killed over the fresh water. The priest will sprinkle the blood on the house seven times.

52 He will use the bird's blood, the fresh water, the live bird, the cedar wood, the hyssop, and the red string to make the house clean.

53 He will then go to an open field outside the city and let the living bird go free. This is how the priest makes the house clean and ready for service to the Lord."

54 These are the teachings about any kind of skin disease,

55 mildew on pieces of cloth or in a house,

56 swellings, rashes, or bright spots on the skin;

57 they help people decide when things are unclean and when they are clean. These are the teachings about all these kinds of diseases.

Leviticus 14:47-57 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.