Leviticus 14:34-44

34 "I am giving the land of Canaan to your people. When they enter that land, if I cause mildew to grow in someone's house in that land,

35 the owner of that house must come and tell the priest. He should say, 'I have seen something like mildew in my house.'

36 Then the priest must order the people to empty the house before he goes in to look at the mildew. This is so he will not have to say that everything in the house is unclean. After this, the priest will go in to look at it.

37 He will look at the mildew, and if the mildew on the walls of the house is green or red and goes into the wall's surface,

38 he must go out and close up the house for seven days.

39 On the seventh day the priest must come back and check the house. If the mildew has spread on the walls of the house,

40 the priest must order the people to tear out the stones with the mildew on them. They should throw them away, at a certain unclean place outside the city.

41 Then the priest must have all the inside of the house scraped. The people must throw away the plaster they scraped off the walls, at a certain unclean place outside the city.

42 Then the owner must put new stones in the walls, and he must cover the walls with new clay plaster.

43 "Suppose a person has taken away the old stones and plaster and put in new stones and plaster. If mildew again appears in his house,

44 the priest must come back and check the house again. If the mildew has spread in the house, it is a mildew that destroys things; the house is unclean.

Leviticus 14:34-44 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.