Leviticus 14:38-48

38 Then the priest shall go out of the house to the door of the house, and shut up the house seven days:

39 And the priest shall come again the seventh day, and shall look; and behold, [if] the plague is spread in the walls of the house;

40 Then the priest shall command that they take away the stones in which the plague [is], and they shall cast them into an unclean place without the city:

41 And he shall cause the house to be scraped within on all sides, and they shall pour out the dust that they scrape off without the city into an unclean place:

42 And they shall take other stones, and put [them] in the place of those stones; and he shall take other mortar, and shall plaster the house.

43 And if the plague shall return, and break out in the house, after that he hath taken away the stones, and after he hath scraped the house, and after it is plastered;

44 Then the priest shall come and look; and behold, [if] the plague is spread in the house, it [is] a fretting leprosy in the house: it [is] unclean.

45 And he shall break down the house, its stones, and its timber, and all the mortar of the house: and he shall carry [them] forth out of the city to an unclean place.

46 Moreover, he that goeth into the house all the while that it is shut up, shall be unclean until the evening.

47 And he that lieth in the house shall wash his clothes: and he that eateth in the house shall wash his clothes.

48 And if the priest shall come in, and look [upon it], and behold, the plague hath not spread in the house, after the house was plastered: then the priest shall pronounce the house clean, because the plague is healed.

Leviticus 14:38-48 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.