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The Ceremony for People Healed of Leprosy

14 The Lord told Moses to say to the people:

2-3 (A) After you think you are healed of leprosy,[a] you must ask for a priest to come outside the camp and examine you. And if you are well, he will order someone to bring out two live birds that are acceptable for sacrifice, together with a stick of cedar wood, a piece of red yarn, and a branch from a hyssop plant. The priest will order someone to kill one of the birds over a clay pot of spring water. Then he will dip the other bird, the cedar, the red yarn, and the hyssop in the blood of the dead bird. Next, he will sprinkle you seven times with the blood and say, “You are now clean.” Finally, he will release the bird and let it fly away.

After this you must wash your clothes, shave your entire body, and take a bath before you are completely clean. You may move back into camp, but you must not enter your tent for seven days. Then you must once again shave your head, face, and eyebrows, as well as the hair on the rest of your body. Finally, wash your clothes and take a bath, and you will be completely clean.

10 On the eighth day you must bring to the priest two rams and a year-old female lamb that have nothing wrong with them; also bring 300 milliliters of olive oil and 3 kilograms of your finest flour mixed with oil. 11 Then the priest will present you and your offerings to me at the entrance to my sacred tent. 12 There he will offer one of the rams, together with the oil, as a sacrifice to make things right.[b] He will also lift them up[c] to show that they are dedicated to me. 13 This sacrifice is very holy. It belongs to the priest and must be killed in the same place where animals are killed as sacrifices for sins and as sacrifices to please me.[d]

14 The priest will smear some of the blood from this sacrifice on your right ear lobe, some on your right thumb, and some on the big toe of your right foot. 15 He will then pour some of the olive oil into the palm of his left hand, 16 dip a finger of his right hand into the oil, and sprinkle some of it seven times toward the sacred tent. 17 Next, the priest will smear some of the oil on your right ear lobe, some on your right thumb, and some on the big toe of your right foot, 18-20 and he will pour the rest of the oil from his palm on your head. Then he will offer the other two animals—one as a sacrifice for sin and the other as a sacrifice to please me, together with a grain sacrifice. After this you will be completely clean.

21 If you are poor and cannot afford to offer this much, you may offer a ram as a sacrifice to make things right, together with 300 milliliters of olive oil and one kilogram of flour mixed with oil as a grain sacrifice. The priest will then lift these up[e] to dedicate them to me. 22 Depending on what you can afford, you must also offer either two doves or two pigeons, one as a sacrifice for sin and the other as a sacrifice to please me. 23 The priest will offer these to me in front of the sacred tent on the eighth day.

24-25 The priest will kill this ram for the sacrifice to make things right, and he will lift it up[f] with the olive oil in dedication to me. Then he will smear some of the blood on your right ear lobe, some on your right thumb, and some on the big toe of your right foot.

26 The priest will pour some of the olive oil into the palm of his left hand, 27 then dip a finger of his right hand in the oil and sprinkle some of it seven times toward the sacred tent. 28 He will smear some of the oil on your right ear lobe, some on your right thumb, and some on the big toe of your right foot, just as he did with the blood of the sacrifice to make things right. 29-31 And he will pour the rest of the oil from his palm on your head.

Then, depending on what you can afford, he will offer either the doves or the pigeons together with the grain sacrifice. One of the birds is the sacrifice for sin, and the other is the sacrifice to please me. After this you will be completely clean.

32 These are the things you must do if you have leprosy and cannot afford the usual sacrifices to make you clean.

When There Is Mildew in a House

33 The Lord told Moses and Aaron to say to the people:

34 After I have given you the land of Canaan as your permanent possession, here is what you must do, if I ever put mildew[g] on the walls of any of your homes. 35 First, you must say to a priest, “I think there is mildew on the wall of my house.”

36 The priest will reply, “Empty the house before I inspect it, or else everything in it will be unclean.”

37 If the priest discovers greenish or reddish spots that go deeper than the surface of the walls, 38 he will have the house closed for seven days. 39 Then he will return and check to see if the mildew has spread. 40-41 If so, he will order someone to scrape the plaster from the walls, remove the stones covered with mildew, then haul everything off and dump it in an unclean place outside the town. 42 Afterwards the wall must be repaired with new stones and fresh plaster.

43 If the mildew appears a second time, 44 the priest will come and say, “This house is unclean. It's covered with mildew that can't be removed.” 45 Then he will have the house torn down and every bit of wood, stone, and plaster hauled off to an unclean place outside the town. 46 Meanwhile, if any of you entered the house while it was closed, you will be unclean until evening. 47 And if you either slept or ate in the house, you must wash your clothes.

48 On the other hand, if the priest discovers that mildew hasn't reappeared after the house was newly plastered, he will say, “This house is clean—the mildew has gone.” 49 Then, to show that the house is now clean, he will get two birds, a stick of cedar wood, a piece of red yarn, and a branch from a hyssop plant and bring them to the house. 50 He will kill one of the birds over a clay pot of spring water 51-52 and let its blood drain into the pot. Then he will dip the cedar, the hyssop, the yarn, and the other bird into the mixture of blood and water. Next, he will sprinkle the house seven times with the mixture, then the house will be completely clean. 53 Finally, he will release the bird and let it fly away, ending the ceremony for purifying the house.

54-57 These are the things you must do if you discover that you are unclean because of an itch or a sore, or that your clothing or house is unclean because of mildew.

Sexual Uncleanness

15 The Lord told Moses and Aaron to say to the community of Israel:

Any man with an infected penis is unclean, whether it is stopped up or keeps dripping. Anything that he rests on or sits on is also unclean, 5-7 and if you touch either these or him, you must wash your clothes and take a bath, but you still remain unclean until evening.

If you are spit on by the man, you must wash your clothes and take a bath, but you still remain unclean until evening. 9-10 Any saddle or seat on which the man sits is unclean. And if you touch or carry either of these, you must wash your clothes and take a bath, but you still remain unclean until evening. 11 If the man touches you without first washing his hands, you must wash your clothes and take a bath, but you still remain unclean until evening. 12 Any clay pot that he touches must be destroyed, and any wooden bowl that he touches must be washed.

13 Seven days after the man gets well, he will be considered clean, if he washes his clothes and takes a bath in spring water. 14 On the eighth day he must bring either two doves or two pigeons to the front of my sacred tent and give them to a priest. 15 The priest will offer one of the birds as a sacrifice for sin and the other as a sacrifice to please me,[h] then I will consider the man completely clean.

16 Any man who has a flow of semen must take a bath, but he still remains unclean until evening. 17 If the semen touches anything made of cloth or leather, these must be washed, but they still remain unclean until evening. 18 After having sex, both the man and the woman must take a bath, but they still remain unclean until evening.

19 When a woman has her monthly period, she remains unclean for seven days, and if you touch her, you must take a bath, but you remain unclean until evening. 20-23 Anything that she rests on or sits on is also unclean, and if you touch either of these, you must wash your clothes and take a bath, but you still remain unclean until evening. 24 Any man who has sex with her during this time becomes unclean for seven days, and anything he rests on is also unclean.

25 Any woman who has a flow of blood outside her regular monthly period is unclean until it stops, just as she is during her monthly period. 26 Anything that she rests on or sits on during this time is also unclean, just as it would be during her period. 27 If you touch either of these, you must wash your clothes and take a bath, but you still remain unclean until evening.

28 Seven days after the woman gets well, she will be considered clean. 29 On the eighth day, she must bring either two doves or two pigeons to the front of my sacred tent and give them to a priest. 30 He will offer one of the birds as a sacrifice for sin and the other as a sacrifice to please me; then I will consider the woman completely clean.

31 When any of you are unclean, you must stay away from the rest of the community of Israel. Otherwise, my sacred tent will become unclean, and the whole nation will die.

32-33 These are the things you men must do if you become unclean because of an infected penis or if you have a flow of semen. And these are the things you women must do when you become unclean either because of your monthly period or an unusual flow of blood. This is also what you men must do if you have sex with a woman who is unclean.

The Great Day of Forgiveness

16 1-2 (B) Two of Aaron's sons had already lost their lives for disobeying the Lord,[i] so the Lord told Moses to say to Aaron:

I, the Lord, appear in a cloud over the place of mercy on the sacred chest, which is behind the inside curtain[j] of the sacred tent. And I warn you not to go there except at the proper time. Otherwise, you will die!

(C) Before entering this most holy place, you must offer a bull as a sacrifice for your sins[k] and a ram as a sacrifice to please me.[l] You will take a bath and put on the sacred linen clothes, including the underwear, the robe, the sash, and the turban. Then the community of Israel will bring you a ram and two goats, both of them males. The goats are to be used as sacrifices for sin, and the ram is to be used as a sacrifice to please me.

Aaron, you must offer the bull as a sacrifice of forgiveness for your own sins and for the sins of your family. Then you will lead the two goats into my presence at the front of the sacred tent, where I will show you[m] which goat will be sacrificed to me and which one will be sent into the desert to the demon Azazel.[n] After you offer the first goat as a sacrifice for sin, 10 the other one must be presented to me alive, before you send it into the desert to take away the sins of the people.

11 You must offer the bull as a sacrifice to ask forgiveness for your own sins and for the sins of your family. 12 Then you will take a fire pan of live coals from the bronze altar, together with two handfuls of finely ground incense, into the most holy place. 13 There you will present them to me by placing the incense on the coals, so that the place of mercy will be covered with a cloud of smoke. Do this, or you will die right there! 14 Next, use a finger to sprinkle some of the blood on the place of mercy, which is on the lid of the sacred chest; then sprinkle blood seven times in front of the chest.

15 (D) Aaron, you must next sacrifice the goat for the sins of the people, and you must sprinkle its blood inside the most holy place, just as you did with the blood of the bull. 16 By doing this, you will take away the sins that make both the most holy place and the people of Israel unclean. Do the same for the sacred tent, which is here among the people. 17 Only you are allowed in the sacred tent from the time you enter until the time you come out. 18 After leaving the tent, you will purify the bronze altar by smearing each of its four corners with some of the blood from the bull and from the goat. 19 Use a finger to sprinkle the altar seven times with the blood, and it will be completely clean from the sins of the people.

20 After you have purified the most holy place, the sacred tent, and the bronze altar, you must bring the live goat to the front of the tent. 21 (E) There you will lay your hands on its head, while confessing every sin the people have committed, and you will appoint someone to lead the goat into the desert, so that it can take away their sins. 22 Finally, this goat that carries the heavy burden of Israel's sins must be released deep in the desert.

23-24 (F) Aaron, after this you must go inside the sacred tent, take a bath, put on your regular priestly clothes, and leave there the clothes you put on before entering the most holy place. Then you will come out and offer sacrifices to please me and sacrifices for your sins and for the sins of the people. 25 The fat from these sacrifices for sin must be sent up in smoke on the bronze altar.

26 The one who led the goat into the desert and sent it off to the demon Azazel must take a bath and wash his clothes before coming back into camp. 27 (G) The remains of the bull and the goat whose blood was taken into the most holy place must be taken outside the camp and burned. 28 And whoever does this must take a bath and change clothes before coming back into camp.

The Lord told Moses to say to the people:

29 (H) On the tenth day of the seventh month[o] of each year, you must go without eating to show sorrow for your sins, and no one, including foreigners who live among you, is allowed to work. 30 This is the day on which the sacrifice for the forgiveness of your sins will be made in my presence, 31 and from now on, it must be celebrated each year. Go without eating and make this a day of complete rest just like the Sabbath. 32 The high priest must offer the sacrifices for cleansing from sin, while wearing the sacred linen clothes. 33 He will offer these sacrifices for the most holy place, the sacred tent, the bronze altar, all the priests, and for the whole community. 34 You must celebrate this day each year—it is the Great Day of Forgiveness[p] for all the sins of the people of Israel.

Moses did exactly as the Lord had commanded.

Footnotes

  1. 14.2,3 leprosy: See the note at 13.3.
  2. 14.12 sacrifice to make things right: See 7.1-10.
  3. 14.12 lift them up: See the note at 7.29,30.
  4. 14.13 sacrifices to please me: See the note at 1.1-3.
  5. 14.21 lift these up: See the note at 7.29,30.
  6. 14.24,25 lift these up: See the note at 7.29,30.
  7. 14.34 mildew: The Hebrew word translated “mildew” is the same one translated “leprosy” and “spot” in chapter 13.
  8. 15.15 sacrifice to please me: See the note at 1.1-3.
  9. 16.1,2 lost … disobeying the Lord: See 10.1,2.
  10. 16.1,2 inside curtain: That separated the holy place from the most holy place.
  11. 16.3 for your sins: See 4.3-12.
  12. 16.3 sacrifice to please me: See the note at 1.1-3.
  13. 16.8 I will show you: The Hebrew text has “you must cast lots to find out.” Pieces of wood or stone (called “lots”) were used to find out what God wanted his people to do.
  14. 16.8 Azazel: It was believed that a demon named Azazel lived in the desert.
  15. 16.29 seventh month: Tishri (also called Ethanim), the seventh month of the Hebrew calendar, from about mid-September to mid-October.
  16. 16.34 Great Day of Forgiveness: Traditionally known as the Day of Atonement.

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