Law of Cleansing a Leper

14 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ² “This shall be the law of the leper on the day of his [ceremonial] cleansing. He shall be brought to the priest [at a meeting place outside the camp]; ³ the priest shall go out of the camp [to meet him]; and the priest shall examine him, and if the leper has been healed of the infection of leprosy, ⁴ then the priest shall give orders to take two live clean birds and cedar wood and scarlet string and ^[a]hyssop for the one to be cleansed.^{(A) 5} Next the priest shall order that one of the birds be killed [as a sacrifice] in an earthenware container over [fresh] ^[b]running water. ⁶ As for the live bird, he shall take it together with the cedar wood and the scarlet string and the hyssop, and shall dip them and the live bird in the blood of the bird sacrificed over the running water. ⁷ He shall sprinkle [the blood] seven times on the one to be cleansed from the leprosy and shall pronounce him [ceremonially] clean. Then he shall let the live bird go free over the open field.^{(B) 8} The one to be cleansed shall wash his clothes, shave off all his hair, and bathe in water; and he shall be clean. After that he may come into the camp, but he shall stay outside of his tent for seven days. ⁹ On the seventh day he shall shave off all his hair: he shall shave his head and his beard and his eyebrows, even all his hair [on his body]. Then he shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and be clean.

¹⁰ “Now on the eighth day he shall take two male lambs without blemish, and a yearling ewe lamb without blemish, and three-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with [olive] oil as a grain offering, and one log (about a pint) of oil; ¹¹ and the priest who cleanses him shall present the man to be cleansed and his offerings before the Lord at the doorway of the Tent of Meeting. ¹² Then the priest shall take one of the male lambs and offer it as a guilt offering, with the log of oil, and present them as a wave offering before the Lord. ¹³ He shall kill the male lamb in the place where they kill the sin offering and the burnt offering, in the sacred place [the courtyard of the tabernacle]; for the guilt offering, like the sin offering, belongs to the priest; it is most holy. ¹⁴ The priest shall take some of the blood of the guilt offering and put it on the lobe of the right ear of the one to be cleansed, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot. ¹⁵ The priest shall also take some of the log of oil, and pour it into the palm of his own left hand; ¹⁶ and the priest shall dip his right finger in the oil that is in his left palm, and with his finger sprinkle some of the oil seven times before the Lord. ¹⁷ Of the rest of the oil which is in his palm, the priest shall put some on the lobe of the right ear of the one to be cleansed, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot, on top of the blood of the guilt offering. ¹⁸ The remaining oil that is in the priest’s palm shall be put on the head of the one to be cleansed. The priest shall make atonement for him before the Lord. ¹⁹ Next the priest shall offer the sin offering and make atonement for the one to be cleansed from his uncleanness, and afterward kill the burnt offering. ²⁰ The priest shall offer the burnt offering and the grain offering on the altar; and the priest shall make atonement for him, and he shall be clean.

²¹ “But if the cleansed leper is poor and his means are insufficient, then he is to take one lamb as a guilt offering to be waved to make atonement for him, and one tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering, and a log of oil, ²² and two turtledoves or two young pigeons, such as he can afford, one shall be a sin offering, the other a burnt offering. ²³ He shall bring them on the eighth day for his [ceremonial] cleansing to the priest at the doorway of the Tent of Meeting, before the Lord. ²⁴ The priest shall take the lamb of the guilt offering, and the log of oil, and shall present them as a wave offering before the Lord. ²⁵ Next he shall kill the lamb of the guilt offering; and the priest is to take some of the blood of the guilt offering and put it on the lobe of the right ear of the one to be cleansed, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot. ²⁶ The priest shall pour some of the oil into his left palm, ²⁷ and with his right finger the priest shall sprinkle some of the oil that is in his left palm seven times before the Lord. ²⁸ The priest shall put some of the oil in his palm on the lobe of the right ear of the one to be cleansed, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot, on the places where he has put the blood of the guilt offering. ²⁹ The rest of the oil that is in the priest’s palm shall be put on the head of the one to be cleansed, to make atonement for him before the Lord. ³⁰ Then he shall offer one of the turtledoves or young pigeons, which are within his means. ³¹ He shall offer what he can afford, one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering, together with the grain offering. The priest shall make atonement before the Lord on behalf of the one to be cleansed. ³² This is the law for the one in whom there is an infection of leprosy, ^[c]whose means are limited for his [ceremonial] cleansing.”

Cleansing an Infected House

³³ The Lord further spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying,

³⁴ “When you come into the land of Canaan, which I am giving you as a possession, and I put ^[d]a mark of leprosy on a house in your land, ³⁵ then the one who owns the house shall come and tell the priest, ‘I have seen something that looks like a mark of leprosy in my house.’ ³⁶ The priest shall order that they empty the house before he goes in to examine the mark, so that everything in the house will not have to be declared unclean; afterward he shall go in to see the house. ³⁷ He shall examine the mark, and if the mark on the walls of the house has greenish or reddish depressions and appears deeper than the surface, ³⁸ the priest shall go out of the house, to the doorway, and ^[e]quarantine the house for seven days. ³⁹ The priest shall return on the seventh day and look; and if the mark has spread on the walls of the house, ⁴⁰ he shall order them to tear out the contaminated stones and throw them into an unclean place outside the city. ⁴¹ He shall have the entire inside area of the house scraped, and the plaster that is scraped off shall be dumped in an unclean place outside the city. ⁴² Then they shall take new stones and replace the [contaminated] stones, and he shall take plaster and replaster the house.

⁴³ “If, however, the mark breaks out again in the house after he has removed the stones and has scraped and replastered the house, ⁴⁴ then the priest shall come and look again, and if the mark has spread in the house, it is a malignant leprosy in the house; it is [ceremonially] unclean. ⁴⁵ He shall tear down the house—its stones and its timber and all the plaster of the house—and shall take everything outside the city to an unclean place. ⁴⁶ Moreover, whoever goes into the house during the time that it is quarantined becomes unclean until evening. ⁴⁷ And whoever lies down in the house [to rest] shall wash his clothes, and whoever eats in the house shall wash his clothes.

⁴⁸ “But if the priest comes in and inspects it and the mark has not spread in the house after the house has been replastered, he shall pronounce the house clean because the mark has not reappeared. ⁴⁹ To cleanse the house then, he shall take two birds and cedar wood and scarlet string and hyssop; ⁵⁰ and he shall kill one of the birds in an earthenware container over running water, ⁵¹ and he shall take the cedar wood and the hyssop and the scarlet string, and the living bird, and dip them in the blood of the slain bird as well as in the running water, and sprinkle the house seven times. ⁵² So he shall cleanse the house with the blood of the bird and with the running water, along with the live bird and the cedar wood and the hyssop and the scarlet string. ⁵³ But he shall let the live bird go free outside the city into the open field. So he shall make atonement for the house, and it will be clean.”

⁵⁴ This is the law for any mark of leprosy—even for a scale, ⁵⁵ and for the leprous garment or house, ⁵⁶ and for a swelling, and for a scab, and for a bright spot on the skin— ⁵⁷ to teach when they are unclean and when they are clean. This is the law of leprosy [in regard to both persons and property].

Cleansing Unhealthiness

15 The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, ² “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, ‘When any man has a bodily discharge, his discharge is unclean. ³ This shall be [the law concerning] his uncleanness in his discharge: whether his body allows its discharge to flow or obstructs its flow; it is uncleanness in him. ⁴ Every bed on which the one who has the discharge lies becomes unclean, and everything on which he sits becomes unclean. ⁵ Whoever touches his bed shall wash his clothes, and bathe in water, and be unclean until evening; ⁶ and whoever sits on anything on which the man with the discharge has been sitting shall wash his clothes and bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. ⁷ Also whoever touches the man with the discharge shall wash his clothes and bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. ⁸ And if he who has the discharge spits on one who is clean, then he shall wash his clothes and bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. ⁹ Any saddle on which the man with the discharge rides becomes unclean. ¹⁰ Whoever touches anything that has been under him shall be unclean until evening; and whoever carries those things shall wash his clothes and bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. ¹¹ Whomever the one with the discharge touches without rinsing his hands in water shall wash his clothes and bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. ¹² An earthenware container that the one with the discharge touches shall be broken, and every wooden container shall be rinsed in water.

¹³ ‘When the man with the discharge becomes cleansed from his discharge, he shall count off seven days for his purification; he shall then wash his clothes and bathe his body in running water and will become clean. ¹⁴ On the eighth day he shall take two turtledoves or two young pigeons and come before the Lord to the doorway of the Tent of Meeting, and give them to the priest; ¹⁵ and the priest shall offer them, one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering. So the priest shall make atonement for the man before the Lord because of his discharge.

¹⁶ ‘Now if any man has a seminal emission, he shall wash all his body in water, and be unclean until evening. ¹⁷ Every garment and every leather on which there is semen shall be washed with water, and shall be unclean until evening. ¹⁸ If a man lies with a woman so that there is a seminal emission, they shall both bathe in water and be unclean until evening.

¹⁹ ‘When a woman has a discharge, if her bodily discharge is blood, she shall continue in her menstrual impurity for seven days; and whoever touches her shall be unclean until evening. ²⁰ Everything on which she lies during her menstrual impurity shall be unclean; and everything on which she sits shall be unclean. ²¹ Anyone who touches her bed shall wash his clothes and bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. ²² Whoever touches anything on which she sits shall wash his clothes and bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. ²³ And if it is on her bed or on the thing on which she is sitting, when he touches it, he shall be unclean until evening. ²⁴ If a man actually lies with her so that her menstrual impurity is on him, he shall be unclean for seven days; and every bed on which he lies shall be unclean.

²⁵ ‘Now if a woman has a flow of blood for many days, not during the time of her menstruation, or if she has a discharge beyond that period, as long as the impure discharge continues she shall be as she is in the days of her [normal] menstrual impurity; she is unclean.^{(C) 26} Every bed on which she lies during the time of her discharge shall be to her like the bed of her menstrual impurity, and whatever she sits on shall be unclean, like the uncleanness of her monthly period. ²⁷ And whoever touches those things shall be unclean, and shall wash his clothes and bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. ²⁸ When she is cleansed from her discharge, then she shall count off for herself seven days, and after that she will be clean. ²⁹ Then on the eighth day she shall take for herself two turtledoves or two young pigeons and bring them to the priest at the doorway of the Tent of Meeting; ³⁰ and the priest shall offer one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering; and he shall make atonement for her before the Lord for her unclean discharge.’

³¹ “Thus you shall ^[f]separate the Israelites from their uncleanness, so that they do not die in their uncleanness by their defiling My tabernacle that is among them.” ³² This is the law for the one who has a discharge and for the one who has a seminal emission, so that he is unclean by it; ³³ and for the woman who is ill because of her monthly period, and for the one who has a discharge, whether man or woman, or for a man who lies with a woman who is [ceremonially] unclean.

Law of Atonement

16 Then the Lord spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron who had died when they [irreverently] approached the presence of the Lord.^{(D) 2} The Lord said to Moses,

“Tell Aaron your brother that he ^[g]must not enter at any time into the Holy Place inside the veil (the Holy of Holies), before the ^[h]mercy seat which is on the ark, or he will die, for I will appear in the cloud over the mercy seat.^{(E) 3} Aaron [as high priest] shall enter the Holy Place in this way: with [the blood of] a young bull as a sin offering and [the blood of] a ram as a burnt offering. ⁴ He shall put on the holy linen tunic, and the linen undergarments shall be next to his body, and he shall be belted with the linen sash, and dressed with the linen turban (these are the holy garments). He shall bathe his body in water and put them on. ⁵ He shall take from the congregation of the Israelites [at their expense] two male goats as a sin offering and one ram as a burnt offering. ⁶ Then Aaron shall present the bull as the sin offering for himself, and make atonement for himself and for his house. ⁷ He shall take the two goats and present them before the Lord at the doorway of the Tent of Meeting. ⁸ Aaron shall cast lots for the two goats—one lot for the Lord, the other lot for the ^[i]scapegoat. ⁹ Then Aaron shall bring the goat on which the Lord’s lot fell and offer it as a sin offering. ¹⁰ But the goat on which the lot fell for the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the Lord to make atonement on it; it shall be sent into the wilderness as the scapegoat.

¹¹ “Aaron shall present the bull as the sin offering for himself and make atonement for himself and for his household (the other priests), and he shall kill the bull as the sin offering for himself. ¹² He shall take a censer full of burning coals from the [bronze] altar before the Lord, and two handfuls of finely ground sweet incense, and bring it inside the veil [into the Most Holy Place], ¹³ and put the incense on the fire [in the censer] before the Lord, so that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is on [the ark of] the Testimony, otherwise he will die. ¹⁴ He shall take some of the bull’s blood and sprinkle it with his finger on the east side of the mercy seat; also in front of the mercy seat he shall sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times.

¹⁵ “Then he shall kill the goat of the sin offering that is for [the sins of] the people and bring its blood within the veil [into the Most Holy Place] and do with its blood as he did with the blood of the bull, and sprinkle it on the mercy seat and in front of the mercy seat.^{(F) 16} So he shall make atonement for the Holy Place (Holy of Holies) because of the uncleanness and transgressions of the Israelites, for all their sins. He shall also do this for the Tent of Meeting which is among them in the midst of their uncleanness (impurities).^{(G) 17} There shall be no person in the Tent of Meeting when the high priest goes in to make atonement in the Holy Place [within the veil] until he comes out, so that he may make atonement for himself (his own sins) and for his household and for all the congregation of Israel. ¹⁸ Then he shall go out to the altar [of burnt offering in the court] which is before the Lord and make atonement for it, and shall take some of the blood of the bull and of the goat and put it on the horns of the altar on all sides. ¹⁹ With his finger he shall sprinkle some of the blood on the altar of burnt offering seven times and cleanse it and consecrate it from the uncleanness of the Israelites.

²⁰ “When he has finished atoning for the Holy Place and the Tent of Meeting and the altar, he shall present the live goat. ²¹ Then Aaron shall lay both of his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over it all the wickedness of the sons of Israel and all their transgressions in regard to all their sins; and he shall lay them on the head of the goat [the scapegoat, the sin-bearer], and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who is prepared [for the task]. ²² The goat shall carry on itself all their (the Israelites) wickedness, carrying them to a solitary (infertile) land; and he shall release the goat in the wilderness.^(H)

²³ “Then Aaron shall come into the Tent of Meeting and take off the linen garments which he put on when he went into the Holy Place (Holy of Holies), and shall leave them there. ²⁴ He shall bathe his body with water in a holy place and put on his clothes, and come out and offer his burnt offering and that of the people, and make atonement for himself and for the people. ²⁵ And he shall offer up in smoke the fat of the sin offering on the altar. ²⁶ The man who released the goat as the [sin-bearing] scapegoat shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and afterward he may come into the camp. ²⁷ The bull for the sin offering and the goat for the sin offering, whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the Holy Place (Holy of Holies), shall be taken outside the camp; their skins, their meat, and their waste shall be burned in the fire.^{(I) 28} Then he who burns them shall wash his clothes and bathe his body with water, and afterward he may come into the camp.

An Annual Atonement

²⁹ “This shall be a permanent statute for you: in the seventh month (nearly October) on the tenth day of the month you shall ^[j]humble yourselves [by fasting] and not do any work, whether the native-born or the stranger who lives temporarily among you; ³⁰ for it is on this day that atonement shall be made for you, to cleanse you; you will be clean from all your sins before the Lord.^{(J) 31} It is a Sabbath of solemn rest for you, and you shall humble yourselves; it is a permanent statute. ³² So the priest who is anointed and ordained to serve and minister as priest in his father’s place shall make atonement: he shall wear the holy linen garments, ³³ and make atonement for the Holy Sanctuary, and he shall make atonement for the Tent of Meeting, and for the altar [of burnt offering in the court]. He shall also make atonement for the priests and for all the people of the assembly. ³⁴ This shall be a permanent statute for you, so that atonement may be made for the children of Israel for all their sins once a year.” So he did just as the Lord had commanded Moses.