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Rules for Cleansing from Skin Diseases

¹ The Lord said to Moses, ² "These are the teachings for the time at which people who had a harmful skin disease are made clean.

"The person shall be brought to the priest, ³ and the priest must go outside the camp and look at the one who had the skin disease. If the skin disease is healed, ⁴ the priest will command that two living, clean birds, a piece of cedar wood, a piece of red string, and a hyssop plant be brought for cleansing the person with the skin disease.

⁵ "The priest must order one bird to be killed in a clay bowl containing fresh water. ⁶ Then he will take the living bird, the piece of cedar wood, the red string, and the hyssop; all these he will dip into the blood of the bird that was killed over the fresh water. ⁷ The priest will sprinkle the blood seven times on the person being cleansed from the skin disease. He must announce that the person is clean and then go to an open field and let the living bird go free.

⁸ "The person to be cleansed must wash his clothes, shave off all his hair, and bathe in water. Then he will be clean and may go into the camp, though he must stay outside his tent for the first seven days. ⁹ On the seventh day he must shave off all his hair—the hair from his head, his beard, his eyebrows, and the rest of his hair. He must wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and he will be clean.

¹⁰ "On the eighth day the person who had the skin disease must take two male lambs that have nothing wrong with them and a year-old female lamb that has nothing wrong with it. He must also take six quarts of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering and two-thirds of a pint of olive oil. ¹¹ The priest who is to announce that the person is clean must bring him and his sacrifices before the Lord at the entrance of the Meeting Tent. ¹² The priest will take one of the male lambs and offer it with the olive oil as a penalty offering; he will present them before the Lord as an offering. ¹³ Then he will kill the male lamb in the holy place, where the sin offering and the whole burnt offering are killed. The penalty offering is like the sin offering—it belongs to the priest and it is most holy.

¹⁴ "The priest will take some of the blood of the penalty offering and put it on the bottom of the right ear of the person to be made clean. He will also put some of it on the thumb of the person's right hand and on the big toe of the person's right foot. ¹⁵ Then the priest will take some of the oil and pour it into his own left hand. ¹⁶ He will dip a finger of his right hand into the oil that is in his left hand, and with his finger he will sprinkle some of the oil seven times before the Lord. ¹⁷ The priest will put some oil from his hand on the bottom of the right ear of the person to be made clean, some on the thumb of the person's right hand, and some on the big toe of the person's right foot. The oil will go on these places on top of the blood for the penalty offering. ¹⁸ He will put the rest of the oil that is in his left hand on the head of the person to be made clean. In this way the priest will make that person clean so he can belong to the Lord again.

¹⁹ "Next the priest will offer the sin offering to make that person clean so he can belong to the Lord again. After this the priest will kill the animal for the whole burnt offering, ²⁰ and he will offer the burnt offering and grain offering on the altar. In this way he will make that person clean so he can belong to the Lord again.

²¹ "But if the person is poor and unable to afford these offerings, he must take one male lamb for a penalty offering. It will be presented to the Lord to make him clean so he can belong to the Lord again. The person must also take two quarts of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering. He must also take two-thirds of a pint of olive oil ²² and two doves or two young pigeons, which he can afford. One bird is for a sin offering and the other for a whole burnt offering. ²³ On the eighth day the person will bring them for his cleansing to the priest at the entrance of the Meeting Tent, before the Lord. ²⁴ The priest will take the lamb for the penalty offering and the oil, and he will present them as an offering before the Lord. ²⁵ Then he will kill the lamb of the penalty offering, take some of its blood, and put it on the bottom of the right ear of the person to be made clean. The priest will put some of this blood on the thumb of the person's right hand and some on the big toe of the person's right foot. ²⁶ He will also pour some of the oil into his own left hand. ²⁷ Then with a finger of his right hand, he will sprinkle some of the oil from his left hand seven times before the Lord. ²⁸ The priest will take some of the oil from his hand and put it on the bottom of the right ear of the person to be made clean. He will also put some of it on the thumb of the person's right hand and some on the big toe of the person's right foot. The oil will go on these places on top of the blood from the penalty offering. ²⁹ The priest must put the rest of the oil that is in his hand on the head of the person to be made clean, to make him clean so he can belong to the Lord again. ³⁰ Then the priest will offer one of the doves or young pigeons, which the person can afford. ³¹ He must offer one of the birds for a sin offering and the other for a whole burnt offering, along with the grain offering. In this way the priest will make the person clean so he can belong to the Lord again; he will become clean.

³² "These are the teachings for making a person clean after he has had a skin disease, if he cannot afford the regular sacrifices for becoming clean."

Rules for Cleaning Mildew

³³ The Lord also said to Moses and Aaron, 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. ⁴⁵ Then the owner must tear down the house, remove all its stones, plaster, and wood, and take them to the unclean place outside the city. ⁴⁶ Anyone who goes into that house while it is closed up will be unclean until evening. 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.