Read the Bible

Laws about a Bad Skin Disease

¹ The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ² "When a man has a sore spot on his skin, an open sore or a bright spot, and it becomes a bad skin disease, he should be brought to the religious leader, to Aaron or one of his sons. ³ The religious leader will look at the mark on his skin of the body. If the hair in the spot has become white and the disease looks deeper than his skin, it is a bad skin disease. The religious leader will look at him, and will say that he is unclean. ⁴ But the spot may be white on his skin, and not seem to be deeper than the skin, and the hair on it not white. Then the religious leader will keep the sick man away from other people for seven days. ⁵ The religious leader will look at him on the seventh day. If he finds that the disease has not changed and has not spread on the skin, the religious leader will keep him away from other people for seven more days. ⁶ The religious leader will look at him again on the seventh day. If the spot is not as bright and has not spread on the skin, the religious leader will say he is clean. It is only what is left of a sore. He will wash his clothes and be clean.

⁷ "But if what is left of the sore spreads farther on the skin, after he has been seen by the religious leader as being clean, he must show himself to the religious leader again. ⁸ And the religious leader will look, and if the sore has spread on the skin, the religious leader will say that he is unclean. It is a bad skin disease.

⁹ "When a man has a bad skin disease, he will be brought to the religious leader. ¹⁰ The religious leader will look at it. If there is a white sore on the skin that has made the hair white, and there are open sores growing on the flesh, ¹¹ it is an old and deep skin disease on his body. The religious leader will say he is unclean. He will not keep him away from others, for he already is unclean. ¹² But the disease may spread farther on the skin, and cover all the skin of him who has the disease from head to foot, everywhere the religious leader looks. ¹³ If the religious leader sees that the skin disease has covered all his body, he will say he is clean from the disease, because the skin has all become white and he is clean. ¹⁴ But when open sores in the flesh show on him, he will be unclean. ¹⁵ The religious leader will look at the open sores in the flesh, and he will say he is unclean. The open sores in the flesh are unclean. It is a bad skin disease. ¹⁶ If the flesh with open sores changes again and becomes white, he will come to the religious leader. ¹⁷ If the religious leader sees that the disease has become white, the religious leader will say that he who had the disease is clean; he is clean.

¹⁸ "When there is a sore on the skin of the body that has been healed, ¹⁹ and in the place of the sore there is a white, growing spot or a light-red, bright spot, it must be shown to the religious leader. ²⁰ If the religious leader finds that it is under the skin and that the hair on it has become white, the religious leader will say he is unclean. It is the bad skin disease. It has broken out in the sore. ²¹ But the religious leader may find there are no white hairs in it, and that it is not under the skin and not as dark. Then the religious leader will keep him away from other people for seven days. ²² If it spreads farther on the skin, the religious leader will say he is unclean. It is a spreading disease. ²³ But if the bright spot stays in one place and does not spread, it is only what is left of the sore. The religious leader will say he is clean.

²⁴ "If the body has a burn on its skin, and the open sore of the burned flesh becomes a bright spot, light-red or white, ²⁵ the religious leader must look at it. If the hair in the bright spot has become white and it shows to be deeper than the skin, it is a bad skin disease. It has broken out in the burn. So the religious leader will say he is unclean. It is a bad skin disease. ²⁶ But the religious leader may find there is no white hair in the bright spot, and that it is not under the skin and not as dark. Then the religious leader will keep him away from other people for seven days. ²⁷ On the seventh day the religious leader will look at him. If it has spread farther in the skin, the religious leader will say he is unclean. It is a bad skin disease. ²⁸ But if the bright spot stays in one place and has not spread in the skin and is not as dark, it is only what is left of the burn. The religious leader will say he is clean. For it is what is left of the burn.

²⁹ "When a man or woman has a sore on the head or in the hair of the face, ³⁰ the religious leader will look at the sore. If it looks like it is under the skin, with yellow, fine hair in it, the religious leader will say he is unclean. It is a bad skin disease of the head or hair of the face. ³¹ But the religious leader may find that the skin disease is not under the skin and there is no black hair in it. Then the religious leader will keep the person with the disease away from other people for seven days. ³² On the seventh day the religious leader will look at the disease. If the sore has not spread, and no yellow hair has grown in it, and it does not look like it is under the skin, ³³ then the sick man will cut off his hair. But he will not cut the hair from the sore. The religious leader will keep the person with the disease away from other people seven more days. ³⁴ On the seventh day the religious leader will look at the disease. If the disease has not spread and looks like it is not under the skin, the religious leader will say he is clean. And he will wash his clothes and be clean. ³⁵ But if the disease spreads farther in the skin after he was to have been clean, ³⁶ then the religious leader will look at him. If the disease has spread in the skin, the religious leader does not need to look for yellow hair. He is unclean. ³⁷ But if he finds that the disease has stayed in one place and black hair has grown in it, the disease has healed. He is clean. And the religious leader will say he is clean.

³⁸ "When a man or woman has very white spots on the skin of their body, ³⁹ then the religious leader will look at them. If the white spots on the skin are not very bright, it is not a bad disease that has broken out on the skin. He is clean.

⁴⁰ "If a man's hair has fallen out and he has no hair on his head, he is clean. ⁴¹ If the hair has fallen from the front part of his head so that he has no hair there, he is clean. ⁴² But if a red and white sore is on the head where there is no hair, it is a bad skin disease breaking out on his head. ⁴³ Then the religious leader will look at him. If the sore is red and white on the head where there is no hair, looking like a bad disease in the skin of the body, ⁴⁴ he is a man with a bad skin disease. He is unclean. The religious leader will say he is unclean. His disease is on his head.

Laws about Clothing

⁴⁵ "The person who has the bad skin disease will wear torn clothes and not cover the hair of his head. He will cover his mouth and cry out, ‘Unclean! Unclean!' ⁴⁶ He will be unclean as long as he has the disease. He is unclean. He will live alone. His home will be away from the tents. ⁴⁷ When a mark of a bad skin disease is in a piece of clothing, wool or linen, ⁴⁸ in the cloth of linen or wool, or in leather or anything made of leather, ⁴⁹ if the mark is green or red in the clothing or leather, in the cloth or in anything made of leather, it is the mark of a bad skin disease. It will be shown to the religious leader. ⁵⁰ The religious leader will look at the mark, and will keep the piece of clothing away from people for seven days. ⁵¹ He will look at the mark again on the seventh day. If the mark has spread in the clothing, in the cloth or leather or anything made of leather, the mark is a bad disease. It is unclean. ⁵² So he will burn the clothing if the disease is in the cloth, in wool or linen or in anything made of leather, for it is a very bad disease. It will be burned in the fire.

⁵³ "But the religious leader may look and find that the mark has not spread in the clothing, in the cloth or anything made of leather. ⁵⁴ Then the religious leader will tell them to wash the thing that has the mark of disease. And he will keep it away from people for seven more days. ⁵⁵ After the piece of cloth or leather with the mark has been washed, the religious leader will look at it again. If the mark has not changed, even if the mark has not spread, it is unclean. You will burn it in the fire, if the mark of disease is on the back or the front.

⁵⁶ "But the religious leader may find that the mark is not as easy to see after it is washed. Then he will tear it out of the clothing, leather or cloth. ⁵⁷ If it is seen again in the clothing, in cloth or anything made of leather, it is spreading. The thing that has the mark will be burned in the fire. ⁵⁸ But if the clothing, cloth or anything made of leather, had the mark washed out of it, it will then be washed a second time. And it will be clean."

⁵⁹ This is the law for the mark of a very bad disease in clothing of wool or linen, in cloth or in anything made of leather, for deciding if it is clean or not.