Leviticus 14:33 – 15:33

Leviticus 14

Purification of Contaminated Houses

³³ The Lord spoke these things to Moses and Aaron:

³⁴ When you enter the land of Canaan, which I am giving you as a possession, and I put a contamination of mold ^[1] on a house in the land that you possess, ³⁵ the owner of the house shall come and tell the priest, “There seems to me to be some sort of contamination in my house.” ³⁶ The priest shall order the house to be cleared before the priest comes to examine the contamination, so that nothing in the house will be declared unclean. After that the priest shall go in to examine the house. ³⁷ If, when he examines the contamination, the contamination on the walls of the house consists of depressions that are bright green or bright red and that appear deeper than the surface of the wall, ³⁸ the priest shall come out of the house to the entrance of the house and quarantine the house for seven days. ³⁹ On the seventh day the priest shall return to examine it. If the contamination has spread on the walls of the house, ⁴⁰ the priest shall order that they rip out the stones with the contamination on them and throw them into an unclean place outside the town. ⁴¹ The house must be scraped all around the inside, and they must dump the mud that is scraped off in an unclean place outside the town. ⁴² They are to take other stones and bring them to replace those stones and other mud to plaster the house.

⁴³ If the contamination breaks out again in the house after the stones have been ripped out and after the house has been scraped and replastered, ⁴⁴ the priest shall go in to examine it. If the contamination has spread in the house, it is a destructive ^[2] mold in the house. It is unclean. ⁴⁵ The house shall be demolished and its stones and timber and all its mud are to be brought out to an unclean place outside the town. ⁴⁶ Whoever enters the house at any time during its quarantine will be unclean until sunset. ⁴⁷ Whoever sleeps in the house must wash his clothes, and whoever eats in the house must wash his clothes.

⁴⁸ If, however, the priest enters and sees that the contamination has not spread in the house after the house was plastered, the priest shall declare the house clean, because the contamination has been cleansed. ⁴⁹ To purify the house, he shall take two birds, some cedar wood, some scarlet yarn, and some hyssop. ⁵⁰ He shall slaughter one of the birds in a clay pot over water from a flowing source. ⁵¹ He shall take the cedar wood, the hyssop, the scarlet yarn, and the live bird and dip them in the blood of the slaughtered bird and in the water from a flowing source and sprinkle it on the house seven times. ⁵² When he has purified the house with the blood of the bird, the water from a flowing source, the live bird, the cedar wood, the hyssop, and the scarlet yarn, ⁵³ he shall release the live bird into the open country outside the town. In this way he shall make atonement for the house, so that it will be clean.

⁵⁴ This is the law for every infection of skin disease, for rash, ⁵⁵ for mold on clothing or a house, ⁵⁶ for discoloration and a scab and a shiny patch— ⁵⁷ to give instruction about when it is unclean and when it is clean.

This is the law concerning impure skin disease and contamination.

Purification From Bodily Discharges

Leviticus 15

¹ The Lord told Moses and Aaron to speak to the Israelites and to tell them this:

² Whenever a man has a discharge flowing from his flesh, ^[3] that discharge is unclean.

³ This is the law ^[4] about how a bodily discharge makes someone unclean: Whether his flesh secretes a discharge or it has a blocked discharge, ⎣he is unclean. As long as his flesh has a discharge or his body blocks a discharge,⎦ ^[5] this makes him unclean.

⁴ Any bedding that the man with a discharge lies on is unclean, and every object on which he sits becomes unclean. ⁵ Anyone who touches his bedding must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and remain unclean until sunset. ⁶ Whoever sits on any object on which the man with a discharge sat must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and remain unclean until sunset. ⁷ Whoever touches the body of the man with a discharge must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and remain unclean until sunset.

⁸ If the man with a discharge spits on someone who is clean, that person must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and remain unclean until sunset.

⁹ Any saddle on which the man with a discharge rides becomes unclean. ¹⁰ Everyone who touches anything that was under him will become unclean until sunset, and whoever carries these things must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and remain unclean until sunset. ¹¹ If the man with a discharge touches anyone without washing his hands, that person must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and remain unclean until sunset. ¹² Any clay pottery that the man with a discharge touches must be broken, and any vessel or utensil made of wood must be rinsed with water.

¹³ When the man with a discharge has been cleansed from his discharge, he shall count off seven days for his process of purification, wash his clothes, and bathe his body in water from a flowing source; then, he will be clean. ¹⁴ On the eighth day he shall take two turtledoves or two pigeons and come before the Lord at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting and give them to the priest. ¹⁵ The priest shall present the offering for them—one bird as a sin offering and the other as a whole burnt offering. This is how the priest shall make atonement for the man in the presence of the Lord, from his discharge.

¹⁶ When a man has an emission of semen, ^[6] he must bathe his whole body in water and remain unclean until sunset. ¹⁷ Any garment or leather with an emission of semen on it must be washed in water and remain unclean until sunset.

¹⁸ Also if a man lies down with a woman and has an emission of semen, they must bathe in water and remain unclean until sunset.

¹⁹ When a woman has a discharge of blood from her flesh, her menstrual impurity ^[7] will last for seven days. Anyone who touches her will remain unclean until sunset. ²⁰ Everything on which she lies during her monthly period is unclean, and everything on which she sits becomes unclean. ²¹ Anyone who touches her bed must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and remain unclean until sunset, ²² and anyone who touches anything on which she sat must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and remain unclean until sunset. ²³ If the uncleanness is on the bed or on anything else on which she is sitting when he touches it, he will become unclean until sunset. ²⁴ And if a man lies down with her, and her menstrual impurity comes in contact with him, he will be unclean for seven days. Any bed on which he lies will be unclean.

²⁵ When a woman has a discharge of blood for many days besides during the time of her monthly period, or when she has a discharge that lasts longer than her monthly period, she will be unclean for as many days as her discharge continues, just as she is during her monthly period. ²⁶ During her discharge any bed on which she lies is to be treated just like the bed during her monthly period, and every piece of furniture on which she sits will be unclean, as it would be during the impurity of her monthly period. ²⁷ Anyone who touches them will become unclean. Any such people must wash their clothes, bathe in water, and remain unclean until sunset.

²⁸ When she is cleansed from her discharge, she shall count off seven days, and after that she will be clean. ²⁹ On the eighth day she shall take two turtledoves or two pigeons for herself and bring them to the priest at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. ³⁰ The priest shall offer one dove as a sin offering and the other as a whole burnt offering. This is how the priest is to make atonement for her in the presence of the Lord, from the impurity of her discharge.

³¹ In this way you shall separate the people of Israel from their impurity, so that they do not die in their impurity because they defiled my dwelling place that is in their midst.

³² This is the law for those who have a discharge: for a man who has an emission of semen by which he becomes unclean, ³³ for a woman who is not well because of her menstrual period, for anyone, male or female, who has a discharge, and for the man who lies down with a woman who is unclean.