Leviticus 14 :: English Standard Version (ESV)

Laws for Cleansing Lepers

(cf. Mat 8:1–4; Luk 5:12–14 )

Lev 14:1The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

Lev 14:2“This shall be the law of the leprous person for the day of his cleansing. He shall be brought to the priest,

Lev 14:3and the priest shall go out of the camp, and the priest shall look. Then, if the case of leprous disease is healed in the leprous person,

Lev 14:4

Lev 14:4the priest shall command them to take for him who is to be cleansed two live[fn] clean birds and cedarwood and scarlet yarn and hyssop.

Lev 14:5

Lev 14:5And the priest shall command them to kill one of the birds in an earthenware vessel over fresh[fn] water.

Lev 14:6

Lev 14:6He shall take the live bird with the cedarwood and the scarlet yarn and the hyssop, and dip them and the live bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the fresh water.

Lev 14:7

Lev 14:7And he shall sprinkle it seven times on him who is to be cleansed of the leprous disease. Then he shall pronounce him clean and shall let the living bird go into the open field.

Lev 14:8

Lev 14:8And he who is to be cleansed shall wash his clothes and shave off all his hair and bathe himself in water, and he shall be clean. And after that he may come into the camp, but live outside his tent seven days.

Lev 14:9

Lev 14:9And on the seventh day he shall shave off all his hair from his head, his beard, and his eyebrows. He shall shave off all his hair, and then he shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and he shall be clean.

Lev 14:10

Lev 14:10“And on the eighth day he shall take two male lambs without blemish, and one ewe lamb a year old without blemish, and a grain offering of three tenths of an ephah[fn] of fine flour mixed with oil, and one log[fn] of oil.

Lev 14:11

Lev 14:11And the priest who cleanses him shall set the man who is to be cleansed and these things before the LORD, at the entrance of the tent of meeting.

Lev 14:12

Lev 14:12And the priest shall take one of the male lambs and offer it for a guilt offering, along with the log of oil, and wave them for a wave offering before the LORD.

Lev 14:13

Lev 14:13And he shall kill the lamb in the place where they kill the sin offering and the burnt offering, in the place of the sanctuary. For the guilt offering, like the sin offering, belongs to the priest; it is most holy.

Lev 14:14

Lev 14:14The priest shall take some of the blood of the guilt offering, and the priest shall put it on the lobe of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed and on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot.

Lev 14:15

Lev 14:15Then the priest shall take some of the log of oil and pour it into the palm of his own left hand

Lev 14:16

Lev 14:16and dip his right finger in the oil that is in his left hand and sprinkle some oil with his finger seven times before the LORD.

Lev 14:17

Lev 14:17And some of the oil that remains in his hand the priest shall put on the lobe of the right ear of him who is 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.

Lev 14:18

Lev 14:18And the rest of the oil that is in the priest’s hand he shall put on the head of him who is to be cleansed. Then the priest shall make atonement for him before the LORD.

Lev 14:19

Lev 14:19The priest shall offer the sin offering, to make atonement for him who is to be cleansed from his uncleanness. And afterward he shall kill the burnt offering.

Lev 14:20

Lev 14:20And the priest shall offer the burnt offering and the grain offering on the altar. Thus the priest shall make atonement for him, and he shall be clean.

Lev 14:21

Lev 14:21“But if he is poor and cannot afford so much, then he shall take one male lamb for a guilt offering to be waved, to make atonement for him, and a tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering, and a log of oil;

Lev 14:22

Lev 14:22also two turtledoves or two pigeons, whichever he can afford. The one shall be a sin offering and the other a burnt offering.

Lev 14:23

Lev 14:23And on the eighth day he shall bring them for his cleansing to the priest, to the entrance of the tent of meeting, before the LORD.

Lev 14:24

Lev 14:24And the priest shall take the lamb of the guilt offering and the log of oil, and the priest shall wave them for a wave offering before the LORD.

Lev 14:25

Lev 14:25And he shall kill the lamb of the guilt offering. And the priest shall take some of the blood of the guilt offering and put it on the lobe of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed, and on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot.

Lev 14:26

Lev 14:26And the priest shall pour some of the oil into the palm of his own left hand,

Lev 14:27

Lev 14:27and shall sprinkle with his right finger some of the oil that is in his left hand seven times before the LORD.

Lev 14:28

Lev 14:28And the priest shall put some of the oil that is in his hand on the lobe of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed and on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot, in the place where the blood of the guilt offering was put.

Lev 14:29

Lev 14:29And the rest of the oil that is in the priest’s hand he shall put on the head of him who is to be cleansed, to make atonement for him before the LORD.

Lev 14:30

Lev 14:30And he shall offer, of the turtledoves or pigeons, whichever he can afford,

Lev 14:31

Lev 14:31one[fn] for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering, along with a grain offering. And the priest shall make atonement before the LORD for him who is being cleansed.

Lev 14:32

Lev 14:32This is the law for him in whom is a case of leprous disease, who cannot afford the offerings for his cleansing.”

Laws for Cleansing Houses

Lev 14:33

Lev 14:33The LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying,

Lev 14:34

Lev 14:34“When you come into the land of Canaan, which I give you for a possession, and I put a case of leprous disease in a house in the land of your possession,

Lev 14:35

Lev 14:35then he who owns the house shall come and tell the priest, ‘There seems to me to be some case of disease in my house.’

Lev 14:36

Lev 14:36Then the priest shall command that they empty the house before the priest goes to examine the disease, lest all that is in the house be declared unclean. And afterward the priest shall go in to see the house.

Lev 14:37

Lev 14:37And he shall examine the disease. And if the disease is in the walls of the house with greenish or reddish spots, and if it appears to be deeper than the surface,

Lev 14:38

Lev 14:38then the priest shall go out of the house to the door of the house and shut up the house seven days.

Lev 14:39

Lev 14:39And the priest shall come again on the seventh day, and look. If the disease has spread in the walls of the house,

Lev 14:40

Lev 14:40then the priest shall command that they take out the stones in which is the disease and throw them into an unclean place outside the city.

Lev 14:41

Lev 14:41And he shall have the inside of the house scraped all around, and the plaster that they scrape off they shall pour out in an unclean place outside the city.

Lev 14:42

Lev 14:42Then they shall take other stones and put them in the place of those stones, and he shall take other plaster and plaster the house.

Lev 14:43

Lev 14:43“If the disease breaks out again in the house, after he has taken out the stones and scraped the house and plastered it,

Lev 14:44

Lev 14:44then the priest shall go and look. And if the disease has spread in the house, it is a persistent leprous disease in the house; it is unclean.

Lev 14:45

Lev 14:45And he shall break down the house, its stones and timber and all the plaster of the house, and he shall carry them out of the city to an unclean place.

Lev 14:46

Lev 14:46Moreover, whoever enters the house while it is shut up shall be unclean until the evening,

Lev 14:47

Lev 14:47and whoever sleeps in the house shall wash his clothes, and whoever eats in the house shall wash his clothes.

Lev 14:48

Lev 14:48“But if the priest comes and looks, and if the disease has not spread in the house after the house was plastered, then the priest shall pronounce the house clean, for the disease is healed.

Lev 14:49

Lev 14:49And for the cleansing of the house he shall take two small birds, with cedarwood and scarlet yarn and hyssop,

Lev 14:50

Lev 14:50and shall kill one of the birds in an earthenware vessel over fresh water

Lev 14:51

Lev 14:51and shall take the cedarwood and the hyssop and the scarlet yarn, along with the live bird, and dip them in the blood of the bird that was killed and in the fresh water and sprinkle the house seven times.

Lev 14:52

Lev 14:52Thus he shall cleanse the house with the blood of the bird and with the fresh water and with the live bird and with the cedarwood and hyssop and scarlet yarn.

Lev 14:53

Lev 14:53And he shall let the live bird go out of the city into the open country. So he shall make atonement for the house, and it shall be clean.”

Lev 14:54

Lev 14:54This is the law for any case of leprous disease: for an itch,

Lev 14:55

Lev 14:55for leprous disease in a garment or in a house,

Lev 14:56

Lev 14:56and for a swelling or an eruption or a spot,

Lev 14:57

Lev 14:57to show when it is unclean and when it is clean. This is the law for leprous disease.

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ESV Footnotes

(14:4)

Or wild

(14:5)

Or running; Hebrew living; also verses 6, 50, 51, 52

(14:10)

An ephah was about 3/5 bushel or 22 liters

(14:10)

A log was about 1/3 quart or 0.3 liter

(14:31)

Septuagint, Syriac; Hebrew afford, 31 such as he can afford, one

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