Leviticus 14:1-32

Laws for Cleansing Lepers

1 The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

2 "This shall be the law of the leprous person for the day of his cleansing. ¹He shall be brought to the priest,

3 and the priest shall go ²out of the camp, and the priest shall look. Then, if the case of leprous disease is healed in the leprous person,

4 the priest shall command them to take for him who is to be cleansed two live^[a] clean birds and ³cedarwood and ⁴scarlet yarn and ⁵hyssop.

5 And the priest shall command them to kill one of the birds in an earthenware vessel over fresh^[b] water.

6 He 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.

7 And he shall ⁶sprinkle it ⁷seven times on him who is to be cleansed of the leprous disease. Then he shall pronounce him clean and shall ⁸let the living bird go ⁹into the open field.

8 And he who is to be cleansed ¹⁰shall 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 ¹¹live outside his tent seven days.

9 And ¹²on 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 ¹³shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and he shall be clean.

10 "And on the eighth day he ¹⁴shall take two male lambs without blemish, and one ewe lamb a year old without blemish, and a ¹⁵grain offering of three tenths of an ephah^[c] of fine flour mixed with oil, and one log^[d] of oil.

11 And 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.

12 And the priest shall take one of the male lambs and ¹⁶offer it for a guilt offering, along with the log of oil, and ¹⁷wave them for a wave offering before the LORD.

13 And he shall kill the lamb ¹⁸in the place where they kill the sin offering and the burnt offering, in the place of the sanctuary. For ¹⁹the guilt offering, like the sin offering, belongs to the priest; ²⁰it is most holy.

14 The priest shall take some of the blood of the guilt offering, and the priest shall put it ²¹on 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.

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

16 and 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.

17 And 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.

18 And 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. ²²Then the priest shall make atonement for him before the LORD.

19 The 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.

20 And the priest shall offer the burnt offering and the ²³grain offering on the altar. ²⁴Thus the priest shall make atonement for him, and he shall be clean.

21 "But ²⁵if he is poor and cannot afford so much, then he shall take one male lamb for a guilt offering ²⁶to 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;

22 ²⁷also two turtledoves or two pigeons, whichever he can afford. The one shall be a sin offering and the other a burnt offering.

23 ²⁸And 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.

24 ²⁹And 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.

25 And he shall kill the lamb of the guilt offering. ³⁰And 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.

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

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

28 And 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.

29 And 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.

30 And he shall offer, of the ³¹turtledoves or pigeons, whichever he can afford,

31 one^[e] for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering, along with a grain offering. ³²And the priest shall make atonement before the LORD for him who is being cleansed.

32 This is the law for him in whom is a case of leprous disease, who cannot afford ³³the offerings for his cleansing."

Leviticus 14:1-32 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO LEVITICUS 14

This chapter treats of the purification of lepers, and the rules to be observed therein; and first what the priest was to do for his cleansing when brought to him, by making use of two birds, with cedar wood, scarlet and hyssop, as directed, Le 14:1-7; what he was to do for himself, shaving off all his hair, and washing his flesh and clothes in water, Le 14:8,9; the offerings to be offered up for him, two he lambs and one ewe lamb, and a meat offering, with a particular account of the use of the blood of the trespass offering, and of oil put upon the tip of his right ear, the thumb of his right hand, and the great toe of his right foot, Le 14:10-20; but if poor, only one lamb was required, a meat offering of one tenth deal, and two turtle doves or two young pigeons, and blood and oil used as before, Le 14:21-32; next follow an account of leprosy in an house, and the signs of it, and the rules to judge of it, Le 14:33-48; and the manner of cleansing from it, Le 14:49-53; and the chapter is closed with a recapitulation of the several laws concerning the various sorts of leprosy in this and the preceding chapter, Le 14:54-57.

Cross References

• 1. Matthew 8:2, 4; Mark 1:40, 44; Luke 5:12, 14; Luke 17:14
• 2. [2 Kings 7:10; Luke 17:12]
• 3. Numbers 19:6
• 4. Hebrews 9:19
• 5. See Exodus 12:22
• 6. Hebrews 9:13
• 7. [2 Kings 5:10, 14]
• 8. [Leviticus 16:22]
• 9. ver. 53; [Leviticus 17:5]
• 10. ver. 47; See Leviticus 11:25
• 11. Numbers 12:15
• 12. [Numbers 31:19]
• 13. [See ver. 8 above]
• 14. [Matthew 8:4]; Mark 1:44; Luke 5:14
• 15. Numbers 15:4; See Leviticus 2
• 16. Leviticus 5:18; Leviticus 6:6, 7
• 17. See Exodus 29:24
• 18. Leviticus 1:5, 11; Leviticus 4:4, 24
• 19. Leviticus 7:7
• 20. Leviticus 2:3; Leviticus 7:6
• 21. [Leviticus 8:23; Exodus 29:20]
• 22. See Leviticus 4:26
• 23. [See ver. 10 above]
• 24. [See ver. 18 above]
• 25. Leviticus 5:7, 11; Leviticus 12:8
• 26. [See ver. 12 above]
• 27. See Leviticus 12:8
• 28. ver. 10, 11
• 29. ver. 12
• 30. For ver. 25-29, see ver. 14-18
• 31. ver. 22; Leviticus 15:15
• 32. [See ver. 18 above]
• 33. ver. 10

Footnotes

• [a]. Or wild
• [b]. Or running; Hebrew living; also verses 6, 50, 51, 52
• [c]. An ephah was about 3/5 bushel or 22 liters
• [d]. A log was about 1/3 quart or 0.3 liter
• [e]. Septuagint, Syriac; Hebrew afford, 31such as he can afford, one