Leviticus 14: Made clean again, and mould in a house

In plain English: Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

In plain English: "This is to be the law for the person with the skin disease (this Bible: the leper) on the day he is made clean: he is to be brought to the priest,

In plain English: and the priest is to go out of the camp and look at him. If the mark of the skin disease has healed in him,

In plain English: the priest is to order two clean birds that are alive to be taken for the person being made clean, with cedar wood, scarlet (something dyed red), and hyssop (a small plant).

Good to know: Cedar wood, scarlet and hyssop are used together again in Numbers 19:6, with the red heifer. Hyssop is also the plant used to put the blood on the doorposts at the first Passover, in Exodus 12:22.

In plain English: The priest is to order one of the birds to be killed over a clay pot of running water (literally: living water).

In plain English: He is to take the living bird with the cedar wood, the scarlet, and the hyssop, and dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running water.

In plain English: He is to sprinkle the person being made clean of the skin disease seven times, declare him clean, and let the living bird go free into the open field.

In plain English: "The person being made clean is to wash his clothes, shave off all his hair, and bathe in water, and he will be clean. After that he may come into the camp, but he is to stay outside his tent for seven days.

In plain English: On the seventh day he is to shave off all his hair: his head, his beard, and his eyebrows, all his hair. He is to wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and he will be clean.

In plain English: "On the eighth day he is to take two male lambs without defect, one female lamb a year old without defect, three tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering (this Bible: meal offering), and one log of oil.

Good to know: A log is a small measure for oil. The word is in only 5 verses of the Bible, all in this chapter. The Hebrew of this verse says only "three tenths" of fine flour. "Of an ephah" is added by this Bible, and the dictionary gives an ephah as "a measure for grain".

In plain English: The priest who declares him clean is to place the person being made clean, with these things, before Yahweh at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting.

In plain English: "The priest is to take one of the male lambs and offer it as a trespass offering (or: guilt offering), with the log of oil, and wave them before Yahweh as a wave offering.

In plain English: He is to kill the lamb in the holy place, where the sin offering and the burnt offering are killed. Like the sin offering, the trespass offering belongs to the priest. It is most holy.

The Hebrew words: "Trespass offering" is asham, which the dictionary gives as "guilt". "Sin offering" is chatta'ah, the same word as "sin".

How it is translated: This Bible says "trespass" in 34 of the 41 verses that use asham, and "guilt" in 4. For chatta'ah it says "sin" in 267 of its 270 verses.

What changes: Many newer Bibles say "guilt offering", and some say "purification offering" for the sin offering. Read as "purification offering", the offering here is for making the person clean (verse 19 says "because of his uncleanness"). The chapter does not say he has sinned.

In plain English: The priest is to take some of the blood of the trespass offering and put it on the tip of the right ear of the person being made clean, on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot.

Good to know: The only other time blood is put on the right ear, the right thumb and the right big toe is when Aaron and his sons are made priests (Exodus 29:20, Leviticus 8:23 and 8:24).

In plain English: The priest is to take some of the log of oil and pour it into the palm of his own left hand.

In plain English: The priest is to dip his right finger in the oil in his left hand and sprinkle some of the oil with his finger seven times before Yahweh.

In plain English: Of the oil left in his hand, the priest is to put some on the tip of the right ear of the person being made clean, on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot, on top of the blood of the trespass offering.

In plain English: The rest of the oil in the priest's hand he is to put on the head of the person being made clean. So the priest makes atonement for him before Yahweh.

The Hebrew word: "Make atonement" is kipper. The dictionary gives it as "to cover", and also "to expiate" (to make up for a wrong) or "to cancel".

How it is translated: This Bible says "atonement" in 43 of the 44 verses in Leviticus that use it.

What changes: Read as "cover", the priest covers the person. Read as "wipe clean" or "cancel", he clears the uncleanness away. Verse 53 uses the same word for a house.

In plain English: "The priest is to offer the sin offering and make atonement for the person being made clean, because of his uncleanness. After that he is to kill the burnt offering,

In plain English: and the priest is to offer the burnt offering and the grain offering on the altar. The priest makes atonement for him, and he will be clean.

In plain English: "If he is poor and cannot afford this much, he is to take one male lamb as a trespass offering to be waved, to make atonement for him, one tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering, and a log of oil,

In plain English: and two turtledoves or two young pigeons, whichever he can afford. One is to be a sin offering and the other a burnt offering.

In plain English: "On the eighth day he is to bring them for his cleansing to the priest, at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, before Yahweh.

In plain English: The priest is to take the lamb of the trespass offering and the log of oil and wave them before Yahweh as a wave offering.

In plain English: He is to kill the lamb of the trespass offering. The priest is to take some of its blood and put it on the tip of the right ear of the person being made clean, on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot.

In plain English: The priest is to pour some of the oil into the palm of his own left hand,

In plain English: and with his right finger he is to sprinkle some of the oil in his left hand seven times before Yahweh.

In plain English: Then the priest is to put some of the oil in his hand on the tip of the right ear of the person being made clean, on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot, on the place where the blood of the trespass offering was put.

In plain English: The rest of the oil in the priest's hand he is to put on the head of the person being made clean, to make atonement for him before Yahweh.

In plain English: He is to offer one of the turtledoves or young pigeons, whichever he can afford,

In plain English: the kind he can afford: one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering, with the grain offering. So the priest makes atonement before Yahweh for the person being made clean."

In plain English: This is the law for the person who has the mark of the skin disease and cannot afford the offerings for his cleansing.

In plain English: Yahweh spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying,

In plain English: "When you come into the land of Canaan, which I am giving you to own, and I put a spreading mark of mould (this Bible: mildew) in a house in the land you own,

Good to know: Here Yahweh says he is the one who puts the mark in the house. The text does not say why.

In plain English: the owner of the house is to come and tell the priest, 'It looks to me as if there is some kind of mark in the house.'

In plain English: Before the priest goes in to look at the mark, he is to order the house to be emptied, so that nothing in the house becomes unclean. After that the priest is to go in to look at the house.

In plain English: He is to look at the mark. If the mark in the walls of the house has hollow streaks, greenish or reddish, and looks deeper than the wall,

In plain English: the priest is to go out of the house to its door and shut the house up for seven days.

In plain English: On the seventh day the priest is to come back and look. If the mark has spread in the walls of the house,

In plain English: the priest is to order them to take out the stones that have the mark and throw them into an unclean place outside the city.

In plain English: He is to have the inside of the house scraped all over, and they are to dump the plaster they scraped off in an unclean place outside the city.

In plain English: They are to take other stones and put them in place of those stones, and he is to take other plaster and plaster the house.

In plain English: "If the mark comes back and breaks out in the house after the stones have been taken out, and after the house has been scraped and plastered,

In plain English: the priest is to come and look. If the mark has spread in the house, it is a destructive mould in the house. It is unclean.

In plain English: He is to tear the house down: its stones, its timber, and all its plaster. He is to carry them out of the city to an unclean place.

In plain English: "Also, anyone who goes into the house while it is shut up will be unclean until evening.

In plain English: Anyone who lies down in the house is to wash his clothes, and anyone who eats in the house is to wash his clothes.

In plain English: "If the priest comes in and looks, and the mark has not spread in the house after it was plastered, the priest is to declare the house clean, because the mark has healed.

In plain English: To cleanse the house he is to take two birds, cedar wood, scarlet, and hyssop.

The Hebrew word: "Cleanse" here is chata, the word for "to sin" (the dictionary: "properly, to miss"). The word for "sin offering" comes from it.

How it is translated: This Bible says "sin" in 193 of the 220 verses that use chata. Here and in verse 52 it says "cleanse".

What changes: Used for a house, the word means to clear it of uncleanness. The verse does not speak of anyone's sin.

In plain English: He is to kill one of the birds over a clay pot of running water.

In plain English: He is to take the cedar wood, the hyssop, the scarlet, and the living bird, dip them in the blood of the killed bird and in the running water, and sprinkle the house seven times.

In plain English: He is to cleanse the house with the blood of the bird, the running water, the living bird, the cedar wood, the hyssop, and the scarlet.

In plain English: But he is to let the living bird go free outside the city into the open field. So he makes atonement for the house, and it will be clean."

In plain English: This is the law for every mark of the skin disease, and for the itch,

In plain English: for the destructive mould in clothing and in a house,

In plain English: and for a swelling, a scab, and a bright spot,

In plain English: to teach when a thing is unclean and when it is clean. This is the law of the skin disease (this Bible: leprosy).