Restored and Welcomed Home
There is a way back to our Father. Two birds, cedar, scarlet, and hyssop; blood and oil put on ear, thumb, and toe; offerings scaled to what a poor man can afford. The same procedure cleanses an infected house — even walls and stones can be restored.
14 1Our Father said to Moses:
2"This is the law for someone with a skin disease on the day of his cleansing: he must be brought to the priest. 3The priest is to go outside the camp and examine him; if his skin disease has healed, 4the priest must order two live clean birds, cedar wood, scarlet yarn, and hyssop taken for the one being cleansed. a a v4 Hyssop was a small bushy plant whose branches were used as a natural brush for sprinkling liquid in purification rites. 5The priest is to command that one bird be slaughtered over a clay pot of fresh water. 6He must take the live bird, the cedar wood, the scarlet yarn, and the hyssop, and dip them with the live bird in the blood of the bird slaughtered over the fresh water. 7He sprinkles the blood seven times on the one being cleansed of the skin disease, pronounces him clean, then releases the live bird over the open field. b b v7 One bird was killed and the other, dipped in its blood, was set free to fly away alive — a picture of the death and risen life through which Jesus would one day cleanse his people.
8"The one being cleansed must wash his clothes, shave off all his hair, and bathe in water—then he is clean. Afterward he may enter the camp, but stay outside his tent seven days. 9On the seventh day he must shave off all his hair—head, beard, eyebrows—shaving off all his hair. Then he must wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and he is clean.
10"On the eighth day he must take two male lambs without defect, a year-old ewe lamb without defect, three quarts fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering, and a cup of oil. 11The cleansing priest is to present the one being cleansed, with these offerings, before our Father at the tent of meeting's entrance.
12"The priest takes one male lamb and offers it as a guilt offering, with the oil, waving them as a wave offering before our Father. 13He must slaughter the lamb where the sin offering and burnt offering are slaughtered, in the holy place—since the guilt offering, like the sin offering, belongs to the priest; it is most holy. 14The priest is to take some blood of the guilt offering and put it on the right earlobe of the one being cleansed, on his right thumb, and on his right big toe. 15The priest is to take some of the oil and pour it into his own left palm. 16He must dip his right finger in the oil in his left palm and sprinkle some with his finger seven times before our Father. 17With the oil remaining on his palm, the priest puts some on the right earlobe of the one being made clean, on his right thumb, and his right big toe, over the blood of the guilt offering. 18The priest is to put the oil left in his palm on the head of the one made clean, making atonement for him before our Father. 19The priest is to offer the sin offering and atone for the one made clean from his impurity; afterward he slaughters the burnt offering. 20The priest will offer the burnt and grain offerings on the altar, atone for him, and he will be clean.
21"But if he is poor and lacks the means, he is to take one male lamb as a guilt offering, to be waved for atonement for him, with about two quarts of fine flour mixed with oil, for a grain offering, and about a cup of oil, 22and two turtledoves or two young pigeons—whichever he can afford, one as a sin offering, the other as a burnt offering.
23"On the eighth day he must bring them for his cleansing to the priest, to the entrance of the tent of meeting, before our Father. 24The priest takes the guilt-offering lamb and the log of oil, waving them as a wave offering before our Father. 25He must slaughter the guilt offering's lamb, take some of its blood, and put it on the right ear lobe, right thumb, and right big toe of the one being cleansed. 26The priest is to pour some of the oil into his own left palm, 27and with his right finger sprinkle some oil from his left palm seven times before our Father. 28The priest puts oil from his palm on the right earlobe of the one being made clean, his right thumb, and right big toe, over the place of the guilt offering's blood. 29The priest is to put the rest of the oil from his palm on the head of the one being cleansed, to atone for him before our Father. 30Then he is to offer one of the turtledoves or young pigeons, whichever he can afford. 31Whichever he can afford—one as a sin offering, the other as a burnt offering, with the grain offering. The priest will make atonement before our Father for the one made clean.
32"This is the law for one with a skin disease who cannot afford the offerings for his cleansing."
Mildew in the House
33Our Father said to Moses and Aaron:
34"When you enter the land of Canaan, which I give you as a possession, and I put a spreading mildew in a house in the land you possess, 35the owner must come tell the priest: 'Something like a disease has appeared in my house.' 36The priest must order the house emptied before he enters to examine the disease, so nothing in it is declared unclean; then he may enter to examine the house. 37He examines the disease, and if it is in the house's walls—greenish or reddish depressions that appear deeper than the surface. 38The priest must leave the house through its doorway and shut it up seven days. 39On the seventh day the priest returns to examine it. If the disease has spread on the house walls, 40he must order the diseased stones torn out and thrown outside the city, to an unclean place. 41He must scrape the house's inside all around, and dump the scraped-off plaster outside the city in an unclean place. 42Other stones are to replace the old ones, and new plaster is to cover the house.
43"If the infection returns in the house after the stones are torn out, the house scraped, and plastered, 44the priest must enter and examine; if the disease has spread in the house, it is a destructive mildew in the house—it is unclean. 45He must tear down the house—stones, timbers, and all its plaster—and haul it outside the city to an unclean place. 46Anyone who enters the house while it is closed is unclean until evening. 47Whoever lies or eats in the house must wash his clothes.
48"If the priest comes, examines it, and the disease has not spread in the house after it was plastered, he is to declare it clean—the disease is healed. 49To cleanse the house he is to take two birds, with cedar wood, scarlet yarn, and hyssop, 50and he is to slaughter one of the birds into a clay pot over fresh water. 51He must take the cedar wood, hyssop, scarlet yarn, and the live bird, dip them in the slaughtered bird's blood and the fresh water, and sprinkle the house seven times. 52Then he must purify the house with the bird's blood, fresh water, the live bird, cedar wood, hyssop, and scarlet yarn. 53He is to release the live bird outside the city into the open field, make atonement for the house, and it will be clean."
54This is the law for any skin disease, for an itch, 55for mildew in a garment or a house, 56and for a swelling, a scab, or a bright spot, 57to teach when something is unclean and when clean. This is the law of skin disease and mildew.
