Rituals for those healed of contagious skin diseases

1Yahweh also said to Moses/me,

2“These are the regulations for anyone who has been healed of a contagious skin disease.

3The person must be brought to a priest. The priest will take him outside the camp to where that person has been staying, and examine him. If the skin disease has been healed,

4the priest will say that someone must bring two living birds that are acceptable to Yahweh, along with some cedar wood, some scarlet/red yarn, and some sprigs of ◄hyssop/a very leafy plant►.

5Then the priest will command that one of the birds be killed while it is being held over a clay pot containing water from a spring.

6Then the priest will dip the other bird, along with the cedar wood, the scarlet/red yarn and the hyssop, into the blood of the bird that was killed.

7Then he must sprinkle some of the blood on the person who was healed; he must sprinkle it on him seven times. Then he will declare that the person is permitted to be with other people again. And the priest will release the other bird and allow it to fly away.

8“Then the person who was healed must wash his clothes, shave off all his hair, and bathe. Then he is allowed to return to the camp, but he must stay outside his tent for seven days.

9On the seventh day, he must again shave off all his hair, including his beard and his eyebrows. Then he must again wash his clothes and bathe, and then he will be allowed to be with other people again.

10“The next day that person must bring two male lambs and one female lamb that is one year old, all of them with no defects. He must also bring six quarts/liters of fine flour, mixed with olive oil, to be an offering, and ◄0.6 pint/0.3 liter► of olive oil.

11The priest who declares that the person’s skin disease is ended must bring that person, and his offerings, to me, Yahweh, at the entrance of the Sacred Tent.

12“Then the priest must take one of the male lambs and lift it up, along with the olive oil, in front of me, to be a guilt offering—an offering for his being guilty for not giving to me the things that he was required to give me.

13Then the priest must slaughter the lamb in the sacred place where the other sacrifices are offered. Like the offering to enable people to be forgiven, this guilt offering is holy, and belongs to the priest.

14The priest must take some of the blood of that animal and pour it on the lobe/tip of the right ear and on the thumb of the right hand and on the big toe of the right foot of the one who has been healed of the skin disease.

15Then the priest must take some of the olive oil and pour it in the palm of his own left hand.

16Then he must dip the forefinger of his right hand into the oil in his palm, and sprinkle it in front of me seven times.

17Then he must put some of the oil that is still in the palm of his hand on the lobe/tip of the right ear and the thumb of the right hand and on the big toe of the right foot of the person who has been healed of the skin disease. He must put it on top of the blood that he has already put on those places.

18The remaining oil in his palm must be put on the person’s head, to indicate that I declare that the person has been forgiven for having sinned.

19“Then the priest must slaughter one of the other two animals, to show that the one who has been healed of the skin disease has been forgiven for having sinned, and that he has become acceptable to Yahweh. Then the priest will slaughter the animal that will be completely burned on the altar.

20He will also put on the altar the offering of grain, to indicate that the person has been forgiven for having sinned. Then that person will be allowed to be with other people again.

21“But if the person who has been healed of a skin disease is poor and cannot afford to bring all those animals, he must take to the priest one male lamb to be lifted up to be an offering for his not giving to me the things that he was required to give me. He must also take two quarts/liters of fine flour mixed with olive oil to be an offering made from grain, ◄0.6 pint/0.3 liter► of olive oil,

22and two doves or two young pigeons, one for him to be forgiven for the sins he has committed, and one to be completely burned on the altar.

23“On that same day, that person must take those things to the priest at the entrance of the Sacred Tent, to offer them to Yahweh.

24The priest will take the lamb for the offering for that person not giving to me the things that he was required to give me, along with the olive oil, and lift them up in front of me.

25Then the priest will slaughter that lamb and drain some of the blood in a bowl, and take some of that blood and put it on the lobe/tip of the person’s right ear and on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot.

26Then the priest will pour some of the oil into the palm of his left hand,

27and with his right forefinger he must sprinkle some of the oil from his palm there in my presence.

28He must put some of the oil in his palm on the same places where he put the blood.

29He must put the rest of the oil that is in his hand on the head of the person who has been healed of a skin disease, to indicate that I have forgiven him for having sinned.

30Then the priest must sacrifice the doves or the pigeons, whichever that person has brought.

31One will be an offering for sin and the other will be completely burned on the altar, along with the offering of grain. By doing that, the priest will declare that the person is no longer guilty for having sinned.

32“Those are the regulations for anyone who has a contagious skin disease and who is poor and cannot afford the usual offerings, in order that he can be with people again.”

Instructions regarding mildew in a house

33Yahweh also said to Aaron and Moses/me,

34“I am about to give you Canaan land to belong to your people permanently. When you enter that land, there will be times when I cause/allow mildew to appear inside one of your houses.

35If that happens, the owner of that house must go to the priest and tell him, ‘There is something in my house that looks like mildew.’

36“Then the priest will say to him, ‘Take everything out of the house before I enter the house to examine the mildew. If you do not do that, I will declare that everything in the house is contaminated.’

37After the owner takes everything outside of his house, the priest will go in and inspect the house. If the mildew has caused greenish or reddish spots/depressions on the walls that seem to be deeper than only on the surface of the walls,

38the priest will go outside the house and lock it up for seven days.

39On the seventh day, he must go into the house and inspect it again. If the mildew on the walls has spread,

40the priest will tell someone to tear out and throw in the dump outside the town all the stones in the walls that have mildew on them.

41Then the owner must scrape all the walls inside the house, and everything that is scraped off must be thrown into a dump outside the town.

42Then the owner must get new/other stones to replace the ones that had mildew on them, and take new clay and plaster to cover the stones in the walls of the house.

43“If the mildew appears again in the house after that is done,

44the priest must go and examine the house again. If the mildew has spread inside the house, it will be clear that the mildew is the kind that destroys houses, and no one will be allowed to live in it.

45It must be completely torn down—the stones, the timber and the plaster—and all those things must be thrown into a dump outside the town.

46“Anyone who goes into that house while it is locked up will not be allowed to be with other people until sunset of that day.

47Anyone who sleeps in that house or eats in that house during that time must wash his clothes.

48“But when the priest comes to examine the house after it has been plastered, if the mildew has not spread, he shall declare that people may live in it, because the mildew is gone.

49But before people are allowed to live in it, the priest must take two small birds and some cedar wood and some red/scarlet yarn and some hyssop.

50He must kill one of the birds while holding it over a clay pot containing water from a spring.

51Then he must take the cedar wood, the hyssop, the red/scarlet yarn, and the other/living bird, and dip them into the blood of the dead bird, and sprinkle some of that blood on the house seven times.

52By doing all those things he will cause the house to be acceptable to be lived in again.

53Then he must release the other bird and allow it to fly away. By doing that, he will finish the ritual for causing the house to be acceptable for people to live in it again.

54“Those are the regulations for contagious diseases, for itching sores,

55for mildew [DOU] on clothes or in a house,

56and for swellings, rashes, or bright spots on sores,

57to find out whether a person has a contagious disease or not, and whether people will still be permitted to touch their clothing or their house, or not.”