Laws for Cleansing Houses

Leviticus 14

³³ The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, ³⁴ "When you come into the land of Canaan, which I give you _u for a possession, and I put a case of leprous disease in a house in the land of your possession, ³⁵ then he who owns the house shall come and tell the priest, 'There seems to me to be some case of _v disease in my house.' ³⁶ Then 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. ³⁷ And 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, ³⁸ then the priest shall go out of the house to the door of the house and shut up the house seven days. ³⁹ And the priest shall come again on the seventh day, and look. If the disease has spread in the walls of the house, ⁴⁰ then 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. ⁴¹ And 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. ⁴² Then they shall take other stones and put them in the place of those stones, and he shall take other plaster and plaster the house.

⁴³ "If the disease breaks out again in the house, after he has taken out the stones and scraped the house and plastered it, ⁴⁴ then the priest shall go and look. And if the disease has spread in the house, it is a _w persistent leprous disease in the house; it is unclean. ⁴⁵ And 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. ⁴⁶ Moreover, whoever enters the house while it is shut up shall be unclean until the evening, ⁴⁷ and whoever sleeps in the house _x shall wash his clothes, and whoever eats in the house shall wash his clothes.

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. ⁴⁹ And for the _y cleansing of the house he shall take _z two small birds, with cedarwood and scarlet yarn and hyssop, ⁵⁰ and shall kill one of the birds in an earthenware vessel over fresh water ⁵¹ and 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. ⁵² Thus 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. ⁵³ And he shall let the live bird go out of the city _a into the open country. So he shall _b make atonement for the house, and it shall be clean."

⁵⁴ This is the law for any case of leprous disease: for _c an itch, ⁵⁵ for _d leprous disease in a garment or in _e a house, ⁵⁶ and _f for a swelling or an eruption or a spot, ⁵⁷ to _g show when it is unclean and when it is clean. This is the law for leprous disease.

1. Cross References
   Genesis 17:8
   And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.
   Numbers 32:22
   And the land is subdued before the Lord ; then after that you shall return and be free of obligation to the Lord and to Israel, and this land shall be your possession before the Lord.
   Deuteronomy 32:49
   Go up this mountain of the Abarim, Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, opposite Jericho, and view the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the people of Israel for a possession.
   
2. Cross References
   Psalms 91:10
   No evil shall be allowed to befall you, no plague come near your tent.
   Zechariah 5:4
   I will send it out, declares the Lord of hosts, and it shall enter the house of the thief, and the house of him who swears falsely by my name. And it shall remain in his house and consume it, both timber and stones.
   
3. Cross References
   Leviticus 13:51 - 52
   Then he shall examine the disease on the seventh day. If the disease has spread in the garment, in the warp or the woof, or in the skin, whatever be the use of the skin, the disease is a persistent leprous disease; it is unclean.
   
4. Cross References
   Leviticus 11:25
   And whoever carries any part of their carcass shall wash his clothes and be unclean until the evening.
   
5. Cross References
   Leviticus 14:52
   Thus 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.
   
6. Cross References
   Leviticus 14:4 - 6
   The priest shall command them to take for him who is to be cleansed two live clean birds and cedarwood and scarlet yarn and hyssop.
   
7. Cross References
   Leviticus 14:7
   And 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.
   
8. Cross References
   Leviticus 14:19 - 20
   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.
   
9. Cross References
   Leviticus 13:30
   The priest shall examine the disease. And if it appears deeper than the skin, and the hair in it is yellow and thin, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean. It is an itch, a leprous disease of the head or the beard.
   
10. Cross References
    Leviticus 13:47
    When there is a case of leprous disease in a garment, whether a woolen or a linen garment.
    
11. Cross References
    Leviticus 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.
    
12. Cross References
    Leviticus 13:2
    When a person has on the skin of his body a swelling or an eruption or a spot, and it turns into a case of leprous disease on the skin of his body, then he shall be brought to Aaron the priest or to one of his sons the priests.
    
13. Cross References
    Leviticus 10:10 - 11
    You are to distinguish between the holy and the common, and between the unclean and the clean.
    

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.