The Third Book of Moses: Leviticus

⭑ Catholic Public Domain Version 2009 ⭑

- Chapter 14 -

(Matthew 8:1–4; Mark 1:40–45; Luke 5:12–16)

And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

This is the rite for a leper, when he is to be cleansed. He shall be brought to the priest,

who, departing from the camp, when he has found the leprosy to be cleansed,

shall instruct him who is to be purified to offer for himself two living sparrows, which it is lawful to eat, and cedar wood, and vermillion, and hyssop.

And he shall order that one of the sparrows be immolated in an earthen vessel over living waters.(a)

But the other living one, with the cedar wood, and the scarlet, and the hyssop, he shall dip in the blood of the immolated sparrow.(b)

And he shall sprinkle him who is to be cleansed seven times, so that he may be purified justly. And he shall release the living sparrow, so that it may fly away into the field.

And when the man will have washed his clothes, he shall shave all the hair from his body, and he shall be washed with water. And having been purified, he shall enter into the camp, only to this extent: that he may remain outside his own tent for seven days.

And on the seventh day he shall shave the hair of his head, and his beard, and his eyebrows, as well as the hair of his entire body. And having washed his clothes again, and his body,

on the eighth day, he shall take two immaculate lambs, and a one-year-old female sheep without blemish, and three tenths of fine wheat flour, which has been sprinkled with oil, as a sacrifice, and separately, one twelfth hin of oil.(c)

(d)

And when the priest purifying the man has presented him and all these things in the sight of the Lord at the door of the tabernacle of the testimony,

he shall take a lamb and offer it for transgression, with the twelfth hin of oil. And having offered all these before the Lord,

he shall immolate the lamb, where the victim for sin is usually immolated with the holocaust, that is, in the holy place. For just as with the one for sin, so also the victim for transgression belongs to the priest. It is the Holy of holies.

And taking some of the blood of the victim, which was immolated for transgression, the priest shall place it upon the tip of the right ear of him who is being cleansed, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and likewise the foot.(e)

And he shall send some of the twelfth hin of oil into his own left hand,

and he shall dip his right finger in it, and he shall sprinkle it in the sight of the Lord seven times.

But the oil which remains in his left hand, he shall pour over the tip of the right ear of him who is being cleansed, and upon the thumb of his right hand as well as the foot, and upon the blood which was shed for transgression,

and upon his head.

And he shall pray for him in the sight of the Lord, and he shall accomplish the sacrifice on behalf of sin. Then he shall immolate the holocaust,

and place it upon the altar with its libations, and the man will be duly cleansed.

But if he is poor, and his hand is not able to find what has been said, he shall take a lamb as an offering for transgression, so that the priest may pray for him, and a tenth part of fine wheat flour sprinkled with oil, as a sacrifice, and a twelfth hin of oil,

and two turtledoves or two young pigeons, of which one may be for sin, and the other as a holocaust.

And he shall offer them on the eighth day of his purification to the priest at the door of the tabernacle of the testimony in the sight of the Lord.

And he, receiving the lamb for transgression, and the twelfth hin of oil, shall lift them up together.

And when the lamb has been immolated, he shall place some of its blood upon the tip of the right ear of him who is being cleansed, and upon the thumb of his right hand, as well as the foot.

Yet truly, he shall send part of the oil into his own left hand,

and dipping the finger of his right hand in it, he shall sprinkle it seven times before the Lord.

And he shall touch the tip of the right ear of him who is being cleansed, and the thumb of his right hand, as well as the foot, in the place of the blood which was shed for transgression.

But the remaining part of the oil which is in his left hand, he shall send upon the head of the one being purified, to appease the Lord on his behalf.

And he shall offer a turtledove or a young pigeon,

one for transgression, and the other as a holocaust, with their libations.

This is the sacrifice of a leper, who is not able to obtain all of the things concerning his cleansing.

Signs of Home Contamination

And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying:

When you will have entered into the land of Canaan, which I will give to you as a possession, if there is the mark of leprosy in a building,

he whose house it is shall go and report to the priest, saying: “It seems to me that the mark of leprosy is in my house.”

And he shall instruct them to carry all things out of the house, before he would enter it and see whether it is leprosy, lest all that is in the house become unclean. And after this, he shall enter to examine the leprosy of the house.

And when he will have seen in its walls something like little hollows, deformed with paleness or redness, and lower than the remaining surface,

he shall exit by the door of the house, and immediately close it up for seven days.

And returning on the seventh day, he shall examine it. If he finds that the leprosy has spread,

he shall order the stones in which the leprosy is, to be dug out and cast outside the city in an unclean place,

and that the house be scraped on the inside all around, and that the dust of the scrapings be scattered outside the city in an unclean place,

and that other stones be put back, in place of those which had been taken away, and that the house be plastered with other mortar.

But if, after the stones have been dug out, and the dust wiped away, and it is plastered with other clay,

the priest, upon entering, will have seen that the leprosy has returned, and that the walls are sprinkled with spots, then it is a persistent leprosy and the house is unclean.(f)

And so they shall promptly destroy it, and shall cast its stones and timber, and also all the dust, outside the town in an unclean place.

Whoever enters into the house when it is closed up shall be unclean until evening.

And whoever will have slept in it, or eaten anything, shall wash his clothes.(g)

Cleansing a Home

But if the priest, upon entering, will have seen that the leprosy has not spread in the house, after it had been newly plastered, he shall purify it, restoring it to health.

And for its purification, he shall take two sparrows, and cedar wood, and vermillion, as well as hyssop,

and, having immolated one sparrow in an earthen vessel over living waters,

he shall take the cedar wood, and the hyssop, and the scarlet, and the living sparrow, and he shall dip all these in the blood of the immolated sparrow, and also in the living water, and he shall sprinkle the house seven times.

And he shall purify it as much with the blood of the sparrow as with the living water, and with the living sparrow, and the cedar wood, and the hyssop, and the vermillion.

And when he has released the sparrow to fly freely away into the field, he shall pray for the house, and it shall be justly cleansed.

This is the law of every kind of leprosy and plague:

of the leprosy of garments and houses,

of scars and erupting pustules, of a shining spot, when the appearance is also variegated,

so that it can be known at what time a thing is clean or unclean.

Footnotes

(a)14:5 Living waters:That is, waters taken from a spring, brook, or river.(Challoner)

(b)14:6 In the earlier verse (14:4), the word ‘vermiculum’ was used to refer to the dyed cloth, but now ‘cocco’ is used. Each of those two Latin words refers to a dyed cloth by the source of the dye, which in both cases produces a reddish color in the cloth.(Conte)

(c)14:10 A sextarium (Roman measure) is used in the Latin text to represent a ‘log’ which is an ancient Hebrew unit of liquid measure equivalent to 1/12th of a ‘hin’ or about 1/3 of a U.S. quart.(Conte)

(d)14:10 A sextary:Heb. log: a measure of liquids, which was the twelfth part of a hin; and held about as much as six eggs.(Challoner)

(e)14:14 Taking of the blood, etc:These ceremonies used in the cleansing of a leper, were mysterious and very significative. The sprinkling seven times with the blood of the little bird, the washing himself and his clothes, the shaving his hair and his beard, signify the means which are to be used in the reconciliation of a sinner, and the steps by which he is to return to God, viz., by the repeated application of the blood of Christ: the washing his conscience with the waters of compunction: and retrenching all vanities and superfluities, by employing all that is over and above what is necessary in alms deeds. The sin offering, and the holocaust or burnt offering, which he was to offer at his cleansing, signify the sacrifice of a contrite and humble heart, and that of adoration in spirit and truth, with gratitude and thankfulness, for the forgiveness of sins, with which we are ever to appear before the Almighty. The touching the right ear, the thumb of the right hand, and the great toe of the right foot, first with the blood of the victim, and then with the remainder of the oil, which had been sprinkled seven times before the Lord, signify the application of the blood of Christ, and the unction of the sevenfold grace of the Holy Ghost; to the sinner’s right ear, that he may duly hearken to and obey the law of God; and to his right hand and foot, that the works of his hands, and all the steps or affections of his soul, signified by the feet, may be rightly directed to God.(Challoner)

(f)14:44 The word ‘leprosy’ in this context probably refers to some type of mold that may have afflicted some of the houses, since these were built with stone and some type of clay mortar. Therefore, the word ‘leprosy’ in ancient times had a much broader meaning than it has today.(Conte)

(g)14:47 Here is an example where the word ‘et’ does not mean ‘and’, but means ‘or’ instead. The man who sleeps in it must surely wash his clothes, even if he does not eat anything. Also, clearly, the man who has a meal in it must also wash. So the meaning is ‘or’ not ‘and’.(Conte)