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The LORD spoke to Moses:
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“This shall be the law for the one who has had leprosy on the day of his cleansing: he shall be brought to the priest,
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and the priest shall go out of the camp; and if the priest examines him and sees that the leprous disease has been healed in the leper,
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then the priest shall command that for the one to be cleansed two living clean birds, cedar wood, scarlet yarn, and hyssop be taken.
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The priest shall command that one of the birds be killed over an earthen vessel containing running water.
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But the living bird he shall take, together with the cedar wood, the scarlet yarn, and the hyssop, and he shall dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running water.
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Then he shall sprinkle it seven times on the one to be cleansed from the leprosy, and shall cleanse him; and he shall let the living bird go into the open field.
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The one to be cleansed shall wash his clothes, shave off all his hair, and bathe himself in water, and he shall be clean. Afterward he may come into the camp, but he shall stay outside his own tent seven days.
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On the seventh day he shall shave off all his hair: the hair of his head, his beard, his eyebrows, even all his hair he shall shave off. He shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and he shall be clean.
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On the eighth day he shall take two male lambs without blemish, and one ewe lamb a year old without blemish, and three-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering, and one log of oil.
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The priest who performs the cleansing shall place the one to be cleansed, together with his offerings, before the LORD at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting.
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And he shall take one male lamb and offer it as a guilt offering, together with the log of oil, and he shall present them as a wave offering before the LORD.
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He shall kill the lamb in the place where the sin offering and the burnt offering are killed, in the holy place; for as the guilt offering is the priest’s, so is the sin offering; it is most holy.
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The priest shall take some of the blood of the guilt offering and put it on the lobe of the right ear of the one to be cleansed, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot.
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The priest shall take some of the log of oil and pour it into the palm of his own left hand;
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he shall dip his right finger in the oil that is in his left palm, and with his finger he shall sprinkle some of the oil seven times before the LORD.
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And of the oil that remains, the priest shall put some on the right earlobe of the one being cleansed, on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot, in the place where the guilt offering blood was placed.
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What remains of the oil, the priest shall put on the head of the one being cleansed. Thus the priest shall make atonement for that person before the LORD.
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The priest shall present the sin offering and thus make atonement for the one being cleansed from his uncleanness; afterward he shall slaughter the burnt offering.
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Then the priest shall offer the burnt offering and the grain offering on the altar. Thus the priest shall make atonement for that person, and he shall be clean.
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But if the person is poor and cannot afford it, he shall take one male lamb as a guilt offering for a wave offering, to make atonement for that person, and one-tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering, and one log of oil.
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And two turtledoves or two young pigeons, according to his means; one shall be a sin offering and the other a burnt offering.
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On the eighth day he shall bring them all for his cleansing to the priest, at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting before the LORD.
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Then the priest shall take the lamb of the guilt offering and the one log of oil, and the priest shall present them all as a wave offering before the LORD.
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He shall slaughter the lamb of the guilt offering, and the priest shall take some of the blood of the guilt offering and put it on the right earlobe of the one being cleansed, on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot.
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And the priest shall pour some of the oil into his own left palm,
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and with his right finger the priest shall sprinkle some of the oil seven times before the LORD.
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Then the priest shall put some of the oil on the right earlobe of the one being cleansed, on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot, in the place where the guilt offering blood was placed.
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And the rest of the oil he shall put on the head of the one being cleansed, to make atonement for that person before the LORD.
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Then he shall offer one of the turtledoves or young pigeons, which the person brought according to his means,
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one as a sin offering, and the other as a burnt offering, together with the grain offering. In this way the priest shall make atonement for the one to be cleansed before the LORD.
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This is the law for the cleansing of one who has a skin disease and is unable to afford it.”
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The LORD said to Moses and Aaron:
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“When you enter the land of Canaan, which I am giving you as your possession, and I put a mark of skin disease in a house in the land that belongs to you,
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the owner of the house shall come and tell the priest, ‘Something like a mark of skin disease has appeared in my house.’
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Then the priest shall order the house emptied before he goes in to examine the mark, so that nothing in the house may become unclean; afterward the priest shall go in to inspect the house.
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If, when he examines it, the mark on the walls of the house appears to be greenish or reddish depressions, and they seem deeper than the surface of the wall,
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the priest shall go out of the house to the doorway and shut up the house for seven days.
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On the seventh day the priest shall return; if, when he examines it, the mark has spread on the walls of the house,
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then the priest shall order the stones with the mark to be removed and thrown outside the city into an unclean place.
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He shall have the inside of the house scraped all around, and the plaster that is scraped off shall be dumped outside the city into an unclean place.
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Then other stones shall be taken and put in place of those stones, and other plaster shall be taken and the house replastered.
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But if the mark appears again in the house after the stones have been removed and after the house has been scraped and replastered,
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and if the priest comes and examines it and sees that the mark has spread in the house, it is a destructive skin disease in the house, and the house is unclean.
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The house shall be torn down—its stones, its timber, and all the plaster of the house—and all of it shall be carried outside the city to an unclean place.
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Anyone who enters the house while it is shut up shall be unclean until evening.
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Anyone who lies down in the house shall wash his clothes, and anyone who eats in the house shall wash his clothes.
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But if the priest comes and examines it and sees that the mark has not spread in the house after it has been replastered, then the priest shall pronounce the house clean, because the mark has gone away.
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Then, for the cleansing of the house, he shall take two birds, cedar wood, scarlet yarn, and hyssop.
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He shall slaughter one bird over an earthen vessel containing running water.
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Then he shall take the cedar wood, the hyssop, the scarlet yarn, and the live bird, and dip them in the blood of the bird that was slaughtered and in the running water, and he shall sprinkle the house seven times.
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Thus he shall cleanse the house with the bird’s blood, the running water, the live bird, the cedar wood, the hyssop, and the scarlet yarn.
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Then he shall let the live bird go outside the city into the open field. In this way he shall make atonement for the house, and the house shall be clean.
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This is the law for every case of leprous disease, for scaly disease of the head,
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for leprous disease in clothing and in a house,
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for swelling, eruptions, and bright spots,
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to give instruction in the case of uncleanness or in the case of cleanness; this is the law concerning leprosy.”
🕊️🩺🏠 Summary of Leviticus 14 – The Rite of Cleansing for People and Houses with Leprous Uncleanness
Leviticus 14 discusses the cleansing procedure for a person who has recovered from leprosy and for a house affected by mold/house leprosy. This continues Leviticus 13, which sets out the examination of uncleanness. The chapter is full of symbolism of spiritual and social restoration.
1. The Rite of Cleansing for a Person Healed from Leprosy (verses 1–9)
- The person who has recovered is not automatically “clean,” but must be examined by the priest and undergo the cleansing process.
📌 Procedure:
- Two live birds, cedar wood, scarlet yarn, and hyssop are used.
- One bird is slaughtered over running water, and the other bird is dipped into the blood of the dead bird and released into the air.
- The person washes his clothes, shaves off all his hair, and baths → then stays outside the camp for 7 days before fully returning.
🕊️ The live bird symbolizes freedom and restoration—like being released from sin.
2. The Offering on the Eighth Day (verses 10–20)
- On the 8th day, the person brings:
2 rams + 1 ewe + flour + oil
- The priest offers the guilt offering, sin offering, burnt offering, and the grain offering.
- Oil is applied to the ear, the thumb of the hand, and the foot of the person—as in the ordination of a priest (see Leviticus 8).
✝️ This act symbolizes complete cleansing: what he hears, does, and where he steps.
3. If One Cannot Bring the Full Offering (verses 21–32)
- There is a less costly option for the poor:
1 ram + 1 ephah of flour + 2 birds.
📖 The Lord is not partial—what matters is obedience and a sincere heart, not the amount of the offering.
4. Leprosy in a House (verses 33–57)
- If there are green or red patches on the walls of a house, the priest must:
Initial inspection → the house is emptied and quarantined.
If the patch spreads → the stones and plaster must be removed and thrown into an unclean place.
If it still spreads → the house is torn down completely.
If it is healed → the priest performs a rite of purification, similar to that for a person.
🏠 A symbol that sin can also dwell and spread in a “house”—a setting, a system, a community.
📖 Main Teaching
- Spiritual restoration requires a process, not only physical healing.
- The Lord cares about total restoration—soul, body, house, and community.
- Forgiveness is accompanied by symbols of consecration: blood, water, oil, and confession.
- A house or surroundings defiled by sin must be cleansed or destroyed.
- Holiness is a shared responsibility: personal and communal.
✨ Spiritual Meaning
- Jesus healed those afflicted with leprosy and sent them to the priest (Luke 17:14)—showing that He honored the law and He is the fulfillment of spiritual and social restoration.
- The released bird → a picture of Christ who died and rose again, then sets us free in spiritual liberty.
- The anointing of blood and oil shows that salvation brings change to our whole life.
- An unclean house shows that sin is not only individual, but can permeate systems and structures of life. There must be divine intervention and cleansing.
