Metzora

This translation was taken from the JPS Tanakh.

Leviticus 14:1 – 15:33

Chapter 14

¹ The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ² This shall be the ritual for a leper at the time that he is to be cleansed.

When it has been reported to the priest, ³ the priest shall go outside the camp. If the priest sees that the leper has been healed of his scaly affection, ⁴ the priest shall order two live clean birds, cedar wood, crimson stuff, and hyssop to be brought for him who is to be cleansed.⁵ The priest shall order one of the birds slaughtered over fresh water in an earthen vessel; ⁶ and he shall take the live bird, along with the cedar wood, the crimson stuff, and the hyssop, and dip them together with the live bird in the blood of the bird that was slaughtered over the fresh water. ⁷ He shall then sprinkle it seven times on him who is to be cleansed of the eruption and cleanse him; and he shall set the live bird free in the open country. ⁸ The one to be cleansed shall wash his clothes, shave off all his hair, and bathe in water; then he shall be clean. After that he may enter the camp, but he must remain outside his tent seven days. ⁹ On the seventh day he shall shave off all his hair — of head, beard, and eyebrows. When he has shaved off all his hair, he shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water; then he shall be clean. ¹⁰ On the eighth day he shall take two male lambs without blemish, one ewe lamb in its first year without blemish, three-tenths of a measure of choice flour with oil mixed in for a meal offering, and one log of oil. ¹¹ These shall be presented before the Lord, with the man to be cleansed, at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, by the priest who performs the cleansing.

¹² The priest shall take one of the male lambs and offer it with the log of oil as a guilt offering, and he shall elevate them as an elevation offering before the Lord. ¹³ The lamb shall be slaughtered at the spot in the sacred area where the sin offering and the burnt offering are slaughtered. For the guilt offering, like the sin offering, goes to the priest; it is most holy. ¹⁴ The priest shall take some of the blood of the guilt offering, and the priest shall put it on the ridge of the right ear of him who is being cleansed, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot. ¹⁵ The priest shall then take some of the log of oil and pour it into the palm of his own left hand. 16 And the priest shall dip his right finger in the oil that is in the palm of his left hand and sprinkle some of the oil with his finger seven times before the Lord. ¹⁷ Some of the oil left in his palm shall be put by the priest on the ridge of the right ear of the one being cleansed, on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot — over the blood of the guilt offering. ¹⁸ The rest of the oil in his palm the priest shall put on the head of the one being cleansed. Thus the priest shall make expiation for him before the Lord. ¹⁹ The priest shall then offer the sin offering and make expiation for the one being cleansed of his uncleanness. Last, the burnt offering shall be slaughtered, ²⁰ and the priest shall offer the burnt offering and the meal offering on the altar, and the priest shall make expiation for him. Then he shall be clean.

²¹ If, however, he is poor and his means are insufficient, he shall take one male lamb for a guilt offering, to be elevated in expiation for him, one-tenth of a measure of choice flour with oil mixed in for a meal offering, and a log of oil; ²² and two turtledoves or two pigeons, depending on his means, the one to be the sin offering and the other the burnt offering. ²³ On the eighth day of his cleansing he shall bring them to the priest at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, before the Lord. ²⁴ The priest shall take the lamb of guilt offering and the log of oil, and elevate them as an elevation offering before the Lord. ²⁵ When the lamb of guilt offering has been slaughtered, the priest shall take some of the blood of the guilt offering and put it on the ridge of the right ear of the one being cleansed, on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot. ²⁶ The priest shall then pour some of the oil into the palm of his own left hand, 27 and with the finger of his right hand the priest shall sprinkle some of the oil that is in the palm of his left hand seven times before the Lord. ²⁸Some of the oil in his palm shall be put by the priest on the ridge of the right ear of the one being cleansed, on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot, over the same places as the blood of the guilt offering; ²⁹ and what is left of the oil in his palm the priest shall put on the head of the one being cleansed, to make expiation for him before the Lord. 30 He shall then offer one of the turtledoves or pigeons, depending on his means — ³¹ whichever he can afford — the one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering, together with the meal offering. Thus the priest shall make expiation before the Lord for the one being cleansed. ³² Such is the ritual for him who has a scaly affection and whose means for his cleansing are limited.

³³ The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying:
³⁴ When you enter the land of Canaan that I give you as a possession, and I inflict an eruptive plague upon a house in the land you possess, ³⁵ the owner of the house shall come and tell the priest, saying, “Something like a plague has appeared upon my house.” ³⁶ The priest shall order the house cleared before the priest enters to examine the plague, so that nothing in the house may become unclean; after that the priest shall enter to examine the house. ³⁷ If, when he examines the plague, the plague in the walls of the house is found to consist of greenish or reddish streaks that appear to go deep into the wall, ³⁸ the priest shall come out of the house to the entrance of the house, and close up the house for seven days. ³⁹ On the seventh day the priest shall return. If he sees that the plague has spread on the walls of the house, ⁴⁰ the priest shall order the stones with the plague in them to be pulled out and cast outside the city into an unclean place. ⁴¹ The house shall be scraped inside all around, and the coating that is scraped off shall be dumped outside the city in an unclean place. ⁴² They shall take other stones and replace those stones with them, and take other coating and plaster the house.

⁴³ If the plague again breaks out in the house, after the stones have been pulled out and after the house has been scraped and replastered, ⁴⁴ the priest shall come to examine: if the plague has spread in the house, it is a malignant eruption in the house; it is unclean. ⁴⁵ The house shall be torn down — its stones and timber and all the coating on the house — and taken to an unclean place outside the city.

⁴⁶ Whoever enters the house while it is closed up shall be unclean until evening. ⁴⁷ Whoever sleeps in the house must wash his clothes, and whoever eats in the house must wash his clothes.

⁴⁸ If, however, the priest comes and sees that the plague has not spread in the house after the house was replastered, the priest shall pronounce the house clean, for the plague has healed. ⁴⁹ To purge the house, he shall take two birds, cedar wood, crimson stuff, and hyssop.⁵⁰ He shall slaughter the one bird over fresh water in an earthen vessel. ⁵¹ He shall take the cedar wood, the hyssop, the crimson stuff, and the live bird, and dip them in the blood of the slaughtered bird and the fresh water, and sprinkle on the house seven times. ⁵² Having purged the house with the blood of the bird, the fresh water, the live bird, the cedar wood, the hyssop, and the crimson stuff, ⁵³ he shall set the live bird free outside the city in the open country. Thus he shall make expiation for the house, and it shall be clean.

⁵⁴ Such is the ritual for every eruptive affection — for scalls, ⁵⁵ for an eruption on a cloth or a house, ⁵⁶ for swellings, for rashes, or for discolorations — ⁵⁷ to determine when they are unclean and when they are clean.
Such is the ritual concerning eruptions.

Chapter 15
¹ The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying: ² Speak to the Israelite people and say to them:
When any man has a discharge issuing from his member, he is unclean. ³ The uncleanness from his discharge shall mean the following — whether his member runs with the discharge or is stopped up so that there is no discharge, his uncleanness means this: ⁴ Any bedding on which the one with the discharge lies shall be unclean, and every object on which he sits shall be unclean. ⁵ Anyone who touches his bedding shall wash his clothes, bathe in water, and remain unclean until evening. ⁶ Whoever sits on an object on which the one with the discharge has sat shall wash his clothes, bathe in water, and remain unclean until evening. ⁷ Whoever touches the body of the one with the discharge shall wash his clothes, bathe in water, and remain unclean until evening. ⁸ If one with a discharge spits on one who is clean, the latter shall wash his clothes, bathe in water, and remain unclean until evening. ⁹ Any means for riding that one with a discharge has mounted shall be unclean; ¹⁰ whoever touches anything that was under him shall be unclean until evening; and whoever carries such things shall wash his clothes, bathe in water, and remain unclean until evening. ¹¹ If one with a discharge, without having rinsed his hands in water, touches another person, that person shall wash his clothes, bathe in water, and remain unclean until evening. ¹² An earthen vessel that one with a discharge touches shall be broken; and any wooden implement shall be rinsed with water.

¹³ When one with a discharge becomes clean of his discharge, he shall count off seven days for his cleansing, wash his clothes, and bathe his body in fresh water; then he shall be clean. ¹⁴ On the eighth day he shall take two turtledoves or two pigeons and come before the Lord at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting and give them to the priest. ¹⁵ The priest shall offer them, the one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering. Thus the priest shall make expiation on his behalf, for his discharge, before the Lord.

¹⁶ When a man has an emission of semen, he shall bathe his whole body in water and remain unclean until evening. ¹⁷ All cloth or leather on which semen falls shall be washed in water and remain unclean until evening. ¹⁸ And if a man has carnal relations with a woman, they shall bathe in water and remain unclean until evening.

¹⁹ When a woman has a discharge, her discharge being blood from her body, she shall remain in her impurity seven days; whoever touches her shall be unclean until evening. ²⁰ Anything that she lies on during her impurity shall be unclean; and anything that she sits on shall be unclean. ²¹ Anyone who touches her bedding shall wash his clothes, bathe in water, and remain unclean until evening; ²² and anyone who touches any object on which she has sat shall wash his clothes, bathe in water, and remain unclean until evening. ²³ Be it the bedding or be it the object on which she has sat, on touching it he shall be unclean until evening. ²⁴ And if a man lies with her, her impurity is communicated to him; he shall be unclean seven days, and any bedding on which he lies shall become unclean.

²⁵ When a woman has had a discharge of blood for many days, not at the time of her impurity, or when she has a discharge beyond her period of impurity, she shall be unclean, as though at the time of her impurity, as long as her discharge lasts. ²⁶ Any bedding on which she lies while her discharge lasts shall be for her like bedding during her impurity; and any object on which she sits shall become unclean, as it does during her impurity: ²⁷ whoever touches them shall be unclean; he shall wash his clothes, bathe in water, and remain unclean until evening.

²⁸ When she becomes clean of her discharge, she shall count off seven days, and after that she shall be clean. ²⁹ On the eighth day she shall take two turtledoves or two pigeons, and bring them to the priest at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. ³⁰ The priest shall offer the one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering; and the priest shall make expiation on her behalf, for her unclean discharge, before the Lord.

³¹ You shall put the Israelites on guard against their uncleanness, lest they die through their uncleanness by defiling My Tabernacle which is among them.

³² Such is the ritual concerning him who has a discharge: concerning him who has an emission of semen and becomes unclean thereby, ³³ and concerning her who is in menstrual infirmity, and concerning anyone, male or female, who has a discharge, and concerning a man who lies with an unclean woman.

Taken from Tanakh, The Holy Scriptures, (Philadelphia, Jerusalem: Jewish Publication Society) 1985.
Used by permission of The Jewish Publication Society. Copyright © 1962, 1992
Third Edition by the Jewish Publication Society.
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