Commentaria in Leviticum
Chapter 14. Synopsis of the chapter
The rite of purification is described, by which a leper already healed of his leprosy is legally to be cleansed, verse 2.
The rite of purification was this: first, the priest sprinkled the man to be cleansed with the blood of a sparrow, by means of another sparrow tied to a cedar stick with scarlet and hyssop; then he let the living sparrow fly away, verse 5; secondly, the man to be cleansed washed his garments, shaved the hair of his body, and washed himself, verse 8; thirdly, on the eighth day he offered a lamb for trespass, a lamb for sin, and a yearling ewe for a holocaust, with three tenths of fine flour and a sextary of oil, verse 10. If the man to be cleansed was poor, instead of the above he offered a lamb for trespass and two turtles or two young pigeons, one for sin, the other for a holocaust, with three tenths of fine flour and a sextary of oil, verse 21; fourthly, the priest touched with the blood of the lamb the right ear of the man to be cleansed, and the thumbs of his right hand and foot; fifthly, he sprinkled some of the oil seven times before the tabernacle, and poured the rest of the oil upon the tip of the right ear, and upon the thumbs of the right hand and foot, and upon the head of the man to be cleansed.
1. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 2. This is the rite of a leper, when he is to be cleansed: He shall be brought to the priest, 3. Who, going out of the camp, when he shall find that the leprosy is cleansed, 4. Shall command him that is to be purified to offer for himself two living sparrows, which it is lawful to eat, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop. 5. And he shall command one of the sparrows to be immolated in an earthen vessel over living waters: 6. And the other that is alive he shall dip, with the cedar wood, and the scarlet, and the hyssop, in the blood of the sparrow that is immolated: 7. With which he shall sprinkle him that is to be cleansed, seven times, that he may be rightly purified: and he shall let go the living sparrow, that it may fly freely into the field. 8. And when he hath washed his garments, he shall shave all the hair of his body, and shall be washed with water: and being purified he shall come into the camp: yet so that he tarry without his tent for seven days: 9. And on the seventh day he shall shave the hair of his head, and beard, and eyebrows, and all the hair of his body. And having washed again his garments and body, 10. On the eighth day he shall take two lambs without blemish, and one ewe lamb of a year old without blemish, and three tenths of fine flour for a sacrifice, tempered with oil, and a sextary of oil apart. 11. And when the priest that purifieth the man shall have presented him and all these things before the Lord at the door of the tabernacle of the testimony, 12. He shall take a lamb, and offer it for a trespass-offering, and the sextary of oil: and having offered all before the Lord, 13. He shall kill the lamb, where the victim for sin is wont to be killed, and the holocaust, that is, in the holy place. For as that which is for sin, so also that which is for a trespass-offering belongs to the priest: it is the holy of holies. 14. And the priest taking of the blood of the victim that was immolated for trespass, shall put it on the tip of the right ear of him that is purified, and on the thumbs of his right hand and foot: 15. And he shall pour of the sextary of oil into his own left hand, 16. And shall dip the finger of his right hand in it, and sprinkle it seven times before the Lord. 17. And the rest of the oil in his left hand he shall pour on the tip of the right ear of him that is purified, and on the thumbs of his right hand and foot, and upon the blood that was shed for the trespass, 18. And upon his head. 19. And he shall pray for him before the Lord, and shall offer the sacrifice for sin; then he shall immolate the holocaust, 20. And shall put it on the altar with its libations, and the man shall be rightly cleansed. 21. But if he be poor, and his hand cannot find the things aforesaid, he shall take a lamb for a trespass-offering, for an oblation, that the priest may pray for him; and the tenth part of fine flour tempered with oil for a sacrifice, and a sextary of oil, 22. And two turtles or two young pigeons, whereof one may be for sin, and the other for a holocaust; 23. And on the eighth day of his purification he shall offer them to the priest at the door of the tabernacle of the testimony before the Lord. 24. And the priest receiving the lamb for the trespass-offering and the sextary of oil, shall elevate them together. 25. And the lamb being killed, he shall put of its blood upon the tip of the right ear of him that is to be purified, and on the thumbs of his right hand and foot: 26. And he shall pour part of the oil into his own left hand, 27. And dipping the finger of his right hand in it, shall sprinkle it seven times before the Lord: 28. And shall touch the tip of the right ear of him that is to be cleansed, and the thumbs of his right hand and foot, in the place of the blood that was shed for the trespass; 29. And the rest of the oil that is in his left hand he shall pour upon the head of the purified, that he may appease the Lord for him; 30. And he shall offer a turtle, or a young pigeon, 31. One for the trespass-offering, and the other for a holocaust with its libations. 32. This is the sacrifice of a leper, who is not able to have all things for his cleansing. 33. And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying: 34. When you shall be come into the land of Chanaan, which I will give you for a possession, if there be a plague of leprosy in a house, 35. He whose house it is shall go and tell the priest, saying: It seemeth to me that there is a plague as of leprosy in my house. 36. And he shall command that they carry out all things out of the house before he go into it and see whether it be leprosy, lest all things become unclean that are in the house. And afterwards he shall go in to view the leprosy of the house, 37. And when he shall see in the walls of it, as it were little hollow valleys, defiled with paleness or redness, and lower than the rest of the surface, 38. He shall go out of the door of the house, and immediately shut it up seven days. 39. And returning on the seventh day, he shall view it; if he find that the leprosy is spread, 40. He shall command that the stones in which the leprosy is be taken out, and be cast without the city into an unclean place: 41. And that the house be scraped on the inside round about, and the dust of the scraping be scattered without the city into an unclean place, 42. And other stones be laid in the place of those that were taken away, and the house be plastered with other mortar. 43. But if after the stones are taken out, and the dust scraped off, and it is plastered with other earth, 44. The priest going in perceive that the leprosy is returned, and the walls sprinkled with spots, it is a settled leprosy, and the house is unclean: 45. Which they shall presently destroy, and shall cast the stones and the timber thereof, and all the dust, out of the town into an unclean place. 46. He that shall enter into the house when it is shut up, shall be unclean until the evening: 47. And he that shall sleep in it, and eat anything, shall wash his garments. 48. But if the priest going in perceive that the leprosy is not spread in the house after it was plastered anew, he shall purify it, it being cured. 49. And for its purification he shall take two sparrows, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop: 50. And having killed one sparrow in an earthen vessel over living waters, 51. He shall take the cedar wood and the hyssop and the scarlet, and the living sparrow, and shall dip them all in the blood of the sparrow that is killed, and in the living waters, and shall sprinkle the house seven times. 52. And he shall purify the house, as well with the blood of the sparrow as with the living waters, and with the living sparrow, and with the cedar wood, and the hyssop, and the scarlet. 53. And when he hath let the sparrow go to fly freely into the fields, he shall pray for the house, and it shall be rightly cleansed. 54. This is the law of all leprosy and stroke, 55. Of the leprosy of garments and houses, 56. Of a scar, and of breaking out of pustules, of a shining spot, and of the divers species of colours changed, 57. That it may be known when a thing is clean or unclean.