Cleansing a Home

48 If, however, the priest comes and inspects it, and the mildew has not spread after the house has been replastered, he shall pronounce the house clean, because the mildew is gone.

49 He is to take two birds, cedar wood, scarlet yarn, and hyssop to purify the house; 50 and he shall slaughter one of the birds over fresh water in a clay pot.

51 Then he shall take the cedar wood, the hyssop, the scarlet yarn, and the live bird, dip them in the blood of the slaughtered bird and the fresh water, and sprinkle the house seven times. 52 And he shall cleanse the house with the bird’s blood, the fresh water, the live bird, the cedar wood, the hyssop, and the scarlet yarn.

53 Finally, he is to release the live bird into the open fields outside the city. In this way he will make atonement for the house, and it will be clean.

54 This is the law for any infectious skin disease, for a scaly outbreak, 55 for mildew in clothing or in a house, 56 and for a swelling, rash, or spot, 57 to determine when something is clean or unclean. This is the law regarding skin diseases and mildew.[fn]”