Instructions for Cleansing Houses

33 Then[fn] Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, 34 “When you come into the land of Canaan, which I am about to give to you as your possession, and I put mildew[fn] in a house in the land of your possession, 35 then[fn] the one who owns the house[fn] shall come and tell the priest, saying, ‘It appears to me that an infection is in the house.’ 36 And the priest shall issue a command, and they shall clear out the house before the priest comes to examine the infection, so that[fn] all that is in the house might not become unclean; and afterward[fn] the priest shall go to examine the house. 37 And he shall examine the infection, and if[fn] the infection on the house’s wall has yellowish-green or reddish spots and its appearance is deeper than the surface of[fn] the wall, 38 then[fn] the priest shall go out from the house to the house’s entrance, and he shall confine[fn] the house for seven days. 39 And the priest shall return on the seventh day, and he shall examine the infection,[fn] and if[fn] the infection has spread on the house’s wall, 40 the priest shall issue a command and they shall remove the stones on which is the infection, and they shall throw them outside the city[fn] on an unclean place. 41 Then[fn] they[fn] shall scrape off the plaster[fn] from all around the house, and they shall pour out the plaster,[fn] which they scraped off, outside the city[fn] on an unclean place. 42 And they shall take other stones, and they shall put[fn] them in place of those stones, and they[fn] shall take other plaster,[fn] and they[fn] shall replaster[fn] the house.

43 “But[fn] if the infection should return and it breaks out in the house after they[fn] have removed the stones and after scraping off the plaster[fn] of the house and after it has been replastered,[fn] 44 then[fn] the priest shall come, and he shall examine the infection,[fn] and if[fn] the infection has spread in the house, it is a destructive mildew[fn] in the house—it is unclean. 45 So[fn] he shall break down the house, its stones and its wood and all of the house’s plaster,[fn] and he shall bring it all[fn] outside the city[fn] to an unclean place. 46 And the person who enters into the house during all the days that he[fn] confined[fn] it shall become unclean until the evening. 47 And the person who sleeps in the house must wash his garments, and the person who eats in the house shall wash his garments.

48 “And if the priest comes again and examines the house[fn] and if[fn] the infection has not spread in the house after being replastered,[fn] then[fn] the priest shall pronounce the house clean, because the infection is healed. 49 And he shall take two birds and cedar wood[fn] and a crimson thread[fn] and hyssop to cleanse the house; 50 and he shall slaughter the first bird over fresh water on a clay vessel. 51 Then[fn] he shall take the cedar wood[fn] and the hyssop and the crimson thread[fn] and the living bird, and he shall dip them in the slaughtered bird’s blood and in the fresh water, and he shall spatter them[fn] on the house seven times. 52 Thus[fn] he shall purify the house with the bird’s blood and with the fresh water and with the living bird and with the cedar wood[fn] and with the hyssop and with the crimson thread.[fn] 53 And he shall send the living bird outside the city[fn] into the open field;[fn] and so he shall make atonement for the house, and it shall be clean.

54 “This is the instruction for any infectious skin disease and for the diseased area of skin, 55 and for a mildew[fn] of the garment and for the house, 56 and for the swelling and for the epidermal eruption and for the spot, 57 to teach when something is unclean and when something is clean.[fn] This is the regulation of the infectious skin disease.”