Through the Bible – Day 40

₁The LORD told Moses to say to the people:

_2-3After you think you are healed of leprosy, you must ask for a priest to come outside the camp and examine you. And if you are well, ₄he will order someone to bring out two live birds that are acceptable for sacrifice, together with a stick of cedar wood, a piece of red yarn, and a branch from a hyssop plant. ₅The priest will order someone to kill one of the birds over a clay pot of spring water. ₆Then he will dip the other bird, the cedar, the red yarn, and the hyssop in the blood of the dead bird. ₇Next, he will sprinkle you seven times with the blood and say, “You are now clean.” Finally, he will release the bird and let it fly away.

₈After this you must wash your clothes, shave your entire body, and take a bath before you are completely clean. You may move back into camp, but you must not enter your tent for seven days. ₉Then you must once again shave your head, face, and eyebrows, as well as the hair on the rest of your body. Finally, wash your clothes and take a bath, and you will be completely clean.

₁₀On the eighth day you must bring to the priest two rams and a year-old female lamb that have nothing wrong with them; also bring a third of a litre of olive oil and three kilogrammes of your finest flour mixed with oil. ₁₁Then the priest will present you and your offerings to me at the entrance to my sacred tent. ₁₂There he will offer one of the rams, together with the one third of a litre of oil, as a sacrifice to make things right. He will also lift them up to show that they are dedicated to me. ₁₃This sacrifice is very holy. It belongs to the priest and must be killed in the same place where animals are killed as sacrifices for sins and as sacrifices to please me.

₁₄The priest will smear some of the blood from this sacrifice on your right ear lobe, some on your right thumb, and some on the big toe of your right foot. ₁₅He will then pour some of the olive oil into the palm of his left hand, ₁₆dip a finger of his right hand into the oil, and sprinkle some of it seven times towards the sacred tent. ₁₇Next, he will smear some of the oil on your right ear lobe, some on your right thumb, and some on the big toe of your right foot, _18-20and pour the rest of the oil from his palm on your head. Then he will offer the other two animals—one as a sacrifice for sin and the other as a sacrifice to please me, together with a grain sacrifice. After this you will be completely clean.

₂₁If you are poor and cannot afford to offer this much, you may offer a ram as a sacrifice to make things right, together with a third of a litre of olive oil and one kilogramme of flour mixed with oil as a grain sacrifice. The priest will then lift these up to dedicate them to me. ₂₂Depending on what you can afford, you must also offer either two doves or two pigeons, one as a sacrifice for sin and the other as a sacrifice to please me. ₂₃The priest will offer these to me in front of the sacred tent on the eighth day.

_24-25The priest will kill this ram for the sacrifice to make things right, and he will lift it up with the olive oil in dedication to me. Then he will smear some of the blood on your right ear lobe, some on your right thumb, and some on the big toe of your right foot.

₂₆The priest will pour some of the olive oil into the palm of his left hand, ₂₇then dip a finger of his right hand in the oil and sprinkle some of it seven times towards the sacred tent. ₂₈He will smear some of the oil on your right ear lobe, some on your right thumb, and some on the big toe of your right foot, just as he did with the blood of the sacrifice to make things right. _29-31And he will pour the rest of the oil from his palm on your head.

Then, depending on what you can afford, he will offer either the doves or the pigeons together with the grain sacrifice. One of the birds is the sacrifice for sin, and the other is the sacrifice to please me. After this you will be completely clean.

₃₂These are the things you must do if you have leprosy and cannot afford the usual sacrifices to make you clean.

₃₃The LORD told Moses and Aaron to say to the people:

₃₄After I have given you the land of Canaan as your permanent possession, here is what you must do, if I ever put mildew on the walls of any of your homes. ₃₅First, you must say to a priest, “I think mildew is on the wall of my house.”

₃₆The priest will reply, “Empty the house before I inspect it, or else everything in it will be unclean.”

₃₇If the priest discovers greenish or reddish spots that go deeper than the surface of the walls, ₃₈he will have the house closed for seven days. ₃₉Then he will return and check to see if the mildew has spread. _40-41If so, he will order someone to scrape the plaster from the walls, remove the filthy stones, then haul everything off and dump it in an unclean place outside the town. ₄₂Afterwards the wall must be repaired with new stones and fresh plaster.

₄₃If the mildew appears a second time, ₄₄the priest will come and say, “This house is unclean. It's covered with mildew that can't be removed.” ₄₅Then he will have the house torn down and every bit of wood, stone, and plaster hauled off to an unclean place outside the town. ₄₆Meanwhile, if any of you entered the house while it was closed, you will be unclean until evening. ₄₇And if you either slept or ate in the house, you must wash your clothes.

₄₈On the other hand, if the priest discovers that mildew hasn't reappeared after the house was newly plastered, he will say, “This house is clean—the mildew has gone.” ₄₉Then, to show that the house is now clean, he will get two birds, a stick of cedar wood, a piece of red yarn, and a branch from a hyssop plant and bring them to the house. ₅₀He will kill one of the birds over a clay pot of spring water _51-52and let its blood drain into the pot. Then he will dip the cedar, the hyssop, the yarn, and the other bird into the mixture of blood and water. Next, he will sprinkle the house seven times with the mixture, then the house will be completely clean. ₅₃Finally, he will release the bird and let it fly away, ending the ceremony for purifying the house.

_54-57These are the things you must do if you discover that you are unclean because of an itch or a sore, or that your clothing or house is unclean because of mildew.

₁The LORD told Moses and Aaron ₂to say to the community of Israel:

Any man with an infected penis is unclean, ₃whether it is stopped up or keeps dripping. ₄Anything that he rests on or sits on is also unclean, _5-7and if you touch either these or him, you must wash your clothes and take a bath, but you still remain unclean until evening.

₈If you are spat on by the man, you must wash your clothes and take a bath, but you still remain unclean until evening. _9-10Any saddle or seat on which the man sits is unclean. And if you touch or carry either of these, you must wash your clothes and take a bath, but you still remain unclean until evening. ₁₁If the man touches you without first washing his hands, you must wash your clothes and take a bath, but you still remain unclean until evening. ₁₂Any clay pot that he touches must be destroyed, and any wooden bowl that he touches must be washed.

₁₃Seven days after the man gets well, he will be considered clean, if he washes his clothes and takes a bath in spring water. ₁₄On the eighth day he must bring either two doves or two pigeons to the front of my sacred tent and give them to a priest. ₁₅The priest will offer one of the birds as a sacrifice for sin and the other as a sacrifice to please me, then I will consider the man completely clean.

₁₆Any man who has a flow of semen must take a bath, but he still remains unclean until evening. ₁₇If the semen touches anything made of cloth or leather, these must be washed, but they still remain unclean until evening. ₁₈After having sex, both the man and the woman must take a bath, but they still remain unclean until evening.

₁₉When a woman has her monthly period, she remains unclean for seven days, and if you touch her, you must take a bath, but you remain unclean until evening. _20-23Anything that she rests on or sits on is also unclean, and if you touch either of these, you must wash your clothes and take a bath, but you still remain unclean until evening. ₂₄Any man who has sex with her during this time becomes unclean for seven days, and anything he rests on is also unclean.

₂₅Any woman who has a flow of blood outside her regular monthly period is unclean until it stops, just as she is during her monthly period. ₂₆Anything that she rests on or sits on during this time is also unclean, just as it would be during her period. ₂₇If you touch either of these, you must wash your clothes and take a bath, but you still remain unclean until evening.

₂₈Seven days after the woman gets well, she will be considered clean. ₂₉On the eighth day, she must bring either two doves or two pigeons to the front of my sacred tent and give them to a priest. ₃₀He will offer one of the birds as a sacrifice for sin and the other as a sacrifice to please me; then I will consider the woman completely clean.

₃₁When any of you are unclean, you must stay away from the rest of the community of Israel. Otherwise, my sacred tent will become unclean, and the whole nation will die.

_32-33These are the things you men must do if you become unclean because of an infected penis or if you have a flow of semen. And these are the things you women must do when you become unclean either because of your monthly period or an unusual flow of blood. This is also what you men must do if you have sex with a woman who is unclean.

_1-2Two of Aaron's sons had already lost their lives for disobeying the LORD, so the LORD told Moses to say to Aaron:

I, the LORD, appear in a cloud over the place of mercy on the sacred chest, which is behind the inside curtain of the sacred tent. And I warn you not to go there except at the proper time. Otherwise, you will die!

₃Before entering this most holy place, you must offer a bull as a sacrifice for your sins and a ram as a sacrifice to please me. ₄You will take a bath and put on the sacred linen clothes, including the underwear, the robe, the sash, and the turban. ₅Then the community of Israel will bring you a ram and two goats, both of them males. The goats are to be used as sacrifices for sin, and the ram is to be used as a sacrifice to please me.

₆Aaron, you must offer the bull as a sacrifice of forgiveness for your own sins and for the sins of your family. ₇Then you will lead the two goats into my presence at the front of the sacred tent, ₈where I will show you which goat will be sacrificed to me and which one will be sent into the desert to the demon Azazel. ₉After you offer the first goat as a sacrifice for sin, ₁₀the other one must be presented to me alive, before you send it into the desert to take away the sins of the people.

₁₁You must offer the bull as a sacrifice to ask forgiveness for your own sins and for the sins of your family. ₁₂Then you will take a fire pan of live coals from the bronze altar, together with two handfuls of finely ground incense, into the most holy place. ₁₃There you will present them to me by placing the incense on the coals, so that the place of mercy will be covered with a cloud of smoke. Do this, or you will die there! ₁₄Next, use a finger to sprinkle some of the blood on the place of mercy, which is on the lid of the sacred chest; then sprinkle blood seven times in front of the chest.

₁₅Aaron, you must next sacrifice the goat for the sins of the people, and you must sprinkle its blood inside the most holy place, just as you did with the blood of the bull. ₁₆By doing this, you will take away the sins that make both the most holy place and the people of Israel unclean. Do the same for the sacred tent, which is here among the people. ₁₇Only you are allowed in the sacred tent from the time you enter until the time you come out. ₁₈After leaving the tent, you will purify the bronze altar by smearing each of its four corners with some of the blood from the bull and from the goat. ₁₉Use a finger to sprinkle the altar seven times with the blood, and it will be completely clean from the sins of the people.

₂₀After you have purified the most holy place, the sacred tent, and the bronze altar, you must bring the live goat to the front of the tent. ₂₁There you will lay your hands on its head, while confessing every sin the people have committed, and you will appoint someone to lead the goat into the desert, so that it can take away their sins. ₂₂Finally, this goat that carries the heavy burden of Israel's sins must be released deep in the desert.

_23-24Aaron, after this you must go inside the sacred tent, take a bath, put on your ordinary priestly clothes, and leave there the clothes you put on before entering the most holy place. Then you will come out and offer sacrifices to please me and sacrifices for your sins and for the sins of the people. ₂₅The fat from these sacrifices for sin must be sent up in smoke on the bronze altar.

₂₆The one who led the goat into the desert and sent it off to the demon Azazel must take a bath and wash his clothes before coming back into camp. ₂₇The remains of the bull and the goat whose blood was taken into the most holy place must be taken outside the camp and burnt. ₂₈And whoever does this must take a bath and change clothes before coming back into camp.

₂₉On the tenth day of the seventh month of each year, you must go without eating to show sorrow for your sins, and no one, including foreigners who live among you, is allowed to work. ₃₀This is the day on which the sacrifice for the forgiveness of your sins will be made in my presence, ₃₁and from now on, it must be celebrated each year. Go without eating and make this a day of complete rest just like the Sabbath. ₃₂The high priest must offer the sacrifices for cleansing from sin, while wearing the sacred linen clothes. ₃₃He will offer these sacrifices for the most holy place, the sacred tent, the bronze altar, all the priests, and for the whole community. ₃₄You must celebrate this day each year—it is the Great Day of Forgiveness for all the sins of the people of Israel.

Moses did exactly as the LORD had commanded.