The Lord spoke to Moses and gave the law for the leper on the day of his cleansing. The man was to be brought to the priest, and the priest was to go outside the camp to examine him. If the plague of leprosy was healed, the priest would command two living clean birds, cedar wood, scarlet yarn, and hyssop to be brought.
One bird was killed in an earthen vessel over running water. The priest took the living bird, the cedar, the scarlet, and the hyssop, and dipped them in the blood of the slain bird. He sprinkled the blood seven times on the man to be cleansed, pronounced him clean, and released the living bird into the open field.
The cleansed man washed his clothes, shaved off all his hair, and bathed in water. After that he could enter the camp, but he had to dwell outside his tent for seven days. On the seventh day he shaved all his hair again—head, beard, and eyebrows—washed his clothes, and bathed his flesh in water.
On the eighth day he brought two he-lambs without blemish, one ewe-lamb a year old without blemish, fine flour mingled with oil for a meal offering, and a log of oil. The priest set the man and the offerings before the Lord at the door of the tent of meeting.
The priest took one he-lamb and the log of oil and waved them as a wave offering before the Lord. He killed the he-lamb in the place where the sin offering and burnt offering were killed, for the trespass offering was most holy and belonged to the priest. The priest took some of the blood and put it on the tip of the man's right ear, on the thumb of his right hand, and on the great toe of his right foot.
The priest poured some of the oil into the palm of his left hand, dipped his right finger in it, and sprinkled the oil seven times before the Lord. He put the rest of the oil on the same places—the right ear, right thumb, and right great toe—on top of the blood of the trespass offering. The remaining oil he put on the man's head, making atonement for him before the Lord.
The priest offered the sin offering and made atonement for the man's uncleanness. Then he killed the burnt offering and offered it with the meal offering on the altar. The priest made atonement, and the man was clean.
If the man was poor and could not afford so much, he brought one he-lamb for a trespass offering, a tenth of an ephah of fine flour mingled with oil for a meal offering, a log of oil, and two turtledoves or two young pigeons—one for a sin offering and one for a burnt offering. The priest performed the same ritual with the lamb and the oil, making atonement for him.
The Lord also spoke to Moses and Aaron about leprosy in a house. When they entered the land of Canaan and the Lord put a plague of leprosy in a house, the owner was to tell the priest. The priest ordered the house emptied before he inspected it, so nothing in it would become unclean. He examined the walls for hollow streaks, greenish or reddish, that appeared lower than the wall.
If the plague was present, the priest shut up the house for seven days. On the seventh day he returned. If the plague had spread, the priest commanded the infected stones to be removed and cast into an unclean place outside the city. The house was scraped inside, and the scraped mortar was dumped outside the city. New stones and new mortar were brought in to replaster the house.
If the plague broke out again after the stones were removed and the house scraped and plastered, the priest declared it a fretting leprosy. The house was unclean, and he ordered it broken down—stones, timber, and mortar—and carried outside the city to an unclean place. Anyone who entered the house while it was shut up was unclean until evening. Anyone who lay down or ate in the house had to wash his clothes.
If the plague did not spread after the house was plastered, the priest pronounced it clean. He took two birds, cedar wood, scarlet yarn, and hyssop to cleanse the house. He killed one bird over running water in an earthen vessel, dipped the living bird and the other items in the blood and water, and sprinkled the house seven times. He released the living bird outside the city into the open field, making atonement for the house, and it was clean.
This was the law for all manner of plague of leprosy—for a scall, for leprosy of a garment, for a house, for a rising, for a scab, and for a bright spot—to teach when something was unclean and when it was clean. This is the law of leprosy.