מצורע

God spoke to Moses about how a person healed from tzara’at (a scaly skin condition) could return to the community. First, the priest went outside the camp to examine the person. If healing was clear, the priest asked for two live pure birds, cedar wood, crimson stuff, and hyssop. One bird was slaughtered over fresh water in an earthen vessel. The priest dipped the live bird and the other items into the blood and water, then sprinkled the healed person seven times. After that, the live bird was set free in the open country.

The person washed clothes, shaved off all hair, and bathed, then could enter the camp but stayed outside their tent for seven days. On the seventh day they shaved again and washed. On the eighth day they came to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting with offerings. The priest used blood and oil, touching the right ear, right thumb, and right big toe, and placed oil on the person’s head. If the person was poor, smaller offerings were allowed.

God also described what to do if “something like a plague” appeared on a house in Canaan. When the owner noticed greenish or reddish streaks that seemed to go deep in the wall, the owner told the priest. Before the priest entered, the house was cleared so its belongings would not become impure.

The priest inspected the walls and then closed the house for seven days. On the seventh day he returned. If the marks had spread, the affected stones were pulled out and thrown outside the city to an impure place. The inside of the house was scraped all around, and the scraped coating was dumped outside the city. New stones were set in, and the house was replastered.

If the plague returned after that, the house was declared impure and torn down, with stones, timber, and plaster carried outside the city. Anyone entering while it was closed became impure until evening. But if the plague did not spread, the priest pronounced the house pure and performed a purging ritual with two birds, fresh water in an earthen vessel, cedar wood, crimson stuff, and hyssop, sprinkling the house seven times and setting the live bird free.

God then told Moses and Aaron about rules for ritual impurity caused by certain body fluids. The Torah calls this state tumah, meaning a kind of ritual “not-ready” feeling that required washing and waiting before returning to holy spaces.

If someone had a discharge, they were considered impure for a time. Anything they lay on or sat on became impure too. Anyone who touched their bedding, the objects they sat on, or their body had to wash clothes, bathe in water, and remain impure until evening. An earthen vessel they touched had to be broken, while a wooden implement was rinsed.

When the person was healed, they counted seven days, washed clothes, and bathed in fresh water. On the eighth day they brought two turtledoves or two pigeons to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, and the priest offered them.