Sinai & The Law

He is to examine the house, and if the mildew on the walls consists of green or red depressions that appear to be beneath the surface of the wall,

the priest shall go outside the doorway of the house and close it up for seven days.

On the seventh day the priest is to return and inspect the house. If the mildew has spread on the walls,

he must order that the contaminated stones be pulled out and thrown into an unclean place outside the city.

And he shall have the inside of the house scraped completely and the plaster that is scraped off dumped into an unclean place outside the city.

So different stones must be obtained to replace the contaminated ones, as well as additional mortar to replaster the house.

If the mildew reappears in the house after the stones have been torn out and the house has been scraped and replastered,

the priest must come and inspect it. If the mildew has spread in the house, it is a destructive mildew; the house is unclean.

It must be torn down with its stones, its timbers, and all its plaster, and taken outside the city to an unclean place.

Anyone who enters the house during any of the days that it is closed up will be unclean until evening.

And anyone who sleeps in the house or eats in it must wash his clothes.

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.

He is to take two birds, cedar wood, scarlet yarn, and hyssop to purify the house;

and he shall slaughter one of the birds over fresh water in a clay pot.

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.

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.

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.

This is the law for any infectious skin disease, for a scaly outbreak,

for mildew in clothing or in a house,

and for a swelling, rash, or spot,

to determine when something is clean or unclean. This is the law regarding skin diseases and mildew.”

And the LORD said to Moses and Aaron,

“Say to the Israelites, ‘When any man has a bodily discharge, the discharge is unclean.

This uncleanness is from his discharge, whether his body allows the discharge to flow or blocks it. So his discharge will bring about uncleanness.

Any bed on which the man with the discharge lies will be unclean, and any furniture on which he sits will be unclean.