(from One New Man Bible translated by William Morford)
M’tsora
Atonement for Gossip and Slander
14.1. And the LORD* spoke to Moses saying, 2. “This will be the instruction for the leper; on the day of his cleansing He will be brought to the priest (Mark 1:44, Luke 5:14) 3. and the priest will go forth out of the camp and the priest will look and, behold, if the plague of leprosy is healed in the leper, 4. then the priest will command to take for him who is to be cleansed two live, clean birds and cedar-wood, scarlet, and hyssop, 5. and the priest will command that one of the birds be killed in an earthen vessel over running water. 6. As for the living bird, he will take it and the cedar-wood and the scarlet and the hyssop, and will dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running water, 7. and he will sprinkle seven times upon him that is to be cleansed from the leprosy, and will pronounce him clean, and will let the living bird loose into the open field. 8. And he that is to be cleansed will wash his clothes and shave off all his hair and immerse himself in water, so he will be clean, and after that he will come into the camp and will stay outside his tent seven days. 9. But it will be on the seventh day that he will shave all his hair off his head and his beard and his eyebrows, he will shave off even all his hair, and he will wash his clothes, also he will immerse his flesh in water and he will be clean. 10. And on the eighth day he will take two he lambs without blemish and one ewe lamb of the first year without blemish and three tenth parts of fine flour, a grain offering mixed with oil, and one log of oil. 11. And the priest that makes him clean will present the man that is to be made clean and those things before the LORD*, at the door of the Tent of Meeting. 12. And the priest will take one he lamb and offer it for a trespass offering and the log of oil, and wave them for a wave offering before the LORD*, 13. and he will slay the lamb in the place where he will kill the sin offering and the burnt offering, in the Holy Place: for as the sin offering is the priest’s, so is the guilt offering. It is most holy 14. and the priest will take of the blood of the guilt offering, and the priest will put it upon the tip of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed and upon the thumb of his right hand and upon the great toe of his right foot, 15. and the priest will take of the log of oil, and pour it into the palm of his own left hand, 16. and the priest will dip his right finger in the oil that is in his left hand and will sprinkle of the oil with his finger seven times before the LORD*. 17. And of the rest of the oil that is in his hand the priest will put on the tip of the right ear of him that is to be cleansed and upon the thumb of his right hand and upon the great toe of his right foot, upon the blood of the trespass offering. 18. And the remnant of the oil that is in the priest’s hand he will pour upon the head of him that is to be cleansed, and the priest will make atonement for him before the LORD*. 19. And the priest will offer the sin offering and make atonement for him that is to be cleansed from his uncleanness, and afterward he will kill the burnt offering 20. and the priest will offer the burnt offering and the grain offering upon the altar, and the priest will make atonement for him and he will be clean.
14:21. “And if he is poor and cannot get so much, then he will take one lamb for a guilt offering to be waved, to make atonement for him and one tenth ephah of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering and a log of oil 22. and two turtledoves, or two young pigeons, such as he is able to get, and the one will be a sin offering and the other a burnt offering. 23. And he will bring them to the priest on the eighth day for his cleansing, to the door of the Tent of Meeting, before the LORD*. 24. And the priest will take the lamb of the guilt offering and the log of oil, and the priest will wave them, a wave offering before the LORD*. 25. And he will kill the lamb of the guilt offering, and the priest will take of the blood of the guilt offering, and put it on the tip of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed, and on the thumb of his right hand and on the great toe of his right foot. 26. And the priest will pour of the oil into the palm of his own left hand, 27. and the priest will sprinkle with his right finger some of the oil that is in his left hand seven times before the LORD*. 28. And the priest will put from the oil that is in his hand on the tip of the right ear of him that is to be cleansed, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the great toe of his right foot, upon the place of the blood of the guilt offering. 29. And the rest of the oil that is in the priest’s hand he will put on the head of him that is to be cleansed, to make atonement for him before the LORD*. 30. And he will offer one of the turtledoves, or of the young pigeons, such as he can get, 31. such as he is able to get, the one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering, with the meal offering, and the priest will make atonement for him who is to be cleansed before the LORD*. 32. “This is the teaching of him in whom is the plague of leprosy, who does not have the money to get that which pertains to his cleansing.”
Leprosy in a House
14:33. And the LORD* spoke to Moses and to Aaron saying, 34. “When you have come into the land of Canaan, which I am giving to you for a possession, and I put the plague of leprosy in a house of the land of your possession, 35. and he who owns the house will come and tell the priest saying, ‘It seems to me there is as it were a plague in the house.’ 36. Then the priest will command that they empty the house before the priest goes in to see the plague, so all that is in the house is not made unclean, and afterward the priest will go in to see the house. 37. And he will look on the plague and, behold, the plague is in the walls of the house with hollow streaks, greenish or reddish, which in sight are lower than the wall, 38. then the priest will go out of the house to the door of the house and shut up the house seven days. 39. And the priest will come again the seventh day and will look and, behold, if the plague has spread in the walls of the house, 40. then the priest will command that they take away the stones in which the plague is, and they will cast them into an unclean place outside the city 41. and he will cause the house to be scraped all around inside, and they will pour out the dust that they scrape off outside the city in an unclean place, 42. and they will take other stones and put them in the place of those stones, and he will take other mortar and will plaster the house. 43. And if the plague comes again and breaks out in the house, after he has taken away the stones and after he has scraped the house and after it is plastered, 44. then the priest will come and look and, behold, if the plague has spread in the house, it is a malignant leprosy in the house; it is unclean. 45. And he will break down the house, its stones, timbers, and all the mortar of the house, and he will carry them out of the city to an unclean place. 46. Moreover he who goes into the house all the while that it is shut up will be unclean until the evening. 47. And he who lies in the house will wash his clothes, and he that eats in the house will wash his clothes. 48. And if the priest comes in and looks and, behold, the plague has not spread in the house, after the house was plastered, then the priest will pronounce the house clean, because the plague is healed. 49. And to cleanse the house he will take two birds, cedar wood, scarlet, and hyssop, 50. and he will kill the one of the birds in an earthen vessel over running water, 51. and he will take the cedar wood, the hyssop, the scarlet, and the living bird, and dip them in the blood of the slain bird and in the running water, and sprinkle the house seven times, 52. and he will cleanse the house with the blood of the bird, with the running water, with the living bird, with the cedar wood, with the hyssop, and with the scarlet. 53. But he will let the living bird go outside the city in the open fields and make atonement for the house: and it will be clean.
14:54. “This is the teaching for all manner of plague of leprosy and scall, 55. for the leprosy of a garment, of a house, 56. for a swelling, for a scab, and for a bright spot, 57. to teach when it is unclean and when it is clean. This is the teaching for leprosy.”
A Man’s Running Issue
15.1. And the LORD* spoke to Moses and to Aaron saying, 2. “Speak to the children of Israel and say to them, When any man has a running issue out of his flesh, his issue is unclean. 3. And this will be his uncleanness in his issue: whether his flesh runs with his issue or his flesh has stopped from his issue, it is his uncleanness.
4. Every bed on which he who has the issue lies is unclean, and everything on which he sits will be unclean. 5. And whoever touches his bed will wash his clothes and immerse in water and be unclean until the evening. 6. And he who sits on anything on which he who has the issue sat will wash his clothes and immerse in water and be unclean until the evening. 7. And he who touches the flesh of him who has the issue will wash his clothes and immerse in water and be unclean until the evening. 8. And if he who has the issue spits on him that is clean, then he will wash his clothes and immerse in water and be unclean until the evening. 9. And the saddle he who has the issue rides on will be unclean. 10. And whoever touches anything that was under him will be unclean until the evening and he who carries any of those things will wash his clothes and immerse in water and be unclean until the evening. 11. And whomever he that has the issue touches, and has not rinsed his hands in water, he will wash his clothes and immerse in water and be unclean until the evening. 12. And an earthenware vessel that he who has the issue touches, will be broken, and every vessel of wood will be rinsed in water.
15:13. “And when he who has an issue is cleansed of his issue, then he will number seven days for his cleansing, and wash his clothes and immerse his flesh in running water and will be clean. 14. And on the eighth day he will take for himself two turtle-doves or two young pigeons and come before the LORD* at the door of the Tent of Meeting and give them to the priest, 15. and the priest will offer them, the one a sin offering, and the other a burnt offering, and the priest will make atonement for him before the LORD* for his issue.
15:16. “And if any man’s seed of copulation goes out from him, then he will immerse all his flesh in water and be unclean until the evening. 17. And every garment and every skin, on which is the seed of copulation, will be washed with water and be unclean until the evening. 18. The woman also with whom a man will lie with seed of copulation, they will immerse in water and be unclean until the evening.
A Woman’s Issue
15:19. “And if a woman has an issue and her issue in her flesh is blood, she will be separated seven days, and whoever touches her will be unclean until the evening. 20. And everything that she lies on during her separation will be unclean: everything also on which she sits will be unclean. 21. And whoever touches her bed will wash his clothes and immerse in water and be unclean until the evening. 22. And whoever touches anything that she sat on will wash his clothes and immerse in water and be unclean until the evening. 23. And if it is on her bed or on anything on which she sat, when he touches it, he will be unclean until the evening. 24. And if any man lies with her at all, and her impurity is on him, he will be unclean seven days, and the whole bed on which he lies will be unclean.
15:25. “And if a woman has an issue of her blood many days out of the time of her separation, or if it runs beyond the time of her separation, all the days of the issue of her uncleanness will be as the days of her separation: she will be unclean. 26. Every bed on which she lies all the days of her issue will be to her as the bed of her separation, and whatever she sits on will be unclean, as the uncleanness of her separation. 27. And whoever touches those things will be unclean, and will wash his clothes and immerse in water and be unclean until the evening. 28. But if she is cleansed of her issue, then she will number to herself seven days and after that she will be clean. 29. And on the eighth day she will take two turtledoves or two young pigeons and bring them to the priest, to the door of the Tent of Meeting. 30. And the priest will offer the one for a sin offering, and the other a burnt offering, and the priest will make atonement for her before the LORD* for the issue of her uncleanness.
15:31. “Thus you will separate the children of Israel from their uncleanness, so they do not die in their uncleanness, when they defile My Tabernacle that is among them.
15:32. “This is the instruction of him who has an issue and of him whose seed goes from him, and is defiled by it, 33. and of her who is sick, of her separation and of him that has an issue, of the man and of the woman and of him that lies with her who is unclean.”
Next week’s Torah readings: Aharei Mot