Leviticus 14:33-42
Even dwellings must be examined and, if needed, altered to preserve holiness among God’s people.
33 Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,
34 “When you have come into the land of Canaan, which I give to you for a possession, and I put a spreading mildew in a house in the land of your possession,
35 then he who owns the house shall come and tell the priest, saying, ‘There seems to me to be some sort of plague in the house.’
36 The priest shall command that they empty the house, before the priest goes in to examine the plague, that all that is in the house not be made unclean. Afterward the priest shall go in to inspect the house.
37 He shall examine the plague; and behold, if the plague is in the walls of the house with hollow streaks, greenish or reddish, and it appears to be deeper than the wall,
38 then the priest shall go out of the house to the door of the house, and shut up the house seven days.
39 The priest shall come again on the seventh day, and look. If the plague has spread in the walls of the house,
40 then the priest shall command that they take out the stones in which is the plague, and cast them into an unclean place outside of the city.
41 He shall cause the inside of the house to be scraped all over. They shall pour out the mortar that they scraped off outside of the city into an unclean place.
42 They shall take other stones, and put them in the place of those stones; and he shall take other mortar, and shall plaster the house.
Even dwellings must be examined and, if needed, altered to preserve holiness among God’s people.
This passage establishes the procedure for identifying and responding to suspected mildew in houses in the land, extending purity regulations to permanent dwellings.
Leviticus 14 follows the diagnosis of serious skin and garment contamination in Leviticus 13 with cleansing and restoration procedures. Verses 33-42 begin the house-contamination section, applying the same holiness logic to homes in Canaan.
The instructions are given to Moses and Aaron for Israel's future life in Canaan. The section assumes settled dwellings in the land rather than wilderness tents. Priestly authority extends to determining ritual status in relation to homes, preserving communal holiness around the sanctuary-centered covenant order.
Cleansing, Restoration, and the Return From Outside the Camp
The holy LORD provides a way for the healed and the contaminated to be examined, cleansed, atoned for, and restored, while persistent defilement must be removed from the community.