Leviticus 14:33-47, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
Leviticus 14:33-47
A house is emptied, inspected, quarantined, scraped, repaired, or demolished
In Canaan a householder reports a mark; the house is emptied before the priest looks
When Israel comes into Canaan, the LORD may put the plague of leprosy in a house of their possession. The owner comes and tells the priest, 'It seemeth to me there is as it were a plague in the house.' The priest commands them to empty the house before he enters to see, so that all that is in the house will not be made unclean. Then he goes in.
If the walls have hollow greenish or reddish streaks lower than the wall, the priest comes out to the door and shuts up the house seven days. Goods removed first are not yet declared unclean. A house condition is not proof that the residents sinned. The procedure is also not a modern mold standard.
Spread can mean scraping and new stones, or pulling the house down
On the seventh day, if the plague has spread, the affected stones are taken out and cast into an unclean place outside the city. The house is scraped inside; the dust is poured out in an unclean place outside the city. New stones and new mortar go in. If the plague returns and breaks out, it is a spreading fretting leprosy in the house: the house is unclean, and they break it down—stones, timber, and mortar—and carry it out of the city to an unclean place.
Whoever goes into the house while it is shut up is unclean until evening. Whoever lies or eats in it washes clothes. The law can cost a building. It still does not accuse the household of secret guilt, and it does not tell a modern reader how to remediate mold or rot.
How this should shape us
Separate a problem in a building from a verdict on the people inside it. Empty rooms to limit loss, inspect honestly, and repair or demolish as the facts require—without preaching that a stain on a wall means the residents deserve it.
Teach it back
Explain Leviticus 14:33-47 in your own words. Include its ritual, legal, narrative, or calendar movement; one source-supported detail; one uncertainty; and one use the context rules out.
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Go deeper
The explanation above is meant to stand on its own. Open these notes only if you want language, history, disagreements, or source locations.
Where careful interpreters disagreeThe strongest options and their difficulties
Where do careful interpreters disagree?
Best judgment: Interpreters disagree over the system's symbolic logic, compositional layers, health effects, ancient practice, species and condition identifications, sanctuary-contamination models, and the relation of removable ritual status to wrongdoing. No one model explains every rule without remainder.
How certain? probableResearch trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section
Supports: Exact reader-facing KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage for this thought unit.
Leviticus 14:33-47, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Supports: Hebrew wording, morphology, ritual and legal vocabulary, names, clause relationships, KJV language controls, and translation limits.
Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Lev.xml, Masoretic words and morphology for 14:33-47
Supports: Unit-bounded translator notes on Hebrew, syntax, ritual vocabulary, measures, textual questions, and older-English wording; silence is not treated as evidence.
NET Bible Leviticus PDF, complete PDF pp. 1-99, translation and translator notes for 14:33-47
Supports: Open critical orientation to sacrifice, priestly portions, sacred space, holiness, purity, and sanctuary protection in Leviticus 1-15.
Yale Bible Study, 'Leviticus Part 1,' complete guide sections 'What is Sacred About Sacrifice?', 'Thanksgiving, Pleas, and Devotion,' and 'Purity & Impurity,' applied to Leviticus 14:33-47
Supports: A modern critical comparison of purity models and their compositional implications, used only within the accessible publisher evidence.
Baden, Two Models of Biblical Purity, Oxford University Press 2026, publisher chapter previews and contents for the sanctuary-contamination and ritual-status models
Supports: Jewish-textual analysis of priestly declaration and later rabbinic development without identifying tzaraat as one modern disease.
Himmelfarb, 'Priests and Rabbis Determine Ritual Reality,' complete sections on Leviticus 13-14, priestly declaration, skin and house signs, Mishnah Nega'im, and legal status
Supports: Comparative ancient Near Eastern evidence for affliction categories and ritual logic, with explicit limits on diagnosis and historical reconstruction.
Feder, 'Tzaraat in Light of Its Mesopotamian Parallels,' complete 2017 article with 2026 update, especially biblical symptoms, Akkadian parallels, ritual response, and methodological cautions
Supports: Publisher-visible framing of scholarly disagreement about Hebrews and supersessionism, used as a restraint on Christian canonical claims rather than as a complete solution.
Church, 'Hebrews and the Question of Supersessionism,' Oxford 2024 official abstract and metadata, pp. 167-180
Sources for This Section
These records identify the source, the claim it supports, and the exact location used. A source remains evidence to evaluate; it does not replace the biblical text.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact reader-facing KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage for this thought unit.
Exact location: Leviticus 14:33-47, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Leviticus
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Hebrew wording, morphology, ritual and legal vocabulary, names, clause relationships, KJV language controls, and translation limits.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Lev.xml, Masoretic words and morphology for 14:33-47
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: Leviticus with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
eBible.org distribution of the NET Bible, PDF generated 2025-12-31
Supports: Unit-bounded translator notes on Hebrew, syntax, ritual vocabulary, measures, textual questions, and older-English wording; silence is not treated as evidence.
Exact location: NET Bible Leviticus PDF, complete PDF pp. 1-99, translation and translator notes for 14:33-47
Open source ↗modern critical open study guide
Leviticus Part 1: Sacrifice, Purity, and Holiness
Joel S. Baden and Yale Bible Study
Yale Divinity School, 2023 course edition
Supports: Open critical orientation to sacrifice, priestly portions, sacred space, holiness, purity, and sanctuary protection in Leviticus 1-15.
Exact location: Yale Bible Study, 'Leviticus Part 1,' complete guide sections 'What is Sacred About Sacrifice?', 'Thanksgiving, Pleas, and Devotion,' and 'Purity & Impurity,' applied to Leviticus 14:33-47
Open source ↗modern scholarly monograph open chapter previews
Two Models of Biblical Purity: The Science of Ritual
Joel S. Baden
Oxford University Press, 2026
Supports: A modern critical comparison of purity models and their compositional implications, used only within the accessible publisher evidence.
Exact location: Baden, Two Models of Biblical Purity, Oxford University Press 2026, publisher chapter previews and contents for the sanctuary-contamination and ritual-status models
Open source ↗modern jewish scholarly open study
Priests and Rabbis Determine Ritual Reality
Martha Himmelfarb
TheTorah.com, 2021
Supports: Jewish-textual analysis of priestly declaration and later rabbinic development without identifying tzaraat as one modern disease.
Exact location: Himmelfarb, 'Priests and Rabbis Determine Ritual Reality,' complete sections on Leviticus 13-14, priestly declaration, skin and house signs, Mishnah Nega'im, and legal status
Open source ↗modern jewish scholarly open ancient near eastern study
Tzaraat in Light of Its Mesopotamian Parallels
Yitzhaq Feder
TheTorah.com, 2017; updated 2026
Supports: Comparative ancient Near Eastern evidence for affliction categories and ritual logic, with explicit limits on diagnosis and historical reconstruction.
Exact location: Feder, 'Tzaraat in Light of Its Mesopotamian Parallels,' complete 2017 article with 2026 update, especially biblical symptoms, Akkadian parallels, ritual response, and methodological cautions
Open source ↗modern christian scholarly handbook chapter abstract
Hebrews and the Question of Supersessionism
Philip Church
The Oxford Handbook of Hebrews and the Catholic Epistles, Oxford University Press, 2024
Supports: Publisher-visible framing of scholarly disagreement about Hebrews and supersessionism, used as a restraint on Christian canonical claims rather than as a complete solution.
Exact location: Church, 'Hebrews and the Question of Supersessionism,' Oxford 2024 official abstract and metadata, pp. 167-180
Open source ↗