He is to take two birds, cedar wood, scarlet yarn, and hyssop to purify the house;
Parallel translations
- WEB To cleanse the house he shall take two birds, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop.
- KJV And he shall take to cleanse the house two birds, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop:
- NKJV And he shall take, to cleanse the house, two birds, cedar wood, scarlet, and hyssop.
- NASB To cleanse the house then, he shall take two birds, cedar wood, a scarlet string, and hyssop,
- NLT To purify the house the priest must take two birds, a stick of cedar, some scarlet yarn, and a hyssop branch.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
To cleanse the house the priest takes two birds, cedar wood, scarlet, and hyssop. It matters because the house's cleansing mirrors the ritual used for the healed leper.
Overview
The same materials, two birds, cedar, scarlet, and hyssop, are gathered for the house as for a cleansed person, showing a unified picture of purification. The shared ritual links the cleansing of dwelling and dweller under one symbolism of atonement. As with the leper, these elements point to the cleansing accomplished by Christ's blood, which purifies all that sin defiles.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 1
- Lev 14:4the priest shall order that two live clean birds, cedar wood, scarlet yarn, and hyssop be brought for the one to be cleansed.
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Christ at the center
Every sacrifice, every priest, and every day of atonement points beyond itself to the one perfect offering and the great High Priest who, by his own blood, makes the unclean holy once for all.
How Leviticus 14:49 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.