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Leviticus 14:53

in Leviticus 14

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.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

but he shall let go the living bird out of the city into the open field: so shall he make atonement for the house; and it shall be clean.

KJV

But he shall let go the living bird out of the city into the open fields, and make an atonement for the house: and it shall be clean.

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This verse in Leviticus 14

Commentary

4 notes on this verse

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

He shall let go the living bird - This might as well be called the scape-bird; as the goat, in Leviticus 16, is called the scape-goat. The rites are similar in both cases, and probably had nearly the same meaning. We have already taken occasion to observe (see the end of the preceding chapter at Lev 13:58 (note)) that the leprosy was strongly emblematical of sin; to which we may add here: - 1. That the leprosy was a disease generally acknowledged to be incurable by any human means; and therefore the Jews did not attempt to cure it.

This site's exposition

he that goeth into the house

on Leviticus 14:46-53

Whoever goes into the shut-up house is unclean until the even, and whoever lies down or eats there washes his clothes, so the building hands its condition to the people who use it. If the plague has not spread after the plastering the priest pronounces the house clean because the plague is healed, and the two birds, cedar wood, scarlet and hyssop are brought out a second time. The living bird is let go out of the city into the open fields, and verse 53 says the priest shall make an atonement for the house. Atonement is made for a building here, and the same is done for the holy place itself at 16:16.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

But he shall let go the living bird out of the city into the open fields,.... See Gill on Lev 14:7.

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

As a house could not contract any impurity in the sight of God, the "atonement" which the priest was to make for it must either have a reference to the sins of its occupants or to the ceremonial process appointed for its purification, the very same as that observed for a leprous person.

The words behind it

14 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וְשִׁלַּ֞חand he will let go

    veshilachH7971 →845 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • הַצִּפֹּ֧רthe bird

    hatziporH6833 →40 times

  • הַֽחַיָּ֛ה<the> living

    hachaiyahH2416 →498 times

  • אֶל־to

    ʾel-H413 →5510 times

  • מִח֥וּץfrom [the] outside

    michutzH2351 →164 times

  • לָעִ֖ירof the city

    lairH5892 →1090 times

  • אֶל־to

    ʾel-H413 →5510 times

  • פְּנֵ֣י[the] surface of

    peneiH6440 →2123 times

  • הַשָּׂדֶ֑הthe field

    hasadehH7704 →334 times

  • וְכִפֶּ֥רand he will make atonement

    vekhiperH3722 →102 times

  • עַל־on

    ʾal-H5921 →5755 times

  • הַבַּ֖יִתthe house

    habayitH1004 →2046 times

  • וְטָהֵֽר׃and it will be pure

    vetaherH2891 →94 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

3 in all, six open

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Leviticus 14:7

    Seven times he shall sprinkle the one to be cleansed of the skin disease. Then he shall pronounce him clean and release the live bird into the open field.

    it leads to

    • 2 Kings 5:14

      So Naaman went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, according to the word of the man of God, and his flesh was restored and became like that of a little child,…

    • Isaiah 52:15

      so He will sprinkle many nations. Kings will shut their mouths because of Him. For they will see what they have not been told, and they will understand what they have not heard.

    • 2 Kings 5:10

      Then Elisha sent him a messenger, who said, “Go and wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored, and you will be clean.”

    • Ezekiel 36:25

      I will also sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your impurities and all your idols.

    • 1 Peter 1:2

      according to the foreknowledge of God the Father and sanctified by the Spirit for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by His blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance.

  • Through

    Leviticus 14:20

    and offer it on the altar, with the grain offering, to make atonement for him, and he will be clean.

    it leads to

    • Leviticus 14:10

      On the eighth day he is to bring two unblemished male lambs, an unblemished ewe lamb a year old, a grain offering of three-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with olive oil,…

    • Leviticus 14:8

      The one being cleansed must wash his clothes, shave off all his hair, and bathe with water; then he will be ceremonially clean. Afterward, he may enter the camp, but he must remain outside…

    • Ephesians 5:2

      and walk in love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant sacrificial offering to God.

Where this verse is studied

On this page

Studies1

About Leviticus

Moses and Aaron Appear before Pharaoh, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Moses and Aaron Appear before Pharaoh, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Leviticus: the study guide →Read Leviticus 14 →

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch.

Read on in Leviticus 14 →