34. “I am giving the land of Canaan to your people. When they enter that land, I might cause mildew to grow in someone’s house.
35. The owner of that house must come and tell the priest. He should say, ‘I have seen something like mildew in my house.’
36. Then the priest must order the people to empty the house. They must do this before he goes in to look at the mildew. This is so he will not have to say that everything in the house is unclean. After the people have emptied the house, the priest will go in to look at it.
37. He will look at the mildew. The mildew on the walls of the house might be green or red. It might go into the wall’s surface.
38. If these things are true, he must go out and close up the house for seven days.
39. On the seventh day the priest must come back and check the house. The mildew may have spread on the walls of the house.
40. If it has, the priest must order the people to tear out the stones with the mildew on them. They should throw the stones away. They must put the stones at a certain unclean place outside the city.
41. Then the priest must have all the inside of the house scraped. The people must throw away the plaster they scraped off the walls. They must put the plaster at a certain unclean place outside the city.
42. Then the owner must put new stones in the walls. And he must cover the walls with new clay plaster.
43. “A person may have taken away the old stones and plaster. He may have put in new stones and plaster. But mildew may again appear in his house.
44. If it does, the priest must come back and check the house again. If the mildew has spread in the house, it is a mildew that destroys things. So the house is unclean.
45. Then the owner must tear down the house. He must remove all its stones, plaster and wood. He must take them to the unclean place outside the city.
46. Anyone who goes into that house will be unclean until evening.
47. Anyone who eats in that house or lies down there must wash his clothes.
48. “After new stones and plaster have been put in a house, the priest must check it again. The mildew may not have spread in the house. Then the priest will announce that the house is clean. This is because the mildew is gone.