Leviticus 14:7

14:7 and sprinkle it seven times on the one being cleansed ¹  from the disease, pronounce him clean, ²  and send the live bird away over the open countryside. ³ 

Leviticus 14:16

14:16 Then the priest is to dip his right forefinger into the olive oil ⁴  that is in his left hand, and sprinkle some of the olive oil with his finger seven times before the Lord.

Leviticus 14:51

14:51 He must then take the piece of cedar wood, the twigs of hyssop, the scrap of crimson fabric, and the live bird, and dip them in the blood of the slaughtered bird and in the fresh water, and sprinkle the house seven times.

Leviticus 16:14

16:14 Then he is to take some of the blood of the bull and sprinkle it with his finger on the eastern face of the atonement plate, ⁵  and in front of the atonement plate he is to sprinkle some of the blood seven times with his finger. ⁶ 

Leviticus 16:19

16:19 Then he is to sprinkle on it some of the blood with his finger seven times, and cleanse and consecrate it ⁷  from the impurities of the Israelites.

Numbers 19:4

19:4 Eleazar the priest is to take ⁸  some of its blood with his finger, and sprinkle some of the blood seven times ⁹  directly in front of the tent of meeting.

Numbers 19:19

19:19 And the clean person must sprinkle the unclean on the third day and on the seventh day; and on the seventh day he must purify him, ¹⁰  and then he must wash his clothes, and bathe in water, and he will be clean in the evening.

Joshua 6:4

6:4 Have seven priests carry seven rams’ horns ¹¹  in front of the ark. On the seventh day march around the city seven times, while the priests blow the horns.

Joshua 6:13-16

6:13 The seven priests carrying the seven rams’ horns before the ark of the Lord marched along blowing their horns. Armed troops marched ahead of them, while the rear guard followed along behind the ark of the Lord blowing rams’ horns. 6:14 They marched around the city one time on the second day, then returned to the camp. They did this six days in all.

6:15 On the seventh day they were up at the crack of dawn ¹²  and marched around the city as before – only this time they marched around it seven times. ¹³  6:16 The seventh time around, the priests blew the rams’ horns and Joshua told the army, ¹⁴  “Give the battle cry, ¹⁵  for the Lord is handing the city over to you! ¹⁶ 

¹ tn Heb “the one cleansing himself” (i.e., Hitpael participle of טָהֵר [taher, “to be clean”]).

² tn Heb “and he shall make him clean.” The verb is the Piel of טָהֵר (taher, “to be clean”), here used as a so-called “declarative” Piel (i.e., “to declare clean”; cf. 13:6, etc.).

³ sn The reddish color of cedar wood and the crimson colored fabric called for in v. 4 (see the note there, esp. the association with the color of blood) as well as the priestly commands to bring “two live” birds (v. 4a), to slaughter one of them “over fresh water” (literally “living water,” v. 5b), and the subsequent ritual with the (second) “live” bird (vv. 6-7) combine to communicate the concept of “life” and “being alive” in this passage. This contrasts with the fear of death associated with the serious skin diseases in view here (see, e.g., Aaron’s description of Miriam’s skin disease in Num 12:12, “Do not let her be like the dead one when it goes out from its mother’s womb and its flesh half eaten away”). Since the slaughtered bird here is not sacrificed at the altar and is not designated as an expiatory “sin offering,” this ritual procedure probably symbolizes the renewed life of the diseased person and displays it publicly for all to see. It is preparatory to the expiatory rituals that will follow (vv. 10-20, esp. vv. 18-20), but is not itself expiatory. Thus, although there are important similarities between the bird ritual here, the scapegoat on the Day of Atonement (Lev 16:20-22), and the red heifer for cleansing from corpse contamination (Num 19), this bird ritual is different in that the latter two constitute “sin offerings” (Lev 16:5, 8-10; Num 19:9, 17). Neither of the birds in Lev 14:4-7 is designated or treated as a “sin offering.” Nevertheless, the very nature of the live bird ritual itself and its obvious similarity to the scapegoat ritual suggests that the patient’s disease has been removed far away so that he or she is free from its effects both personally and communally.

⁴ tn Heb “his right finger from the oil.”

⁵ tn Heb “on the faces of the atonement plate toward the east.” Some have taken this to mean that the ark was stationed just behind the veil-canopy on the eastern side of the most holy place. Thus, the high priest would need to enter and walk toward the west end of the most holy place and then turn eastward in order to face the ark and sprinkle the blood in an eastward direction. The rendering here, however, requires that the ark was stationed on the western end, or perhaps in the middle of the area, so that as the priest entered he was already facing the ark and would sprinkle the blood on the eastern face of the atonement plate, in a westward direction (see, e.g., J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 239 versus J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:1032).

⁶ sn Presumably in this case the blood was sprinkled seven times on the ground in front of the ark on which the atonement plate was mounted.

⁷ tn Heb “and he shall purify it and he shall consecrate it.”

⁸ tn The verb is the perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive; it functions here as the equivalent of the imperfect of instruction.

⁹ sn Seven is a number with religious significance; it is often required in sacrificial ritual for atonement or for purification.

¹⁰ tn The construction uses a simple Piel of חָטָא (khata’, “to purify”) with a pronominal suffix – “he shall purify him.” Some commentators take this to mean that after he sprinkles the unclean then he must purify himself. But that would not be the most natural way to read this form.

¹¹ tn Heb “rams’ horns, trumpets.”

¹² tn Heb “On the seventh day they rose early, when the dawn ascended.”

¹³ tn Heb “and they went around the city according to this manner seven times, only on that day they went around the city seven times.”

¹⁴ tn Heb “the people.”

¹⁵ tn Or “the shout.”

¹⁶ tn Heb “for the Lord has given to you the city.” The verbal form is a perfect, probably indicating certitude here.