Leviticus 14:36

14:36 Then the priest will command that the house be cleared ¹  before the priest enters to examine the infection ²  so that everything in the house ³  does not become unclean, ⁴  and afterward ⁵  the priest will enter to examine the house.

¹ tn Heb “And the priest shall command and they shall clear the house.” The second verb (“and they shall clear”) states the thrust of the priest’s command, which suggests the translation “that they clear” (cf. also vv. 4a and 5a above), and for the impersonal passive rendering of the active verb (“that the house be cleared”) see the note on v. 4 above.

² tn Heb “to see the infection”; KJV “to see the plague”; NASB “to look at the mark (mildew NCV).”

³ tn Heb “all which [is] in the house.”

⁴ sn Once the priest pronounced the house “unclean” everything in it was also officially unclean. Therefore, if they emptied the house of its furniture, etc. before the official pronouncement by the priest those possessions would thereby remain officially “clean” and avoid destruction or purification procedures.

⁵ tn Heb “and after thus.”