And he shall sprinkle on him that is to be cleansed from the leprosy seven times, and shall pronounce him clean, and shall let the living bird loose into the open field.
sprinkle
Numbers 19:18,19 And a clean person shall take hyssop, and dip it in the water, and sprinkle it upon the tent, and upon all the vessels, and upon the persons that were there, and upon him that touched a bone, or one slain, or one dead, or a grave: …
Isaiah 52:15 So shall he sprinkle many nations; the kings shall shut their mouths at him: for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider.
Ezekiel 36:25 Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.
seven times
Leviticus 14:51 And he shall take the cedar wood, and the hyssop, and the scarlet, and the living bird, and dip them in the blood of the slain bird, and in the running water, and sprinkle the house seven times:
Leviticus 4:6,17 And the priest shall dip his finger in the blood, and sprinkle of the blood seven times before the LORD, before the vail of the sanctuary…
Leviticus 8:11 And he sprinkled thereof upon the altar seven times, and anointed the altar and all his vessels, both the laver and his foot, to sanctify them.
pronounce
Leviticus 13:13,17 Then the priest shall consider: and, behold, if the leprosy have covered all his flesh, he shall pronounce him clean that hath the plague: it is all turned white: he is clean…
let
Leviticus 16:22 And the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited: and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness.
Daniel 9:24 Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.
Micah 7:19 He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.
Then he shall pronounce him clean
The priest's role was crucial in declaring someone clean, emphasizing the importance of spiritual authority and community validation in the restoration process. This pronouncement was not just a physical declaration but a spiritual and communal one, allowing the individual to return to worship and society. It reflects the New Testament concept of forgiveness and restoration through Christ, who has the authority to cleanse us from sin (Mark 2:5-12).
and release the live bird into the open field.
The release of the live bird symbolizes freedom and new life, akin to the scapegoat in Leviticus 16, which carried away the sins of the people. This act signifies the complete removal of impurity and the restoration of the individual to a state of purity. The open field represents the vastness of God's grace and forgiveness, as seen in Psalm 103:12, where God removes our transgressions as far as the east is from the west. This imagery also points to the resurrection and ascension of Christ, who, after His sacrifice, ascended to heaven, symbolizing victory over sin and death.
“Seven times he shall sprinkle the one to be cleansed of the skin disease.”
• Seven, the biblical number of completeness, signals that God’s cleansing is perfect and sufficient (cf. Leviticus 4:6; 16:14; Numbers 19:4).
• The priest, not the sufferer, performs the act. Divine grace, not personal effort, removes defilement (Ephesians 2:8-9).
• Sprinkling points to substitutionary atonement: another life (the sacrifice already slain, v. 6) stands in the place of the unclean person, foreshadowing Christ’s blood “sprinkled” for us (Hebrews 12:24; 1 Peter 1:2).
• The ritual takes place “outside the camp” (Leviticus 14:3), mirroring Christ’s suffering “outside the city gate” to make people holy (Hebrews 13:12-13).
“Then he shall pronounce him clean …”
• After the final sprinkle, the priest issues a public, authoritative declaration. What God cleanses is truly clean (Acts 10:15).
• The spoken word has legal force, restoring the person to covenant fellowship, worship, and community life (Leviticus 13:46; Luke 17:14).
• This anticipates Jesus’ authoritative words, “I am willing; be clean” (Luke 5:13), and the gospel verdict, “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1-2).
“… and release the live bird into the open field.”
• One bird died (v. 6); the living bird, dipped in its blood, flies free—graphic imagery of life emerging from death (Leviticus 14:6; John 11:25-26).
• The open field represents unrestricted liberty, echoing Psalm 103:12, where sin is removed “as far as the east is from the west.”
• The released bird carries no residual impurity; cleansing is final. Likewise, believers are “set free from sin” (Romans 6:22; John 8:36).
• The act publicly confirms the leper’s reintegration—no secret salvation but a visible testimony of God’s mercy (Mark 1:44).
Leviticus 14:7 portrays complete, God-given cleansing. The sevenfold sprinkling expresses total sufficiency; the priestly declaration secures restored status; the freed bird dramatizes new life and liberty. Together they foreshadow Christ’s perfect, authoritative, and liberating work for all who trust Him.
(7) And he shall sprinkle.--Having thus dipped the hyssop fastened to the cedar stick into the blood and water, the priest is to sprinkle with it the back of the hand and the forehead of the patient seven times. The seven times symbolised the complete cleansing. (See Leviticus 4:6.) Hence Naaman the leper washed himself seven times in the Jordan (2Kings 5:10; 2Kings 5:14).And shall let the living bird loose.--Whereupon the priest not only pronounced the cured man clean and restored to his liberty, but at the same time liberated the bird also. The release of the bird symbolised the freedom restored to the patient, who, like the bird, was now at liberty to go where he liked without any restraint. Because it is here said that the bird is to be let loose "into the open field," or, more literally, towards the face of the field, the ancient canons decreed that he who lets it loose must not turn his face towards the sea, wilderness, or city, but towards the field. The cedar wood, the crimson thread, and the hyssop, as well as the bird, if caught again, could be used again in the cleansing of other lepers.
Verse 7. - And he shall sprinkle upon him that is to be cleansed from the leprosy seven times. It is not certain whether the seven sprinklings were made upon the forehead of the person to be cleansed, or on the back of his hand. The feathers of the bird and the bunch of hyssop would be specially instrumental in the seven sprinklings. And shall pronounce him clean. Having assured himself that he was healed (verse 3), the priest now pronounces him to be clean, he looses as well as binds. It had been his office to declare the man a leper, and thereby to shut him out from the people of the Lord (Leviticus 13:8, 15, 22, 25, 36, 44, 46). Now he pronounces him to be no leper, and therefore, after some further ceremonies, readmits him (verses 8, 20, 31). And shall let the living bird loose into the open field. The symbolism of the two birds, which has been much misinterpreted, is essentially the same as that of the two goats on the day of atonement, though each ceremony has its distinctive features. The killing of the living bird was not a true sacrifice, as was the offering of the goat to Jehovah, but by its death it represented the state in which the leper had legally been, and to which he would have been physically reduced had not a remedy been found. The deathly and unclean state of the leper having been symbolically transferred from the dead bird to the living bird by the latter's being sprinkled in the former's blood, the living bird stands in the position of the scapegoat, on whom the sins of the people were laid. The bird is then let loose into the open field; literally, upon the face of the field; and it flies off, carrying with it the leper's uncleanness, and assuring him by every forward movement that it makes that the living death has passed from him, just as each step or' the scapegoat appeared to the Israelites to remove their sins from them. A large number of commentators, on the other hand, consider the released bird to symbolize the health and freedom now given back to the leper, and they dwell on the rapid and uncontrolled movement of birds as being peculiarly suitable for representing this recovered liberty. But this interpretation, to which there are many objections, appears to be altogether incompatible with the fact that the same ceremony is used in the cleansing of the leprous house, whereas the house could certainly not be represented as "recovered to unrestrained liberty" (Lunge). The common patristic view, that the two birds represent the two natures of the one Great Sacrifice offered to redeem man from sin, seems to be out of place here.