He who is to be cleansed: this expression is identical with the one used in verses 4 and 7, but in this case an even shorter phrase may be used, since this is the third occurrence. It may also be confusing to the reader to use the words to be cleansed here, since this would seem to imply a still future event. He has, in fact, already been pronounced clean in verse 7.

Wash his clothes: see 11.25.

Shave off all his hair: this apparently refers to all the hair on his entire body, or at least on his whole head. In the following verse, where he is required to shave himself a second time, greater detail is given. In some languages it may be more natural to give this detail here and provide a briefer reference in verse 9. In such cases it is advisable to put the verse numbers 8 and 9 together and then give the content of the two verses.

Bathe himself in water: the use of the words in water with the verb “to bathe” will be considered repetitious and unnecessary in many languages. In others it may be necessary to say “wash his body” as opposed to wash his clothes above.

Shall come into the camp: that is, he shall join the normal, healthy members of the community with whom he had been forbidden contact while he was diseased (13.46).

Shall dwell outside his tent seven days: just as the newborn is required to wait seven days to be fully accepted as a part of the community, so the person healed of this skin disease must also wait seven days before he finds complete acceptance.

Quoted with permission from Péter-Contesse, René and Ellington, John. A Handbook on Leviticus. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1990. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .