Leviticus 14:5

The priest will then command that one bird be slaughtered ¹  into a clay vessel over fresh water. ² 

Then the priest shall order that one of the birds be killed over fresh water in a clay pot.

"The priest shall also give orders to slay the one bird in an earthenware vessel over running water.

The priest will order one of the birds to be slaughtered over a clay pot that is filled with fresh springwater.

The priest will order him to kill one of the birds over fresh water in a clay pot.

And the priest will give orders for one of the birds to be put to death in a vessel made of earth, over flowing water.

The priest shall command that one of the birds be slaughtered over fresh water in an earthen vessel.

"And the priest shall command that one of the birds be killed in an earthen vessel over running water.

The priest will then command that one bird be slaughtered ¹  into a clay vessel over fresh water. ² 

¹ tn Heb “And the priest shall command and he shall slaughter.” See the note on “be taken up” (v. 4).

² tn Heb “into a vessel of clay over living water.” The expression “living [i.e., ‘fresh’] water” (cf. Lev 14:50; 15:13; Num 19:17) refers to water that flows. It includes such water sources as artesian wells (Gen 26:19; Song of Songs 4:15), springs (Jer 2:13, as opposed to cisterns; cf. 17:13), and flowing streams (Zech 14:8). In other words, this is water that has not stood stagnant as, for example, in a sealed-off cistern.

sn Although there are those who argue that the water and the blood rites are separate (e.g., E. S. Gerstenberger, Leviticus [OTL], 175-76), it is usually agreed that v. 5b refers to the slaughtering of the bird in such a way that its blood runs into the bowl, which contained fresh water (see, e.g., N. H. Snaith, Leviticus and Numbers [NCBC], 74; G. J. Wenham, Leviticus [NICOT], 208; J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:836-38; cf. esp. Lev 14:51b, “and dip them in the blood of the slaughtered bird and in the fresh water”). This mixture of blood and water was then to be sprinkled on the person being cleansed from the disease.