Moses, mediating Yahweh's covenant instruction to Israel within the Torah.
Priestly Examination of Skin Disease, Uncleanness, and Contaminated Garments
The holy Lord requires His priests to discern clean from unclean carefully, protecting both His holy dwelling and His covenant community from defiling conditions.
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The holy Lord requires His priests to discern clean from unclean carefully, protecting both His holy dwelling and His covenant community from defiling conditions.
Leviticus 13 teaches that holiness requires careful discernment, patient examination, and truthful declaration. The priest does not create uncleanness but identifies and declares it according to the Lord's instruction. The chapter refuses both carelessness and panic: not every rash is defiling, yet confirmed uncleanness cannot remain in the camp as though nothing has happened.
The community must preserve holiness without confusing every bodily condition with moral guilt. The chapter also shows that impurity can spread beyond the body into garments and household material, requiring cleansing or destruction.
Israel's covenant community, especially priests responsible to examine skin conditions and contaminated garments, and the people who must live under the Lord's holiness while discerning clean and unclean conditions.
Leviticus 13 continues the clean and unclean section of Leviticus 11-15. After instructions about clean and unclean creatures in Leviticus 11 and childbirth purification in Leviticus 12, the Lord now gives detailed priestly diagnostic procedures for serious skin conditions and fabric or leather contamination.
The holy Lord requires His priests to discern clean from unclean carefully, protecting both His holy dwelling and His covenant community from defiling conditions.
Moses, mediating Yahweh's covenant instruction to Israel within the Torah.
Israel's covenant community, especially priests responsible to examine skin conditions and contaminated garments, and the people who must live under the Lord's holiness while discerning clean and unclean conditions.
Leviticus 13 continues the clean and unclean section of Leviticus 11-15. After instructions about clean and unclean creatures in Leviticus 11 and childbirth purification in Leviticus 12, the Lord now gives detailed priestly diagnostic procedures for serious skin conditions and fabric or leather contamination.
- Israel must learn that impurity can affect the body, clothing, household life, public worship, and community boundaries. Priests must exercise careful discernment rather than guesswork. The community must protect holiness without cruelty, panic, or careless inclusion of uncleanness into the camp.
Ancient communities feared visible skin disease and contamination because such conditions could threaten social, ritual, and practical life. Leviticus does not treat every skin condition as moral guilt. It gives priestly procedures for examination, quarantine, reinspection, declaration, cleansing, isolation, and destruction of contaminated material. The priest functions as a holiness examiner, not as a medical healer in the modern sense.
After redemption from Egypt, covenant formation at Sinai, tabernacle construction, sacrificial instruction, and priestly ordination, Israel is being trained to live with the holy Lord in their midst. Leviticus 13 teaches that the covenant community must distinguish clean from unclean even when uncleanness appears on the body or garments.
The Lord commands Moses and Aaron to instruct the priests how to examine swelling, rash, bright spots, raw flesh, boils, burns, scalp disease, harmless rashes, baldness-related conditions, confirmed defiling disease, and contaminated fabric or leather, so that clean and unclean may be rightly distinguished.
Theological exposition and fulfillment
Leviticus 13 clarifies the gospel by showing that uncleanness creates separation and that priestly diagnosis alone cannot heal. The unclean person outside the camp embodies the human need for cleansing, restoration, and access. Jesus enters this world of uncleanness, touches and cleanses lepers, and ultimately suffers outside the gate to make His people holy by His blood.
Suspicious skin conditions are brought to the priest, who examines and declares clean or unclean.
Uncertain cases require isolation, waiting, and priestly reexamination before declaration.
Raw flesh indicates uncleanness, while complete whitening without raw flesh can lead to a clean declaration.
Post-boil marks are examined for depth, hair change, and spread.
Post-burn marks are examined by similar criteria.
Scalp or beard sores require examination, isolation, shaving around the spot, and reinspection.
Certain white spots and ordinary baldness are declared clean.
Reddish-white sores on a bald area may indicate uncleanness.
The unclean person lives under visible signs of uncleanness and outside the camp.
Priests examine contaminated fabric and leather, determining washing, burning, tearing, or clean status.
- 13:1-8: Skin conditions are not judged by impulse. The priest examines, isolates, waits, reexamines, and declares clean or unclean according to the Lord's criteria.
- 13:9-28: Chronic disease, raw flesh, post-boil spots, and post-burn spots require careful priestly discernment based on depth, hair, spread, and appearance.
- 13:29-44: Not every visible condition is unclean. The priest distinguishes serious disease from harmless rash and ordinary baldness.
- 13:45-46: The unclean person must publicly acknowledge uncleanness and live outside the camp as long as the condition remains.
- 13:47-59: Fabric and leather contamination must be examined, isolated, washed, burned, torn out, or declared clean according to priestly assessment.
Pastoral Entry
דָּבַר is the primary Hebrew verb for speaking and it generates the most theologically important noun in the OT: דָּבָר (dābar), the word. The verb and noun together form the backbone of the OT's theology of divine communication. When God dābars, things happen: the creation narratives are structured by divine speech ('God said... and there was'); the covenant is founded on divine words (the Ten Words, ʿăśeret haddĕbārîm, the Decalogue); and the prophets speak as dābar YHWH came to me — the formula that opens the major and minor prophets dozens of times.
The noun dābar (H1697) carries an enormous semantic range: it means word, thing, event, matter, affair, and promise. The overlap between 'word' and 'event' is theologically crucial — in Hebrew thought, the divine word is not merely informational but performative and effective. 'The word that goes forth from my mouth shall not return to me empty, but shall accomplish that which I purpose' (Isa 55:11).
The dābar YHWH does not merely describe reality; it creates it. The dābar YHWH as the technical formula for prophetic reception occurs over 240 times in the OT. The prophet who speaks is not giving an opinion; they have received a dābar — a specific, authorized, effective word from the divine Speaker. The NT's 'the Word became flesh' (John 1:14) is the climactic dābar event: the divine speech that has been going forth since creation becomes incarnate in a person.
Sense to speak
Definition to speak
References 13:1
Why it matters The Lord speaks to Moses and Aaron, grounding the diagnostic laws in divine revelation.
Cross-language bridge 1 link · View in lexicon
Sense Aaron
Definition Aaron
References 13:1
Why it matters Aaron is addressed because the priesthood must examine and distinguish clean from unclean.
Cross-language bridge 1 link · View in lexicon
Pastoral Entry
אָדָם means man, humanity, the human creature. It functions simultaneously as a proper name (Adam, the first human), a collective noun (mankind, the human species), and a common noun (a human being, a person). The word is inseparable from אֲדָמָה (ground, earth) — both in its likely etymology and in the Genesis creation narrative, where אָדָם is formed from אֲדָמָה and returns to it at death. The human creature is the earth-creature, the ground-formed being.
The theological weight of אָדָם rests on three foundational Genesis texts. First, Genesis 1:26-28: 'Let us make man (אָדָם) in our image, after our likeness... So God created man (הָאָדָם) in his own image.' The creature formed from earth is simultaneously the image-bearer of God — the only creature in the creation narrative described this way. The imago Dei (image of God) is the defining marker of what it means to be אָדָם. This gives the human creature a dignity that no other earthly creature shares, and a responsibility (dominion, stewardship) that flows from that dignity.
Second, Genesis 2:7: 'The Lord God formed the man (הָאָדָם) of dust from the ground (הָאֲדָמָה) and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.' The double nature of אָדָם is captured here: formed from the earth below (dust), animated by the breath from above (divine life). Neither dimension can be dropped without losing what אָדָם is.
Third, Genesis 3 and its consequences. The אָדָם who was made from the ground falls into sin and is told: 'You are dust, and to dust you shall return' (3:19). The name becomes laden with the weight of the fall: all humanity after Adam inherits not only the dignity of image-bearing but the condition of the fallen image-bearer — mortal, corrupted, under judgment. This is the theological gravity that Paul will leverage in Romans 5:12-21 and 1 Corinthians 15:21-22, 45-49: 'in Adam all die.'
Sense human, person
Definition human, person
References 13:2, 13:9
Why it matters The law concerns any person who develops suspicious conditions on the skin.
Sense skin, leather
Definition skin, leather
References 13:2-4, 13:11-13, 13:18-20, 13:24-28, 13:34, 13:38-39, 13:48-59
Why it matters Skin is the location of bodily disease, and leather is included in garment contamination procedures.
Pastoral Entry
בָּשָׂר in the OT is not a problem to be escaped — it is the creaturely substance of real human life. Gen 2:23-24 uses it for the profound union of marriage ('bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh'; 'they shall become one flesh'); Isa 40:5-6 uses it for the transience of all human glory ('all flesh is grass'); Gen 6:3 uses it for the creaturely limitation that makes humans dependent on God ('my Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh').
The word's range from kinship warmth to creaturely frailty makes it the OT's most human word. The theological weight comes from what it stands against: YHWH is not flesh (Isa 31:3), and 'all flesh' standing before YHWH is the posture of creatures before the Creator. The NT's escalation — 'the Word became flesh' (John 1:14) — is the most radical possible statement about the incarnation: the eternal Son entered the full creaturely condition that בָּשָׂר names, took on its transience and dependence, and did not thereby cease to be God.
Sense flesh, body
Definition flesh, body
References 13:2-4, 13:10-16, 13:18, 13:24, 13:38
Why it matters The flesh or body is examined for signs of defiling disease and raw flesh.
Cross-language bridge 1 link · View in lexicon
Sense swelling, raised spot
Definition swelling, raised spot
References 13:2, 13:10, 13:19, 13:28, 13:43
Why it matters A swelling is one possible sign requiring priestly examination.
Sense rash, eruption, scab
Definition rash, eruption, scab
References 13:2
Why it matters A skin eruption that may develop into a defiling condition and must be examined.
Sense bright spot, shiny patch
Definition bright spot, shiny patch
References 13:2, 13:4, 13:19, 13:23-25, 13:28, 13:38-39
Why it matters A bright spot on the skin may require examination to determine clean or unclean status.
Sense defiling skin disease, scale disease, contamination
Definition defiling skin disease, scale disease, contamination
References 13:2-3, 13:8-9, 13:11-13, 13:15, 13:20, 13:25, 13:27, 13:30, 13:42-44, 13:47, 13:51-52, 13:59
Why it matters The central term for defiling disease or contamination affecting skin, hair areas, garments, and materials.
Pastoral Entry
כֹּהֵן (kohen) is the Hebrew noun for a priest or someone serving in a priestly office. The local Hebrew artifact currently indexes about 750 H3548 occurrences. The term applies to Aaronic priests, high priests, Melchizedek, Jethro, Egyptian priests, and priests of other gods, so mediation between the Lord and Israel is an important function in selected covenant contexts rather than the noun's universal lexical definition.
Within Israel's Sinai covenant, Aaron and his sons are consecrated for priestly service. Their duties include presenting offerings, maintaining sanctuary service, distinguishing holy from common and clean from unclean, teaching instruction, blessing the people, and participating in judicial or diagnostic decisions. Levites have related sanctuary responsibilities but are not simply interchangeable with Aaronic priests.
Numbers 6:23-27 gives Aaron and his sons the words of the priestly blessing and says that God's name will be placed on Israel and that God will bless them. The priest speaks the given words; the Lord remains the source of blessing.
Leviticus 16 assigns the high priest a unique annual role in the Day of Atonement rites. The chapter's offerings address priest, household, sanctuary, and people within the covenant system. Later Hebrews interpretation should be drawn after the Levitical passage is heard on its own terms.
Malachi 2:7 describes the priest as guarding knowledge and people seeking instruction from his mouth because he is the Lord's messenger. The surrounding rebuke shows both the teaching responsibility and its corruption; it does not establish that priests are the only people authorized to teach Scripture.
Genesis 14:18 calls Melchizedek king of Salem and priest of God Most High. Psalm 110:4 later speaks of a priest forever according to Melchizedek's order, and Hebrews 5-7 builds a sustained argument about Jesus' priesthood from that psalm. Hebrews' typology does not make the Aaronic institution a divine mistake or erase the genuine covenant forgiveness associated with its rites.
Exodus 19:6 calls Israel a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. First Peter 2:9 reuses that language for its readers. These corporate vocations coexist with distinct offices in their respective covenants, but the texts themselves should not be used as a shortcut to settle every later debate about church leadership.
For the preacher, כֹּהֵן (kohen) opens sanctuary service, instruction, blessing, atonement, corruption, Melchizedek, and Hebrews' high-priest Christology. The immediate priestly subject and covenant setting must be identified before application.
Sense priest
Definition priest
References 13:2-3, 13:5-6, 13:8-17, 13:20-23, 13:25-28, 13:30-37, 13:43-44, 13:49-59
Why it matters The priest examines, isolates, reexamines, and declares clean or unclean.
Pastoral Entry
רָאָה (rāʾâh) means to see, look, appear, perceive, discern, inspect, or experience. Genesis uses it for God's evaluation of creation, human visual desire, observation of corruption, divine appearances, and ordinary looking. Leviticus 13 uses seeing for careful priestly inspection, while scouts and watchmen look in order to report. Physical sight can supply evidence but does not guarantee truthful interpretation; Genesis 3:6 shows perception shaped by desire, and false prophets in Isaiah 30 ask for agreeable visions.
God's seeing often expresses attention and response. Exodus 2:25 and 3:7 say God sees Israel's affliction and knows its suffering, and Genesis 16:13 responds to Hagar's encounter with the God who sees. Divine seeing is not passive surveillance or permission for leaders to monitor people without limits. It grounds hope that concealed harm matters to God and should move communities toward listening, protection, and justice.
Seeing God and perceiving revelation require passage-specific care. Exodus 24:10 describes Israel's leaders seeing the God of Israel, while Exodus 33:20 says a human cannot see God's face and live and the chapter carefully limits Moses' request. Prophets see visions, Job contrasts hearsay with seeing, and psalms invite worshipers to taste and see God's goodness. These texts should not be flattened into ordinary eyesight, guaranteed mystical visions, or contempt for blind and visually impaired people.
Sense to see, examine
Definition to see, examine
References 13:3, 13:5-6, 13:8, 13:10, 13:13, 13:17, 13:20-21, 13:25-27, 13:30-32, 13:34, 13:36-37, 13:43, 13:50-51, 13:53, 13:55-57
Why it matters The repeated verb for priestly examination, controlling the chapter's diagnostic process.
Sense hair
Definition hair
References 13:3-4, 13:10, 13:20-21, 13:25-26, 13:30-32, 13:36-37
Why it matters Hair color and condition are important diagnostic signs in skin and scalp disease.
Sense white
Definition white
References 13:3-4, 13:10, 13:13, 13:16-17, 13:19-20, 13:24-26, 13:38-39
Why it matters Whiteness of hair or skin may be diagnostically significant depending on context.
Sense appearance
Definition appearance
References 13:3-4, 13:12, 13:20, 13:25, 13:30, 13:34, 13:43
Why it matters The appearance of a condition guides priestly judgment.
Sense deep
Definition deep
References 13:3-4, 13:20, 13:25, 13:30-32, 13:34
Why it matters A condition appearing deeper than the skin is a sign of defiling disease.
Pastoral Entry
טָמֵא is a verb meaning to become unclean or to defile a person, object, sanctuary, or land. The local Hebrew index currently counts about 162 occurrences, with major concentrations in Leviticus, Numbers, and Ezekiel. The related adjective טָמֵא (H2931) means unclean. The shared spelling and root require careful Strong’s identity handling: an adjectival occurrence should not be presented as a direct use of this verb.
Priestly texts distinguish clean from unclean and holy from common as related but not identical classifications. Some ritual impurities arise from bodily processes, skin conditions, childbirth, corpse contact, or animals and do not imply that the affected person committed a sin. Their restrictions, duration, and purification procedures vary. Uncleanness can restrict sanctuary access or require separation for a time, but it does not automatically expel an Israelite from covenant membership.
Other passages use the verb for culpable defilement through idolatry, bloodshed, sexual sin, or other covenant violations. Ezekiel 36:17-25 says Israel defiled the land by its ways and idols, then promises that the Lord will cleanse the people in restoration. This moral and covenantal use must be distinguished from ordinary ritual impurity even though the same word family allows the prophet to draw on purity language.
Isaiah 6:5 calls the prophet a man of unclean lips using H2931, the adjective, not a direct H2930 verbal occurrence. It remains a valuable related-word example of uncleanness exposed before the Holy One, provided the identity distinction is stated.
For teaching, טָמֵא helps readers respect the purity system’s categories, recognize the seriousness of moral defilement, and attend to God’s promised cleansing. Christian application should follow the New Testament’s explicit teaching about purity, conscience, holiness, and access rather than declaring all ritual categories simply abolished or unchanged.
Sense to declare unclean, be unclean
Definition to declare unclean, be unclean
References 13:3, 13:8, 13:11, 13:15, 13:20, 13:22, 13:25, 13:27, 13:30, 13:44, 13:46, 13:51, 13:59
Why it matters The priest declares unclean when the condition meets the Lord's criteria.
Sense to shut up, isolate, confine
Definition to shut up, isolate, confine
References 13:4-5, 13:11, 13:21, 13:26, 13:31, 13:33, 13:50, 13:54
Why it matters The priest isolates uncertain cases for observation before final declaration.
Sense seven
Definition seven
References 13:4-5, 13:21, 13:26, 13:31, 13:33, 13:50, 13:54
Why it matters Seven-day periods structure isolation and reexamination.
Sense to spread
Definition to spread
References 13:5-8, 13:22-23, 13:27-28, 13:32, 13:35-36, 13:51, 13:53, 13:57
Why it matters Spread is a major sign of uncleanness in skin and garment cases.
Pastoral Entry
עָמַד (amad) is a Hebrew verb for standing, stopping, remaining, taking a position, enduring, or serving before someone. Genesis 24:30 describes Abraham's servant standing by the camels, Exodus 18:13 says the people stood around Moses for judgment, and Joshua 3:17 says the priests stood on dry ground in the Jordan while Israel crossed. Physical posture, stable location, and continued presence form the ordinary range.
Standing can mark service, mediation, and adjudication. Deuteronomy 5:5 says Moses stood between the Lord and Israel to declare the word, Deuteronomy 10:8 says the Levites stand before the Lord to minister, and Deuteronomy 19:17 requires parties to a dispute to stand before the Lord, priests, and judges. First Kings 10:8 describes servants who continually stand before Solomon and hear his wisdom. In these settings standing before is a role and relationship, not merely body position; it can carry responsibility, access, accountability, and readiness.
Judgment and hope test who or what can remain standing. Psalm 1:1 warns against standing in sinners' way, but Psalm 1:5 uses a different Hebrew verb, H6965, for the wicked not standing in judgment. Psalm 130:3 asks who could stand if the Lord marked iniquities and answers with divine forgiveness. Isaiah 3:13 portrays the Lord standing to judge peoples, Ezekiel 22:30 seeks someone to stand in the breach, and Daniel 12:13 promises Daniel rest and a future standing in his allotted place. These passages do not make human resolve the ground of acceptance; standing depends on context, calling, justice, mercy, and God's action.
Sense to stand, remain
Definition to stand, remain
References 13:5, 13:23, 13:28, 13:37
Why it matters A condition that remains unchanged may be declared clean depending on other signs.
Pastoral Entry
טָהֵר is a verb meaning to be clean or pure, to become clean, or to cleanse or pronounce clean, with the active sense shaped by stem and context. It is prominent in priestly texts that regulate the status of persons, objects, and spaces, and it also appears in prayers and prophetic promises of cleansing from sin and idolatry. These uses are related, but ritual status and moral guilt must not be treated as identical categories.
Leviticus uses the verb for priestly cleansing and clean-status determinations within procedures God gives Israel. Those procedures may include washing, waiting, sacrifice, examination, or priestly action depending on the case. It is therefore too broad to say that every ritual occurrence teaches that people can do nothing toward purification or that God alone performs each cleansing act directly. The larger system is God-given, while individual texts assign different human and priestly responsibilities.
Psalm 51 asks God to cleanse the psalmist from sin and uses purity language in a penitential register. Ezekiel 36:25 promises that God will cleanse exiled Israel from uncleanness and idols as part of national restoration, the gift of a new heart, and the Spirit’s work. These passages employ cleansing language morally and covenantally without proving that every earlier ritual use was merely a visible symbol for invisible guilt.
For teaching, טָהֵר helps readers distinguish ceremonial restoration, moral cleansing, and prophetic renewal while seeing their place in the canon’s account of access to God. New Testament purification texts can be traced as later canonical developments, but the Hebrew verb itself does not predict every detail of Christ’s atonement or the Spirit’s sanctifying work.
Sense to declare clean, be clean
Definition to declare clean, be clean
References 13:6, 13:13, 13:17, 13:23, 13:28, 13:34, 13:37, 13:39, 13:40-41, 13:58-59
Why it matters The priest declares clean when the condition does not meet uncleanness criteria.
Sense to wash
Definition to wash
References 13:6, 13:34, 13:54, 13:58
Why it matters Washing garments or the person's clothes is part of clean status or garment restoration procedures.
Sense garment
Definition garment
References 13:6, 13:34, 13:45, 13:47-59
Why it matters Garments are washed in some personal cases and examined for contamination in the final section.
Sense rash, scab
Definition rash, scab
References 13:6-8
Why it matters A rash may be clean if it has not spread, but unclean if it spreads after being declared clean.
Pastoral Entry
שׁוּב (shuv) is a common Hebrew verb for turning, returning, going back, bringing back, or restoring. Many occurrences describe ordinary movement, so the verb does not mean repentance every time it appears. In covenant and prophetic settings, however, returning to the Lord becomes a rich description of repentance: people turn from wicked ways, return to God, hear His voice, and seek His mercy.
Other stem forms can describe causing someone or something to return, including God's restoration of His people. Deuteronomy 30 joins Israel's return to the Lord with God's gathering and renewal after judgment. Isaiah 55 calls the wicked to forsake a way and return to the compassionate God. Hosea and Zechariah address a covenant people whose return must be truthful rather than merely verbal.
Christian teaching can connect this movement with New Testament calls to repent and turn to God, but the Hebrew verb itself should not be collapsed into one technical doctrine. Pastoral use must also distinguish return to God from pressure to return to an unsafe person, place, leader, or institution.
Sense to return, turn back
Definition to return, turn back
References 13:7, 13:16, 13:55
Why it matters A person returns to the priest if the rash spreads, and the priest reexamines changed conditions.
Pastoral Entry
חַי describes what is living or alive and can also mark what is fresh, flowing, or vigorous. Its wide range includes living creatures, raw flesh, running water, continuing life, and the covenant title “the living God.” The local index currently counts about 503 occurrences, so no single theological gloss governs every use. Context determines whether the adjective identifies biological life, freshness, duration, or a title for God.
When Scripture calls the Lord “the living God,” the title often carries covenantal or polemical force. Deuteronomy 5:26 emphasizes that Israel heard the living God speak; Joshua 3:10 grounds confidence in God’s active presence; Jeremiah 10:10 contrasts the Lord with manufactured idols; and Daniel 6:20 asks whether Daniel’s God can deliver. These passages reveal the God who speaks and acts, but that force arises from each context rather than from an expanded dictionary definition of the adjective.
The phrase “living water” likewise depends on context. In ritual texts it commonly means fresh or running water. Jeremiah 2:13 applies the image to the Lord as the fountain his people forsook for broken cisterns. Teachers can trace that prophetic image toward the New Testament’s living-water language while preserving Jeremiah’s covenant indictment and distinguishing it from ordinary or ritual uses.
Pastorally, חַי helps teachers contrast trust in the living God with dependence on powerless substitutes and helps lamenting believers voice their thirst for God, as in Psalms 42 and 84. The application should arise from those passages without implying that every H2416 occurrence carries the full theology of divine life.
Sense living, raw
Definition living, raw
References 13:10, 13:14-16
Why it matters Raw or living flesh in the diseased area indicates uncleanness.
Cross-language bridge 1 link · View in lexicon
Pastoral Entry
רַחַם (raḥam), often appearing in the plural רַחֲמִים (raḥamim), can name compassion, mercies, or the physical womb. Genesis 49 and Proverbs 30 use the anatomical sense. Genesis 43 and 1 Kings 3 describe intense human feeling, while prayers and laments appeal to God's compassion. The lexical relation among womb and compassion senses is real, but interpreters must first identify which sense the sentence actually uses.
Lamentations 3:22 confesses that the Lord's compassions do not end amid Jerusalem's devastation. Isaiah 63 asks where God's compassion seems restrained, and Daniel 9 appeals to abundant mercies rather than communal righteousness. Other texts demand human compassion: Zechariah 7:9 commands compassion, Proverbs 12:10 contrasts righteous care with cruel mercy, and Isaiah 47 condemns Babylon for showing no compassion to the elderly. The noun can therefore describe divine mercy, human tenderness, desired treatment, or culpable absence.
Literal-womb passages require particular care. They concern fertility, pregnancy, birth, maternal attachment, barrenness, or, in Judges 5:30, dehumanizing war-spoil speech about captured women. These texts do not define womanhood by pregnancy, shame infertility or pregnancy loss, or turn reproductive bodies into theological symbols without consent. The word family can enrich images of compassion, but no root claim should erase anatomy, trauma, agency, or the passage's moral setting.
Sense to spread wide, cover broadly
Definition to spread wide, cover broadly
References 13:12
Why it matters The disease spreading broadly over the body leads to a surprising clean declaration if the whole body turns white and raw flesh is absent.
Pastoral Entry
רֹאשׁ (rosh) most basically names the head of a person or animal, and it extends to the top of an object or place, the beginning of a period, the first position, a chief or leader, and an individual counted in a group. Mountain tops emerge after the flood, a river divides from its head or source, oil is poured on Aaron's head, and a census can count persons by head. These uses share ideas of physical location, sequence, prominence, or representation, but context decides which idea is active.
Leadership uses are real but limited by their passages. Moses appoints capable people as heads over groups in Exodus 18 and Deuteronomy 1, while Isaiah can call an elder the head in an image of corrupt social order. The noun does not by itself authorize a modern church office, male supremacy, unchecked control, or immunity from accountability. A leader named as a head remains responsible to God's justice and to the duties stated in that setting.
Psalm 118:22 says the stone rejected by builders became the head of the corner. Its later canonical use is important, yet that use should not make every occurrence of rosh a prediction about Christ. Likewise, the promise that Israel will be head and not tail in Deuteronomy 28 belongs to a covenant blessing and curse address; it is not an individual guarantee of wealth, promotion, or dominance.
Sense head
Definition head
References 13:12, 13:29-30, 13:40-44
Why it matters The head is examined for scalp disease and baldness-related conditions.
Sense foot
Definition foot
References 13:12
Why it matters The whole-body spread is described from head to foot.
Cross-language bridge 1 link · View in lexicon
Sense boil, inflamed sore
Definition boil, inflamed sore
References 13:18-20, 13:23
Why it matters A healed boil may become the site of a suspicious condition requiring examination.
Pastoral Entry
רָפָא (rapha) means to heal, cure, restore, mend, or repair. It can concern bodily illness and wounds, but Scripture also applies it to water, land, an altar, communal apostasy, national devastation, broken hearts, and damaged relationships. First Kings 18:30 uses the verb for repairing the Lord's altar, showing that English make whole may sometimes be closer than medical language.
Exodus 15:26 says, in the Marah covenant instruction, that the Lord is the one healing Israel. This is a divine self-description in a conditional historical setting, not a formula guaranteeing immediate recovery from every illness. Scripture also names physicians in Genesis 50 and distinguishes faithful healing from superficial reassurance. Jeremiah condemns leaders who treat the people's wound lightly by announcing peace when there is no peace.
Isaiah 53:5 says healing comes through the servant's wounds in a poem centered on transgression, iniquity, punishment, peace, suffering, and vindication. Later Scripture applies this text within Jesus' saving work, but the line should not be used to guarantee that every believer will receive physical cure now. Some passages speak of bodily healing, others of repentance or communal restoration, and some of creation or land. The object and literary argument define what is being healed.
Sense to heal
Definition to heal
References 13:18, 13:37
Why it matters A boil or scalp disease may be healed, but the priest must determine clean status.
Sense under, in place of, in the spot
Definition under, in place of, in the spot
References 13:19, 13:24, 13:28
Why it matters The affected spot arises in the place of a prior boil or burn.
Sense dull white spot, harmless rash
Definition dull white spot, harmless rash
References 13:39
Why it matters A harmless white rash that is declared clean.
Sense burn
Definition burn
References 13:24-25, 13:28
Why it matters A burn may become the site of suspicious discoloration requiring priestly examination.
Pastoral Entry
אֵשׁ (esh) is the Hebrew word for fire, currently indexed about 378 times in the local Hebrew index. Fire in the OT is not merely a physical phenomenon; it is consistently the medium of divine presence, divine judgment, and divine purification. The three functions are related: the same fire that represents God's presence burns up what does not belong before him, and refines what does. The theological trajectory of esh runs from the burning bush of Exodus 3 to the fire of Hebrews 12:29 ('our God is a consuming fire').
Deuteronomy 4:24 is the foundational theological statement: 'For the Lord your God is a consuming esh (esh okhelet), a jealous God.' The fire is not a secondary attribute of God; it is a description of what God himself is in relation to everything that opposes him and competes for loyalty to him. The jealousy and the consuming fire are the same thing: God's total commitment to his own glory and to his people's exclusive devotion means that whatever rivals him will be consumed. This is not cruelty; it is the natural result of the infinite standing next to the finite, the holy next to the unholy.
Exodus 3:2-4 gives fire its most memorable OT role: the burning bush. 'The angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of esh (labbat-esh) out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed.' The burning-but-not-consumed bush is the visual paradox of divine fire: the esh of God's presence is consuming, yet when God chooses to be present to his people, his fire does not destroy them. The bush burns but is not burned up — divine fire without destruction. This is the OT's picture of God's covenantal self-limitation: he is the consuming fire who chooses to be present without consuming.
First Kings 18:38 uses esh for the divine confirmation of Elijah's contest with the prophets of Baal: 'Then the fire (esh) of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench.' The esh YHWH (fire of the Lord) falls from heaven and consumes not only the sacrifice but the altar, the stones, and the water — total consumption, leaving no ambiguity. The fire is the divine response to Elijah's prayer and the proof that YHWH, not Baal, is God.
For the preacher, אֵשׁ (esh) is the word that insists God cannot be approached casually: he is fire, and the approach to him requires the mediation of the sacrifice he provides.
Sense fire
Definition fire
References 13:24
Why it matters Fire is the cause of the burn considered in verses 24-28.
Sense scall, scale disease of head or beard
Definition scall, scale disease of head or beard
References 13:30-37
Why it matters A defiling condition of the scalp or beard area, diagnosed by depth, hair color, spread, and healing.
Sense yellow, golden
Definition yellow, golden
References 13:30, 13:32, 13:36
Why it matters Yellow thin hair in a sore on the head or chin can indicate a defiling scalp disease.
Sense thin, fine
Definition thin, fine
References 13:30
Why it matters Thin yellow hair is a diagnostic sign in scalp disease.
Sense to shave
Definition to shave
References 13:33
Why it matters The person shaves around the diseased area as part of the diagnostic process.
Sense bald
Definition bald
References 13:40-41
Why it matters Ordinary baldness does not make a person unclean.
Sense forehead-bald
Definition forehead-bald
References 13:41-43
Why it matters Forehead baldness is clean unless a suspicious reddish-white sore appears.
Sense reddish
Definition reddish
References 13:19, 13:24, 13:42-43, 13:49
Why it matters Reddish appearance is part of diagnostic description for skin conditions and garment contamination.
Sense to tear
Definition to tear
References 13:45
Why it matters The person with confirmed disease must wear torn clothes as a public sign of uncleanness.
Sense to let loose, leave unkempt
Definition to let loose, leave unkempt
References 13:45
Why it matters The unclean person must let the hair of the head be unkempt.
Sense to cover
Definition to cover
References 13:45
Why it matters The unclean person covers the lower part of the face.
Sense mustache, upper lip
Definition mustache, upper lip
References 13:45
Why it matters The lower face or upper lip is covered as part of the public sign of uncleanness.
Pastoral Entry
קָרָא (qārāʾ) means to call, call out, summon, name, proclaim, invite, read aloud, or cry for help. God calls created realities by name in Genesis 1, the human names animals, parents name children, messengers summon people, hosts invite guests, and public officials proclaim decisions. Naming can describe identity, memory, reputation, or authority, but the verb does not make every imposed label just or permanent.
Calling on the Lord is a major prayer use. Genesis 4:26 and 12:8 speak of calling on the Lord's name, psalmists call from distress, Jeremiah 33:3 invites prayer, and Joel 2:32 promises deliverance to those who call on the Lord within its prophetic setting. God also calls people by name or to tasks, as in Exodus 3:4 and Isaiah 43:1. A narrated call can carry divine authority, but a modern person's claim to be called is not self-authenticating and must remain open to Scripture, character, community testing, competence, and safeguarding.
The verb also names proclamation and public reading. Leviticus 23 proclaims appointed assemblies, Isaiah 61 proclaims liberty, Jonah is sent to proclaim to Nineveh, and Nehemiah 8 reads Torah aloud with explanation so the people understand. Public reading is not mere performance: access, intelligibility, truthful interpretation, and response matter. H7121's broad range should not be collapsed into one doctrine of effectual calling or used to make every title, invitation, sermon, or cry carry the same force.
Sense to call, cry out
Definition to call, cry out
References 13:45
Why it matters The unclean person must cry out, 'Unclean! Unclean!'
Cross-language bridge 1 link · View in lexicon
Sense alone, isolated
Definition alone, isolated
References 13:46
Why it matters The person with confirmed disease lives alone outside the camp.
Pastoral Entry
יָשַׁב (yashav) is a common Hebrew verb for sitting, remaining, dwelling, or inhabiting. The local Hebrew index currently counts about 1,092 H3427 uses across ordinary residence, life in a land, civic sitting, royal enthronement, and selected descriptions of the Lord's dwelling. Its theological weight comes from particular passages, not from turning every occurrence into a devotional metaphor.
Psalm 27:4 voices the psalmist's one request: to dwell in the house of the Lord all his days, behold the Lord's beauty, and inquire in his temple. In that immediate setting yashav expresses sustained access to worship and divine presence. It can invite reflection on spiritual desire without implying that ordinary work or public obedience is inferior.
Psalm 2:4 depicts the One seated in heaven laughing at rebellious rulers. The verb contributes to a royal scene of unthreatened divine authority. The claim belongs to the psalm's contrast between earthly conspiracy and the Lord's rule rather than to a general promise that believers will never feel threatened.
Psalm 9:11 summons praise to the Lord who dwells in Zion and calls his deeds to be proclaimed among the peoples. This is an H3427 divine-dwelling use. Exodus 25:8 instead uses the related H7931 verb shakan, so tabernacle language can serve as a canonical neighbor but not as an H3427 occurrence.
Psalm 132:13-14 presents Zion as the Lord's chosen resting place and says, 'here I will dwell.' The text joins divine choice, place, and Davidic worship. It should not be generalized into a claim that God is confined to Jerusalem or that every later dwelling text uses this lexeme.
Psalm 91:1 describes the person who dwells in the shelter of the Most High and abides in the Almighty's shadow. The poetry commends trusting refuge while the psalm's imagery must not be converted into an unconditional guarantee against suffering.
For the preacher, יָשַׁב (yashav) can open themes of residence, authority, worship, shelter, and covenant place when the chosen passage supports them. The application should preserve concrete spatial and civic senses as well as selected relational ones.
Sense to sit, remain, dwell
Definition to sit, remain, dwell
References 13:46
Why it matters The unclean person dwells outside the camp as long as the disease remains.
Sense outside
Definition outside
References 13:46
Why it matters Confirmed uncleanness results in life outside the camp.
Sense camp
Definition camp
References 13:46
Why it matters The camp is the holy community space that must be protected from defiling disease.
Sense wool
Definition wool
References 13:47-48, 13:52, 13:59
Why it matters Wool garments can be affected by contamination and require priestly examination.
Sense linen
Definition linen
References 13:47-48, 13:52, 13:59
Why it matters Linen garments can be affected by contamination and require priestly examination.
Sense warp
Definition warp
References 13:48-49, 13:51-53, 13:56-59
Why it matters The warp of woven material may be affected by contamination.
Sense woof, weft
Definition woof, weft
References 13:48-49, 13:51-53, 13:56-59
Why it matters The weft of woven material may be affected by contamination.
Sense greenish
Definition greenish
References 13:49
Why it matters Greenish contamination in fabric or leather is suspicious and must be examined.
Sense reddish
Definition reddish
References 13:49
Why it matters Reddish contamination in fabric or leather is suspicious and must be examined.
Sense appearance
Definition appearance
References 13:49, 13:55
Why it matters The appearance of contamination guides the priestly decision.
Pastoral Entry
שָׂרַף (saraph) is a Hebrew verb meaning to burn, burn up, consume by fire, or incinerate. Its objects vary widely: bricks are fired, Passover leftovers and sacrificial remains are burned, contaminated cloth is destroyed, an idol is burned and ground, cities and buildings are burned in war, a royal scroll is burned, bones are burned, and bodies are burned in episodes of law, violence, or burial. The verb identifies the burning action but does not make every fire sacrificial, purifying, divine, or morally approved.
Torah assigns particular burning procedures to particular covenant settings and also condemns burning children as an abominable practice. Prophets announce or narrate fires of judgment, while Jeremiah 36 portrays officials refusing to fear when the king cuts and burns the prophetic scroll. Historical conquest accounts contain destruction that belongs to Israel's narrated land and covenant setting. Psalm 46, by contrast, celebrates the ending of wars through the burning of military equipment.
H8313 does not occur in the fire that consumes the offering in Leviticus 9, the deaths in Leviticus 10, the wilderness fire of Numbers 11, or Isaiah's seraphim and altar-coal scene. Those passages use other words or the related noun H8314 and cannot define this verb's direct usage. No ancient burning command authorizes arson, destruction of another religion's property, book burning, cremation shaming, execution, self-harm, or violence against a person today.
Sense to burn
Definition to burn
References 13:52, 13:55, 13:57
Why it matters Contaminated garments or materials that remain or spread must be burned.
Sense malignant, corrosive contamination
Definition malignant, corrosive contamination
References 13:51-52
Why it matters A malignant contamination in fabric or leather must be burned.
Sense to turn aside, disappear, remove
Definition to turn aside, disappear, remove
References 13:55
Why it matters If contamination has not disappeared after washing, the material is unclean and burned.
Sense to tear out
Definition to tear out
References 13:56
Why it matters A contaminated portion may be torn out if the contamination has faded after washing.
Pastoral Entry
עָשָׂה (asah) is one of Biblical Hebrew's broad verbs for doing and making. Genesis uses it for God's making within creation, Noah's carrying out divine instructions, human building and preparation, and actions that bring intended or unintended results. The verb identifies action but does not by itself determine motive, moral quality, material process, or theological significance. Its object, subject, construction, and passage must supply those claims.
Covenant texts repeatedly connect hearing with doing. Exodus 7:6 says Moses and Aaron did as the Lord commanded, Leviticus 18:5 speaks of doing the statutes, Deuteronomy 4:6 calls Israel to keep and do them, and Joshua 1:8 joins meditation with careful action. This is enacted covenant response, not a claim that human performance earns the grace that precedes the command. Exodus begins obedience language after God's deliverance, and failure within the covenant still requires mercy, repentance, and restoration.
The verb also carries ethical and vocational breadth. Deuteronomy 10:18 says God executes justice for the orphan and widow. Proverbs 21:3 prefers doing righteousness and justice to sacrifice, Ecclesiastes 9:10 addresses diligent work under mortality, and Micah 6:8 calls for doing justice alongside covenant love and humble walking. Because H6213 can describe good, evil, divine, human, ordinary, artistic, ritual, and judicial action, no theology of works should be built from the verb without the controlling text.
Sense to make, do
Definition to make, do
References 13:48, 13:51, 13:56, 13:59
Why it matters Used in relation to manufactured items and carrying out the law's procedures.
Pastoral Entry
תּוֹרָה (torah) can name instruction, a particular ruling, priestly teaching, the law associated with Moses, or the Torah as a recognized body of Scripture. Context determines the scope. The noun should not be defined only from a proposed connection with the verb 'to instruct' and then made to mean whatever a teacher prefers. In Deuteronomy, torah shapes Israel's covenant life.
Psalm 119 delights in God's instruction as trustworthy guidance. Isaiah envisions instruction going out from Zion, Ezra devotes himself to studying, practicing, and teaching the Torah, and Jeremiah 31 promises God's torah written within. These passages resist two opposite reductions. Torah is not a ladder by which sinners earn God's favor, but neither is it an obsolete burden with nothing to teach.
The New Testament presents Jesus as fulfilling the Law and Prophets and teaches believers to read Israel's Scriptures through His person and work. Responsible application distinguishes Israel's covenant setting, enduring revelation of God's character and purposes, and the commands' fulfillment in Christ rather than forcing every statute directly onto the church.
Sense instruction, law
Definition instruction, law
References 13:59
Why it matters The chapter concludes as instruction for defiling contamination in wool, linen, and leather articles.
Lexicon data: MorphGNT Strong's Dictionary XML (CC0) · Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible (CC BY 4.0) · Open Scriptures Hebrew Lexicon (CC BY 4.0) · STEPBible Data (CC BY 4.0) · Full details
| v.10 | H2015הָפַךְQal · Perfect · Indicative |
| v.11 | H3462יָשֵׁןNiphal · Participle |
| v.12 | H6524פָּרַחQal · Infinitive absoluteH6524פָּרַחQal · Imperfect · Indicative/jussive |
| v.13 | H3680כָּסָהPiel · Perfect · IndicativeH2015הָפַךְQal · Perfect · Indicative |
| v.14 | H7200רָאָהNiphal · Infinitive constructH2930טָמֵאQal · Imperfect · Indicative/jussive |
| v.16 | H7725שׁוּבQal · Imperfect · Indicative/jussive |
| v.17 | H2015הָפַךְNiphal · Perfect · Indicative |
| v.18 | H1961הָיָהQal · Imperfect · Indicative/jussive |
| v.2 | H1961הָיָהQal · Imperfect · Indicative/jussive |
| v.20 | H2015הָפַךְQal · Perfect · IndicativeH6524פָּרַחQal · Perfect · Indicative |
| v.22 | H6581פָּשָׂהQal · Infinitive absoluteH6581פָּשָׂהQal · Imperfect · Indicative/jussive |
| v.23 | H5975עָמַדQal · Imperfect · Indicative/jussiveH6581פָּשָׂהQal · Perfect · Indicative |
| v.24 | H1961הָיָהQal · Imperfect · Indicative/jussive |
| v.25 | H2015הָפַךְNiphal · Perfect · IndicativeH6524פָּרַחQal · Perfect · Indicative |
| v.27 | H6581פָּשָׂהQal · Infinitive absoluteH6581פָּשָׂהQal · Imperfect · Indicative/jussive |
| v.28 | H5975עָמַדQal · Imperfect · Indicative/jussiveH6581פָּשָׂהQal · Perfect · Indicative |
| v.29 | H1961הָיָהQal · Imperfect · Indicative/jussive |
| v.3 | H2015הָפַךְQal · Perfect · Indicative |
| v.31 | H7200רָאָהQal · Imperfect · Indicative/jussive |
| v.32 | H6581פָּשָׂהQal · Perfect · IndicativeH1961הָיָהQal · Perfect · Indicative |
| v.33 | H1548גָּלַחPiel · Imperfect · Indicative/jussive |
| v.34 | H6581פָּשָׂהQal · Perfect · Indicative |
| v.35 | H6581פָּשָׂהQal · Infinitive absoluteH6581פָּשָׂהQal · Imperfect · Indicative/jussive |
| v.36 | H6581פָּשָׂהQal · Perfect · IndicativeH1239בָּקַרPiel · Imperfect · Indicative/jussive |
| v.37 | H5975עָמַדQal · Perfect · IndicativeH6779צָמַחQal · Perfect · IndicativeH7495רָפָאNiphal · Perfect · Indicative |
| v.38 | H1961הָיָהQal · Imperfect · Indicative/jussive |
| v.39 | H6524פָּרַחQal · Perfect · Indicative |
| v.4 | H2015הָפַךְQal · Perfect · Indicative |
| v.40 | H4803Niphal · Imperfect · Indicative/jussive |
| v.41 | H4803Niphal · Imperfect · Indicative/jussive |
| v.42 | H1961הָיָהQal · Imperfect · Indicative/jussiveH6524פָּרַחQal · Participle |
| v.44 | H6879צָרַעQal · Participle passiveH2930טָמֵאPiel · Infinitive absolute |
| v.45 | H1961הָיָהQal · Imperfect · Indicative/jussiveH6533פָּרַםQal · Participle passiveH1961הָיָהQal · Imperfect · Indicative/jussiveH6544פָּרַעQal · Participle passiveH5844עָטָהQal · Imperfect · Indicative/jussiveH7121קָרָאQal · Imperfect · Indicative/jussive |
| v.46 | H2930טָמֵאQal · Imperfect · Indicative/jussiveH3427יָשַׁבQal · Imperfect · Indicative/jussive |
| v.47 | H1961הָיָהQal · Imperfect · Indicative/jussive |
| v.5 | H5975עָמַדQal · Perfect · IndicativeH6581פָּשָׂהQal · Perfect · Indicative |
| v.51 | H6581פָּשָׂהQal · Perfect · IndicativeH6213עָשָׂהNiphal · Imperfect · Indicative/jussiveH3992מָאַרHiphil · Participle |
| v.52 | H1961הָיָהQal · Imperfect · Indicative/jussiveH3992מָאַרHiphil · ParticipleH8313שָׂרַףNiphal · Imperfect · Indicative/jussive |
| v.53 | H7200רָאָהQal · Imperfect · Indicative/jussiveH6581פָּשָׂהQal · Perfect · Indicative |
| v.55 | H3526כָּבַסHithpolal · Infinitive constructH2015הָפַךְQal · Perfect · IndicativeH6581פָּשָׂהQal · Perfect · Indicative |
| v.56 | H7200רָאָהQal · Perfect · IndicativeH3544כֵּהֶהPiel · Perfect · IndicativeH3526כָּבַסHithpolal · Infinitive construct |
| v.57 | H7200רָאָהNiphal · Imperfect · Indicative/jussiveH6524פָּרַחQal · Participle |
| v.58 | H3526כָּבַסPiel · Imperfect · Indicative/jussive |
| v.6 | H3544כֵּהֶהPiel · Perfect · IndicativeH6581פָּשָׂהQal · Perfect · Indicative |
| v.7 | H6581פָּשָׂהQal · Infinitive absoluteH6581פָּשָׂהQal · Imperfect · Indicative/jussive |
| v.8 | H6581פָּשָׂהQal · Perfect · Indicative |
| v.9 | H1961הָיָהQal · Imperfect · Indicative/jussive |
Aspect in Hebrew is grammatical form, not tense. Perfect = completed action; Imperfect = incomplete/ongoing. Stem modifies action type (Qal=simple, Niphal=passive, Piel=intensive).
Morphology: OSHB WLC (Open Scriptures, CC BY 4.0) · STEPBible TEHMC (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0)
Theological Argument
Leviticus 13 teaches that holiness requires careful discernment, patient examination, and truthful declaration. The priest does not create uncleanness but identifies and declares it according to the Lord's instruction. The chapter refuses both carelessness and panic: not every rash is defiling, yet confirmed uncleanness cannot remain in the camp as though nothing has happened.
The community must preserve holiness without confusing every bodily condition with moral guilt. The chapter also shows that impurity can spread beyond the body into garments and household material, requiring cleansing or destruction.
From bodily examination to isolation, from reinspection to declaration, from confirmed uncleanness to life outside the camp, and from human skin to contaminated garments.
- 1.The LORD speaks to Moses and Aaron, placing these diagnostic laws under divine authority and priestly responsibility.
- 2.Suspicious skin conditions must be brought to the priest, showing that holiness discernment is not left to private opinion.
- 3.The priest examines visible evidence such as depth, hair color, raw flesh, spread, and change over time.
- 4.Uncertain cases require isolation, patience, and reexamination, showing that judgment must not be rushed.
- 5.Some conditions are declared clean, showing that visible abnormality is not automatically uncleanness.
- 6.Other conditions are declared unclean, showing that real defilement must be named truthfully.
- 7.Raw flesh is a serious sign of uncleanness, while complete whitening without raw flesh may be declared clean.
- 8.Boils and burns can produce scars that are clean or disease that is unclean, requiring careful distinction.
- 9.Scalp and beard conditions require additional diagnostic procedures, including shaving around the sore and reinspection.
- 10.Ordinary baldness is clean, preventing unnecessary stigma.
- 11.Confirmed defiling disease changes the person's public condition and location in relation to the camp.
- 12.The person declared unclean must signal uncleanness openly, protecting the community from defilement.
- 13.Garments and leather can also bear spreading contamination, requiring priestly examination and sometimes destruction.
- 14.The chapter trains Israel that holiness involves discernment, boundaries, patience, truthful declaration, and protection of the camp where the LORD dwells.
Theological Focus
- Clean and unclean
- Priestly examination
- Defiling skin disease
- Quarantine
- Discernment
- Public declaration
- Community holiness
- Outside the camp
- Garment contamination
- Spread of impurity
- Sanctuary boundaries
- Patient judgment
- Holiness and compassion
- Body and household life before God
- Holiness Requires Discernment
- Uncleanness Is Real but Not Always Moral Guilt
- The Priest Declares What Is Already Evident
- Waiting Can Be an Act of Holiness
- The Camp Must Be Protected Because the Lord Dwells Among Israel
- Uncleanness Can Spread
- Holiness Touches Material Life
- Truthful Declaration Protects Both the Individual and the Community
- Holiness
- Clean and Unclean
- Priestly Discernment
- Impurity
- Community Holiness
- Human Dignity Amid Uncleanness
- The Spread of Defilement
- Christ the Cleanser
- Christ Outside the Camp
Theological Themes
The priest must examine carefully before declaring a person or object clean or unclean. Holiness is not preserved by guesswork.
The chapter concerns ritual status, not automatic moral blame. A person may be unclean because of a condition without being personally wicked.
The priest does not cause uncleanness by speaking. He examines according to the Lord's criteria and declares the person's or object's status.
Seven-day isolation and reinspection show that the Lord builds patience into discernment. Hasty declarations can harm people and holiness.
The unclean person lives outside the camp, not because he or she is subhuman, but because the holy community must guard the dwelling place of the Lord.
The repeated attention to spreading disease or contamination shows that impurity can expand if not identified and addressed.
Garments, leather, woven material, and household goods are included. The Lord's holiness reaches beyond the altar into possessions and daily life.
Declaring clean protects the innocent from stigma; declaring unclean protects the community from defilement.
Covenant Significance
Leviticus 13 gives Israel a priestly process for guarding covenant holiness in cases of visible disease and material contamination. The chapter protects the camp, where the Lord dwells among His people, by requiring truthful distinction between clean and unclean. It also restrains unnecessary exclusion by requiring careful examination and reinspection before judgment.
- The priests are entrusted with examining and declaring clean or unclean.
- The law follows Leviticus 10's mandate that priests distinguish clean from unclean.
- Visible disease is handled through priestly discernment, isolation, and reexamination.
- Not every abnormal skin condition results in uncleanness.
- Confirmed defiling disease results in life outside the camp.
- The person declared unclean must publicly signal the condition to protect the community.
- Garment contamination is treated seriously because impurity may affect material life.
- Burning contaminated garments protects the community from spreading impurity.
- The procedures show that the Lord's holiness governs both bodily and household realities.
- The chapter anticipates Leviticus 14, where cleansing and restoration procedures are provided for the person healed of defiling skin disease.
- Leviticus 10:10-11 gives the priestly mandate to distinguish clean from unclean and teach Israel.
- Leviticus 11 begins clean and unclean instruction with animals and carcass impurity.
- Leviticus 14 provides cleansing rites for defiling skin disease and contaminated houses.
- Numbers 5:1-4 commands those with defiling skin disease, discharge, or corpse impurity to be sent outside the camp.
- Numbers 12 narrates Miriam's temporary skin disease and exclusion outside the camp.
- 2 Kings 5 records Naaman's skin disease and cleansing, showing the longing for healing beyond priestly diagnosis.
- 2 Chronicles 26 records Uzziah's skin disease after priestly confrontation, connecting unclean condition with sanctuary violation.
Canonical Connections
Leviticus 13 fulfills the priestly responsibility given after Nadab and Abihu's death.
Leviticus 13 continues the clean and unclean instruction begun in Leviticus 11-12 and continued in Leviticus 14-15.
Leviticus 14 provides cleansing rites for the person healed of the disease diagnosed in Leviticus 13.
Numbers commands those with defiling skin disease and other uncleanness to be sent outside the camp.
Miriam's skin disease and seven-day exclusion display the social and ritual impact of such uncleanness.
Naaman's healing from skin disease shows the need for divine cleansing beyond priestly diagnosis.
Uzziah becomes diseased after presumptuously entering priestly sanctuary service, showing a case where disease is tied to judgment.
Jesus heals those with leprosy-like disease and commands them to show themselves to the priest.
Hebrews connects Christ's suffering outside the gate with sanctifying His people by His blood.
Cross References
Canon-Wide Connections
Cross-reference data: OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Leviticus 13 clarifies the gospel by showing that uncleanness creates separation and that priestly diagnosis alone cannot heal. The unclean person outside the camp embodies the human need for cleansing, restoration, and access. Jesus enters this world of uncleanness, touches and cleanses lepers, and ultimately suffers outside the gate to make His people holy by His blood.
- Uncleanness affects access to the camp and holy things.
- Priests can examine and declare, but they cannot finally cleanse the heart or conquer death.
- The afflicted person's exclusion reveals the pain of separation and the need for restoration.
- Jesus cleanses lepers and restores them to community and worship.
- Jesus' holiness is not contaminated by uncleanness · His holiness overcomes uncleanness.
- Jesus honors the Mosaic priestly process while revealing Himself as greater than the priestly examiner.
- Christ suffers outside the gate, identifying with the place of reproach and exclusion.
- Christ's blood cleanses the conscience and opens access to God.
- The church must proclaim cleansing in Christ without shaming the afflicted.
- Do not preach skin disease as automatic proof of personal sin.
- Do not reduce Leviticus 13 to hygiene or public health only.
- Do not treat the priest as a savior · he diagnoses and declares, but Christ cleanses.
- Do not use uncleanness language to dehumanize the sick, disabled, poor, or socially excluded.
- Do not ignore the holiness concern of the chapter in the name of compassion. Biblical compassion does not abolish holiness.
- Do not ignore the compassion of Christ in the name of holiness. Biblical holiness does not despise the afflicted.
- Do not apply the outside-the-camp category directly to modern illness without moving through Christ's fulfillment.
- Do not separate Christ's cleansing miracles from the Levitical background that gives them depth.
Primary Emphasis
Leviticus 13 prepares for Christ by revealing the painful distance uncleanness creates and the need for a cleansing greater than priestly diagnosis. The priest can examine and declare, but he cannot ultimately heal. In the Gospels, Jesus touches and cleanses those with leprosy-like conditions, not becoming unclean Himself but making the unclean clean. He fulfills the priestly hope by providing true cleansing, restoration, and access to God.
Chapter Contribution
Leviticus 13 teaches that holiness requires careful discernment, patient examination, and truthful declaration. The priest does not create uncleanness but identifies and declares it according to the Lord's instruction. The chapter refuses both carelessness and panic: not every rash is defiling, yet confirmed uncleanness cannot remain in the camp as though nothing has happened.
The community must preserve holiness without confusing every bodily condition with moral guilt. The chapter also shows that impurity can spread beyond the body into garments and household material, requiring cleansing or destruction.
Study holiness as divine character, covenant identity, and sanctified life across Scripture.
Study temple presence, worship, corruption, judgment, and renewal across Scripture.
Track judgment as covenant accountability, divine justice, and eschatological reckoning.
The priest must investigate thoroughly before declaring someone unclean.
The community shares responsibility for maintaining purity before the Lord.
Holiness requires accurate evaluation rather than superficial judgment.
Spiritual authority requires careful observation and patience before rendering judgment.
Spiritual authority requires careful observation before making a judgment affecting the community.
Some impurities may be cleansed, while others require total removal.
God's presence among His people requires that impurity be separated from the community.
God's people must remove sources of impurity from their environment.
The people of Israel must maintain purity boundaries in order to live before the holy presence of God.
Holiness is maintained through accurate and thoughtful distinctions, not rigid or careless judgments.
God's law protects individuals from unjust exclusion through careful evaluation.
God's law protects individuals from being wrongly classified as unclean.
God establishes structured practices to govern how impurity is handled within the community.
The priest is responsible for examining conditions and declaring ritual status within the community.
The priest is responsible for examining and declaring ritual status within the community.
Persistent impurity requires decisive removal to preserve holiness.
Impurity necessitates separation to protect the covenant community.
The covenant community must carefully distinguish between conditions that produce impurity and those that do not.
The chapter protects the holiness of the camp where the Lord dwells among His people.
The chapter gives detailed procedures for distinguishing clean and unclean skin conditions and contaminated materials.
Priests examine, isolate, reexamine, and declare clean or unclean according to the Lord's instruction.
Skin disease and garment contamination can create impurity affecting camp access and material life.
The unclean person lives outside the camp to protect the covenant community's holiness.
The chapter models careful, patient judgment rather than impulsive declaration.
The unclean person is excluded ritually but not stripped of image-bearing dignity or the hope of restoration.
The repeated concern with spread teaches that impurity must be recognized and addressed.
Christ fulfills the longing of Leviticus 13 by cleansing those whom priestly examination can only declare unclean.
The outside-the-camp condition points canonically toward Christ bearing reproach outside the gate to sanctify His people.
Theological exposition and fulfillment
- Leviticus 13 clarifies the gospel by showing that uncleanness creates separation and that priestly diagnosis alone cannot heal. The unclean person outside the camp embodies the human need for cleansing, restoration, and access. Jesus enters this world of uncleanness, touches and cleanses lepers, and ultimately suffers outside the gate to make His people holy by His blood.
The holy Lord requires careful priestly discernment of clean and unclean conditions so that His dwelling among His people is guarded and restoration may be pursued rightly.
God's people must learn to guard holiness without cruelty, diagnose carefully without pride, and lead the afflicted toward the cleansing and restoration fulfilled in Christ.
Discernment, patience, truthfulness, compassion, reverence, and hope for restoration.
- Examine carefully before making judgments.
- Do not equate affliction automatically with personal guilt.
- Protect the spiritual health of the community without despising the vulnerable.
- Take spreading corruption seriously.
- Make room for waiting, reexamination, and humble discernment.
- Bring shame, exclusion, and uncleanness to Christ the cleanser.
- Pursue restoration wherever God provides cleansing.
- The chapter warns against ignoring spreading uncleanness, rushing judgment without careful examination, or bringing defiling conditions into the camp as though holiness boundaries do not matter.
- Leviticus 13 is simply a medical dermatology manual. - The chapter has practical concern for visible conditions, but its purpose is ritual discernment of clean and unclean status in relation to Israel's holiness and camp life.
- Every person declared unclean must have committed a specific sin. - The chapter treats ritual uncleanness. It does not state that every skin condition is punishment for personal sin.
- The priest heals the disease. - The priest examines, isolates, reexamines, and declares. Healing itself is not presented as the priest's power in Leviticus 13.
- The unclean person is worthless or rejected by God as a person. - The exclusion protects the holiness of the camp. It does not erase the person's dignity as an image-bearer or covenant member needing restoration.
- Any unusual skin condition must be treated as defiling disease. - The chapter repeatedly distinguishes harmless or clean conditions from genuinely defiling ones.
- Isolation is merely punitive. - Isolation functions diagnostically and communally, allowing time to see whether the condition spreads while protecting the camp.
- The garment laws are superstitious nonsense. - The garment section extends the chapter's concern with spreading contamination into material life and household holiness.
- Christians should recreate these priestly diagnostic procedures in church life. - The Old Covenant purity system is fulfilled in Christ. The enduring instruction concerns holiness, discernment, truthful judgment, compassion, and Christ's cleansing power.
- Do I make quick judgments where God calls for careful examination?
- Do I assume suffering or visible affliction always reveals personal guilt?
- Where do I need priestly discernment that distinguishes clean from unclean without cruelty?
- What does the repeated seven-day isolation teach about patience in judgment?
- How does the unclean person's life outside the camp help me understand alienation and longing for restoration?
- What does Jesus' cleansing of lepers reveal about His holiness and compassion?
- Where must the church protect holiness without despising people?
- How does Christ's suffering outside the gate transform the way I see the excluded?
- Teach careful discernment instead of reactionary judgment.
- Separate ritual uncleanness from moral accusation.
- Protect the community without dehumanizing the afflicted.
- Preach the ache of exclusion and the hope of restoration.
- Point to Christ as cleanser, not merely examiner.
- Handle church discipline and restoration with sobriety.
- Avoid weaponizing impurity language.
- Use the garment section to teach that corruption spreads into ordinary life.
The chapter moves suspicious conditions into careful priestly discernment.
Unclear cases are isolated for seven days before final declaration.
Clean or unclean declarations determine whether a person remains within ordinary community life or outside the camp.
The chapter widens from human skin to fabric and leather, showing that impurity can affect material life.
The priest declares; Christ cleanses and restores.
The unclean person's exclusion prepares the reader to see the wonder of Christ bearing reproach outside the gate to bring His people near.
C.F. Keil & F. Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–91) — public domain
The Biblical World
Chapter At A Glance
The Lord commands Moses and Aaron to instruct the priests how to examine swelling, rash, bright spots, raw flesh, boils, burns, scalp disease, harmless rashes, baldness-related conditions, confirmed defiling disease, and contaminated fabric or leather, so that clean and unclean may be rightly distinguished.
Leviticus 13 gives Israel a priestly process for guarding covenant holiness in cases of visible disease and material contamination. The chapter protects the camp, where the Lord dwells among His people, by requiring truthful distinction between clean and unclean. It also restrains unnecessary exclusion by requiring careful examination and reinspection before judgment.
Leviticus 13 clarifies the gospel by showing that uncleanness creates separation and that priestly diagnosis alone cannot heal. The unclean person outside the camp embodies the human need for cleansing, restoration, and access. Jesus enters this world of uncleanness, touches and cleanses lepers, and ultimately suffers outside the gate to make His people holy by His blood.
Discernment, patience, truthfulness, compassion, reverence, and hope for restoration.
Focus Points
- Clean and unclean
- Priestly examination
- Defiling skin disease
- Quarantine
- Discernment
- Public declaration
- Community holiness
- Outside the camp
- Garment contamination
- Spread of impurity
- Sanctuary boundaries
- Patient judgment
- Holiness and compassion
- Body and household life before God
- Holiness Requires Discernment
- Uncleanness Is Real but Not Always Moral Guilt
- The Priest Declares What Is Already Evident
- Waiting Can Be an Act of Holiness
- The Camp Must Be Protected Because the Lord Dwells Among Israel
- Uncleanness Can Spread
- Holiness Touches Material Life
- Truthful Declaration Protects Both the Individual and the Community
- Holiness
- Priestly Discernment
- Impurity
- Human Dignity Amid Uncleanness
- The Spread of Defilement
- Christ the Cleanser
- Christ Outside the Camp
Lev 13:1 Leprosy. - The law for leprosy, the observance of which is urged upon the people again in Deu 24:8-9, treats, in the first place, of leprosy in men: ( a ) in its dangerous forms when appearing either on the skin (vv. 2-28), or on the head and beard (Lev 13:29-37); ( b ) in harmless forms (Lev 13:38 and Lev 13:39); and ( c ) when appearing on a bald head (Lev 13:40-44).
To this there are added instructions for the removal of the leper from the society of other men (Lev 13:45 and Lev 13:46). It treats, secondly , of leprosy in linen, woollen, and leather articles, and the way to treat them (Lev 13:47-59); thirdly , of the purification of persons recovered from leprosy (Lev 14:1-32); and fourthly , of leprosy in houses and the way to remove it (vv.
33-53). - The laws for leprosy in man relate exclusively to the so-called white leprosy, λεύκη λέπρα, lepra , which probably existed at that time in hither Asia alone, not only among the Israelites and Jews (Num 12:10. ; 2Sa 3:29; 2Ki 5:27; 2Ki 7:3; 2Ki 15:5; Mat 8:2-3; Mat 10:8; Mat 11:5; Mat 26:6, etc.) , but also among the Syrians (2Ki 5:1.) , and which is still found in that part of the world, most frequently in the countries of the Lebanon and Jordan and in the neighbourhood of Damascus, in which city there are three hospitals for lepers ( Seetzen , pp.
277, 278), and occasionally in Arabia ( Niebuhr, Arab. pp. 135ff.) and Egypt; though at the present time the pimply leprosy, lepra tuberosa s. articulorum (the leprosy of the joints), is more prevalent in the East, and frequently occurs in Egypt in the lower extremities in the form of elephantiasis. Of the white leprosy (called Lepra Mosaica ), which is still met with in Arabia sometimes, where it is called Baras , Trusen gives the following description: “Very frequently, even for years before the actual outbreak of the disease itself, white, yellowish spots are seen lying deep in the skin, particularly on the genitals, in the face, on the forehead, or in the joints.
They are without feeling, and sometimes cause the hair to assume the same colour as the spots. These spots afterwards pierce through the cellular tissue, and reach the muscles and bones. The hair becomes white and woolly, and at length falls off; hard gelatinous swellings are formed in the cellular tissue; the skin gets hard, rough, and seamy, lymph exudes from it, and forms large scabs, which fall off from time to time, and under these there are often offensive running sores.
The nails then swell, curl up, and fall off; entropium is formed, with bleeding gums, the nose stopped up, and a considerable flow of saliva... The senses become dull, the patient gets thin and weak, colliquative diarrhea sets in, and incessant thirst and burning fever terminate his sufferings” ( Krankheiten d. alten Hebr. p. 165).
Lev 13:2-28 The symptoms of leprosy, whether proceeding directly from eruptions in the skin, or caused by a boil or burn . - Lev 13:2-8. The first case: “When a man shall have in the skin of his flesh (body) a raised spot or scab, or a bright spot. ” שׂאת, a lifting up (Gen 4:7, etc.) , signifies here an elevation of the skin in some part of the body, a raised spot like a pimple.
ספּחת, an eruption, scurf, or scab, from ספח to pour out, “a pouring out as it were from the flesh or skin” ( Knobel ). בּהרת .) le, from בּהר, in the Arabic and Chaldee to shine, is a bright swollen spot in the skin. If ether of these signs became “a spot of leprosy,” the person affected was to be brought to the priest, that he might examine the complaint. The term zaraath , from an Arabic word signifying to strike down or scourge, is applied to leprosy as a scourge of God, and in the case of men it always denotes the white leprosy, which the Arabs call baras .
נגע, a stroke (lit. , “stroke of leprosy”), is applied not only to the spot attacked by the leprosy, the leprous mole (Lev 13:3, Lev 13:29-32, Lev 13:42, etc.) , but to the persons and even to things affected with leprosy (Lev 13:4, Lev 13:12, Lev 13:13, Lev 13:31, Lev 13:50, Lev 13:55).
Lev 13:2-28 The symptoms of leprosy, whether proceeding directly from eruptions in the skin, or caused by a boil or burn . - Lev 13:2-8. The first case: “When a man shall have in the skin of his flesh (body) a raised spot or scab, or a bright spot. ” שׂאת, a lifting up (Gen 4:7, etc.) , signifies here an elevation of the skin in some part of the body, a raised spot like a pimple.
ספּחת, an eruption, scurf, or scab, from ספח to pour out, “a pouring out as it were from the flesh or skin” ( Knobel ). בּהרת .) le, from בּהר, in the Arabic and Chaldee to shine, is a bright swollen spot in the skin. If ether of these signs became “a spot of leprosy,” the person affected was to be brought to the priest, that he might examine the complaint. The term zaraath , from an Arabic word signifying to strike down or scourge, is applied to leprosy as a scourge of God, and in the case of men it always denotes the white leprosy, which the Arabs call baras .
נגע, a stroke (lit. , “stroke of leprosy”), is applied not only to the spot attacked by the leprosy, the leprous mole (Lev 13:3, Lev 13:29-32, Lev 13:42, etc.) , but to the persons and even to things affected with leprosy (Lev 13:4, Lev 13:12, Lev 13:13, Lev 13:31, Lev 13:50, Lev 13:55).
Lev 13:2-28 The symptoms of leprosy, whether proceeding directly from eruptions in the skin, or caused by a boil or burn . - Lev 13:2-8. The first case: “When a man shall have in the skin of his flesh (body) a raised spot or scab, or a bright spot. ” שׂאת, a lifting up (Gen 4:7, etc.) , signifies here an elevation of the skin in some part of the body, a raised spot like a pimple.
ספּחת, an eruption, scurf, or scab, from ספח to pour out, “a pouring out as it were from the flesh or skin” ( Knobel ). בּהרת .) le, from בּהר, in the Arabic and Chaldee to shine, is a bright swollen spot in the skin. If ether of these signs became “a spot of leprosy,” the person affected was to be brought to the priest, that he might examine the complaint. The term zaraath , from an Arabic word signifying to strike down or scourge, is applied to leprosy as a scourge of God, and in the case of men it always denotes the white leprosy, which the Arabs call baras .
נגע, a stroke (lit. , “stroke of leprosy”), is applied not only to the spot attacked by the leprosy, the leprous mole (Lev 13:3, Lev 13:29-32, Lev 13:42, etc.) , but to the persons and even to things affected with leprosy (Lev 13:4, Lev 13:12, Lev 13:13, Lev 13:31, Lev 13:50, Lev 13:55).
Lev 13:2-28 The symptoms of leprosy, whether proceeding directly from eruptions in the skin, or caused by a boil or burn . - Lev 13:2-8. The first case: “When a man shall have in the skin of his flesh (body) a raised spot or scab, or a bright spot. ” שׂאת, a lifting up (Gen 4:7, etc.) , signifies here an elevation of the skin in some part of the body, a raised spot like a pimple.
ספּחת, an eruption, scurf, or scab, from ספח to pour out, “a pouring out as it were from the flesh or skin” ( Knobel ). בּהרת .) le, from בּהר, in the Arabic and Chaldee to shine, is a bright swollen spot in the skin. If ether of these signs became “a spot of leprosy,” the person affected was to be brought to the priest, that he might examine the complaint. The term zaraath , from an Arabic word signifying to strike down or scourge, is applied to leprosy as a scourge of God, and in the case of men it always denotes the white leprosy, which the Arabs call baras .
נגע, a stroke (lit. , “stroke of leprosy”), is applied not only to the spot attacked by the leprosy, the leprous mole (Lev 13:3, Lev 13:29-32, Lev 13:42, etc.) , but to the persons and even to things affected with leprosy (Lev 13:4, Lev 13:12, Lev 13:13, Lev 13:31, Lev 13:50, Lev 13:55).
Lev 13:2-28 The symptoms of leprosy, whether proceeding directly from eruptions in the skin, or caused by a boil or burn . - Lev 13:2-8. The first case: “When a man shall have in the skin of his flesh (body) a raised spot or scab, or a bright spot. ” שׂאת, a lifting up (Gen 4:7, etc.) , signifies here an elevation of the skin in some part of the body, a raised spot like a pimple.
ספּחת, an eruption, scurf, or scab, from ספח to pour out, “a pouring out as it were from the flesh or skin” ( Knobel ). בּהרת .) le, from בּהר, in the Arabic and Chaldee to shine, is a bright swollen spot in the skin. If ether of these signs became “a spot of leprosy,” the person affected was to be brought to the priest, that he might examine the complaint. The term zaraath , from an Arabic word signifying to strike down or scourge, is applied to leprosy as a scourge of God, and in the case of men it always denotes the white leprosy, which the Arabs call baras .
נגע, a stroke (lit. , “stroke of leprosy”), is applied not only to the spot attacked by the leprosy, the leprous mole (Lev 13:3, Lev 13:29-32, Lev 13:42, etc.) , but to the persons and even to things affected with leprosy (Lev 13:4, Lev 13:12, Lev 13:13, Lev 13:31, Lev 13:50, Lev 13:55).
Lev 13:2-28 The symptoms of leprosy, whether proceeding directly from eruptions in the skin, or caused by a boil or burn . - Lev 13:2-8. The first case: “When a man shall have in the skin of his flesh (body) a raised spot or scab, or a bright spot. ” שׂאת, a lifting up (Gen 4:7, etc.) , signifies here an elevation of the skin in some part of the body, a raised spot like a pimple.
ספּחת, an eruption, scurf, or scab, from ספח to pour out, “a pouring out as it were from the flesh or skin” ( Knobel ). בּהרת .) le, from בּהר, in the Arabic and Chaldee to shine, is a bright swollen spot in the skin. If ether of these signs became “a spot of leprosy,” the person affected was to be brought to the priest, that he might examine the complaint. The term zaraath , from an Arabic word signifying to strike down or scourge, is applied to leprosy as a scourge of God, and in the case of men it always denotes the white leprosy, which the Arabs call baras .
נגע, a stroke (lit. , “stroke of leprosy”), is applied not only to the spot attacked by the leprosy, the leprous mole (Lev 13:3, Lev 13:29-32, Lev 13:42, etc.) , but to the persons and even to things affected with leprosy (Lev 13:4, Lev 13:12, Lev 13:13, Lev 13:31, Lev 13:50, Lev 13:55).
Lev 13:2-28 The symptoms of leprosy, whether proceeding directly from eruptions in the skin, or caused by a boil or burn . - Lev 13:2-8. The first case: “When a man shall have in the skin of his flesh (body) a raised spot or scab, or a bright spot. ” שׂאת, a lifting up (Gen 4:7, etc.) , signifies here an elevation of the skin in some part of the body, a raised spot like a pimple.
ספּחת, an eruption, scurf, or scab, from ספח to pour out, “a pouring out as it were from the flesh or skin” ( Knobel ). בּהרת .) le, from בּהר, in the Arabic and Chaldee to shine, is a bright swollen spot in the skin. If ether of these signs became “a spot of leprosy,” the person affected was to be brought to the priest, that he might examine the complaint. The term zaraath , from an Arabic word signifying to strike down or scourge, is applied to leprosy as a scourge of God, and in the case of men it always denotes the white leprosy, which the Arabs call baras .
נגע, a stroke (lit. , “stroke of leprosy”), is applied not only to the spot attacked by the leprosy, the leprous mole (Lev 13:3, Lev 13:29-32, Lev 13:42, etc.) , but to the persons and even to things affected with leprosy (Lev 13:4, Lev 13:12, Lev 13:13, Lev 13:31, Lev 13:50, Lev 13:55).
Lev 13:2-28 The symptoms of leprosy, whether proceeding directly from eruptions in the skin, or caused by a boil or burn . - Lev 13:2-8. The first case: “When a man shall have in the skin of his flesh (body) a raised spot or scab, or a bright spot. ” שׂאת, a lifting up (Gen 4:7, etc.) , signifies here an elevation of the skin in some part of the body, a raised spot like a pimple.
ספּחת, an eruption, scurf, or scab, from ספח to pour out, “a pouring out as it were from the flesh or skin” ( Knobel ). בּהרת .) le, from בּהר, in the Arabic and Chaldee to shine, is a bright swollen spot in the skin. If ether of these signs became “a spot of leprosy,” the person affected was to be brought to the priest, that he might examine the complaint. The term zaraath , from an Arabic word signifying to strike down or scourge, is applied to leprosy as a scourge of God, and in the case of men it always denotes the white leprosy, which the Arabs call baras .
נגע, a stroke (lit. , “stroke of leprosy”), is applied not only to the spot attacked by the leprosy, the leprous mole (Lev 13:3, Lev 13:29-32, Lev 13:42, etc.) , but to the persons and even to things affected with leprosy (Lev 13:4, Lev 13:12, Lev 13:13, Lev 13:31, Lev 13:50, Lev 13:55).
Lev 13:2-28 The symptoms of leprosy, whether proceeding directly from eruptions in the skin, or caused by a boil or burn . - Lev 13:2-8. The first case: “When a man shall have in the skin of his flesh (body) a raised spot or scab, or a bright spot. ” שׂאת, a lifting up (Gen 4:7, etc.) , signifies here an elevation of the skin in some part of the body, a raised spot like a pimple.
ספּחת, an eruption, scurf, or scab, from ספח to pour out, “a pouring out as it were from the flesh or skin” ( Knobel ). בּהרת .) le, from בּהר, in the Arabic and Chaldee to shine, is a bright swollen spot in the skin. If ether of these signs became “a spot of leprosy,” the person affected was to be brought to the priest, that he might examine the complaint. The term zaraath , from an Arabic word signifying to strike down or scourge, is applied to leprosy as a scourge of God, and in the case of men it always denotes the white leprosy, which the Arabs call baras .
נגע, a stroke (lit. , “stroke of leprosy”), is applied not only to the spot attacked by the leprosy, the leprous mole (Lev 13:3, Lev 13:29-32, Lev 13:42, etc.) , but to the persons and even to things affected with leprosy (Lev 13:4, Lev 13:12, Lev 13:13, Lev 13:31, Lev 13:50, Lev 13:55).
Lev 13:2-28 The symptoms of leprosy, whether proceeding directly from eruptions in the skin, or caused by a boil or burn . - Lev 13:2-8. The first case: “When a man shall have in the skin of his flesh (body) a raised spot or scab, or a bright spot. ” שׂאת, a lifting up (Gen 4:7, etc.) , signifies here an elevation of the skin in some part of the body, a raised spot like a pimple.
ספּחת, an eruption, scurf, or scab, from ספח to pour out, “a pouring out as it were from the flesh or skin” ( Knobel ). בּהרת .) le, from בּהר, in the Arabic and Chaldee to shine, is a bright swollen spot in the skin. If ether of these signs became “a spot of leprosy,” the person affected was to be brought to the priest, that he might examine the complaint. The term zaraath , from an Arabic word signifying to strike down or scourge, is applied to leprosy as a scourge of God, and in the case of men it always denotes the white leprosy, which the Arabs call baras .
נגע, a stroke (lit. , “stroke of leprosy”), is applied not only to the spot attacked by the leprosy, the leprous mole (Lev 13:3, Lev 13:29-32, Lev 13:42, etc.) , but to the persons and even to things affected with leprosy (Lev 13:4, Lev 13:12, Lev 13:13, Lev 13:31, Lev 13:50, Lev 13:55).
Lev 13:2-28 The symptoms of leprosy, whether proceeding directly from eruptions in the skin, or caused by a boil or burn . - Lev 13:2-8. The first case: “When a man shall have in the skin of his flesh (body) a raised spot or scab, or a bright spot. ” שׂאת, a lifting up (Gen 4:7, etc.) , signifies here an elevation of the skin in some part of the body, a raised spot like a pimple.
ספּחת, an eruption, scurf, or scab, from ספח to pour out, “a pouring out as it were from the flesh or skin” ( Knobel ). בּהרת .) le, from בּהר, in the Arabic and Chaldee to shine, is a bright swollen spot in the skin. If ether of these signs became “a spot of leprosy,” the person affected was to be brought to the priest, that he might examine the complaint. The term zaraath , from an Arabic word signifying to strike down or scourge, is applied to leprosy as a scourge of God, and in the case of men it always denotes the white leprosy, which the Arabs call baras .
נגע, a stroke (lit. , “stroke of leprosy”), is applied not only to the spot attacked by the leprosy, the leprous mole (Lev 13:3, Lev 13:29-32, Lev 13:42, etc.) , but to the persons and even to things affected with leprosy (Lev 13:4, Lev 13:12, Lev 13:13, Lev 13:31, Lev 13:50, Lev 13:55).
Lev 13:2-28 The symptoms of leprosy, whether proceeding directly from eruptions in the skin, or caused by a boil or burn . - Lev 13:2-8. The first case: “When a man shall have in the skin of his flesh (body) a raised spot or scab, or a bright spot. ” שׂאת, a lifting up (Gen 4:7, etc.) , signifies here an elevation of the skin in some part of the body, a raised spot like a pimple.
ספּחת, an eruption, scurf, or scab, from ספח to pour out, “a pouring out as it were from the flesh or skin” ( Knobel ). בּהרת .) le, from בּהר, in the Arabic and Chaldee to shine, is a bright swollen spot in the skin. If ether of these signs became “a spot of leprosy,” the person affected was to be brought to the priest, that he might examine the complaint. The term zaraath , from an Arabic word signifying to strike down or scourge, is applied to leprosy as a scourge of God, and in the case of men it always denotes the white leprosy, which the Arabs call baras .
נגע, a stroke (lit. , “stroke of leprosy”), is applied not only to the spot attacked by the leprosy, the leprous mole (Lev 13:3, Lev 13:29-32, Lev 13:42, etc.) , but to the persons and even to things affected with leprosy (Lev 13:4, Lev 13:12, Lev 13:13, Lev 13:31, Lev 13:50, Lev 13:55).
Lev 13:2-28 The symptoms of leprosy, whether proceeding directly from eruptions in the skin, or caused by a boil or burn . - Lev 13:2-8. The first case: “When a man shall have in the skin of his flesh (body) a raised spot or scab, or a bright spot. ” שׂאת, a lifting up (Gen 4:7, etc.) , signifies here an elevation of the skin in some part of the body, a raised spot like a pimple.
ספּחת, an eruption, scurf, or scab, from ספח to pour out, “a pouring out as it were from the flesh or skin” ( Knobel ). בּהרת .) le, from בּהר, in the Arabic and Chaldee to shine, is a bright swollen spot in the skin. If ether of these signs became “a spot of leprosy,” the person affected was to be brought to the priest, that he might examine the complaint. The term zaraath , from an Arabic word signifying to strike down or scourge, is applied to leprosy as a scourge of God, and in the case of men it always denotes the white leprosy, which the Arabs call baras .
נגע, a stroke (lit. , “stroke of leprosy”), is applied not only to the spot attacked by the leprosy, the leprous mole (Lev 13:3, Lev 13:29-32, Lev 13:42, etc.) , but to the persons and even to things affected with leprosy (Lev 13:4, Lev 13:12, Lev 13:13, Lev 13:31, Lev 13:50, Lev 13:55).
Lev 13:2-28 The symptoms of leprosy, whether proceeding directly from eruptions in the skin, or caused by a boil or burn . - Lev 13:2-8. The first case: “When a man shall have in the skin of his flesh (body) a raised spot or scab, or a bright spot. ” שׂאת, a lifting up (Gen 4:7, etc.) , signifies here an elevation of the skin in some part of the body, a raised spot like a pimple.
ספּחת, an eruption, scurf, or scab, from ספח to pour out, “a pouring out as it were from the flesh or skin” ( Knobel ). בּהרת .) le, from בּהר, in the Arabic and Chaldee to shine, is a bright swollen spot in the skin. If ether of these signs became “a spot of leprosy,” the person affected was to be brought to the priest, that he might examine the complaint. The term zaraath , from an Arabic word signifying to strike down or scourge, is applied to leprosy as a scourge of God, and in the case of men it always denotes the white leprosy, which the Arabs call baras .
נגע, a stroke (lit. , “stroke of leprosy”), is applied not only to the spot attacked by the leprosy, the leprous mole (Lev 13:3, Lev 13:29-32, Lev 13:42, etc.) , but to the persons and even to things affected with leprosy (Lev 13:4, Lev 13:12, Lev 13:13, Lev 13:31, Lev 13:50, Lev 13:55).
Lev 13:2-28 The symptoms of leprosy, whether proceeding directly from eruptions in the skin, or caused by a boil or burn . - Lev 13:2-8. The first case: “When a man shall have in the skin of his flesh (body) a raised spot or scab, or a bright spot. ” שׂאת, a lifting up (Gen 4:7, etc.) , signifies here an elevation of the skin in some part of the body, a raised spot like a pimple.
ספּחת, an eruption, scurf, or scab, from ספח to pour out, “a pouring out as it were from the flesh or skin” ( Knobel ). בּהרת .) le, from בּהר, in the Arabic and Chaldee to shine, is a bright swollen spot in the skin. If ether of these signs became “a spot of leprosy,” the person affected was to be brought to the priest, that he might examine the complaint. The term zaraath , from an Arabic word signifying to strike down or scourge, is applied to leprosy as a scourge of God, and in the case of men it always denotes the white leprosy, which the Arabs call baras .
נגע, a stroke (lit. , “stroke of leprosy”), is applied not only to the spot attacked by the leprosy, the leprous mole (Lev 13:3, Lev 13:29-32, Lev 13:42, etc.) , but to the persons and even to things affected with leprosy (Lev 13:4, Lev 13:12, Lev 13:13, Lev 13:31, Lev 13:50, Lev 13:55).
Lev 13:2-28 The symptoms of leprosy, whether proceeding directly from eruptions in the skin, or caused by a boil or burn . - Lev 13:2-8. The first case: “When a man shall have in the skin of his flesh (body) a raised spot or scab, or a bright spot. ” שׂאת, a lifting up (Gen 4:7, etc.) , signifies here an elevation of the skin in some part of the body, a raised spot like a pimple.
ספּחת, an eruption, scurf, or scab, from ספח to pour out, “a pouring out as it were from the flesh or skin” ( Knobel ). בּהרת .) le, from בּהר, in the Arabic and Chaldee to shine, is a bright swollen spot in the skin. If ether of these signs became “a spot of leprosy,” the person affected was to be brought to the priest, that he might examine the complaint. The term zaraath , from an Arabic word signifying to strike down or scourge, is applied to leprosy as a scourge of God, and in the case of men it always denotes the white leprosy, which the Arabs call baras .
נגע, a stroke (lit. , “stroke of leprosy”), is applied not only to the spot attacked by the leprosy, the leprous mole (Lev 13:3, Lev 13:29-32, Lev 13:42, etc.) , but to the persons and even to things affected with leprosy (Lev 13:4, Lev 13:12, Lev 13:13, Lev 13:31, Lev 13:50, Lev 13:55).
Lev 13:2-28 The symptoms of leprosy, whether proceeding directly from eruptions in the skin, or caused by a boil or burn . - Lev 13:2-8. The first case: “When a man shall have in the skin of his flesh (body) a raised spot or scab, or a bright spot. ” שׂאת, a lifting up (Gen 4:7, etc.) , signifies here an elevation of the skin in some part of the body, a raised spot like a pimple.
ספּחת, an eruption, scurf, or scab, from ספח to pour out, “a pouring out as it were from the flesh or skin” ( Knobel ). בּהרת .) le, from בּהר, in the Arabic and Chaldee to shine, is a bright swollen spot in the skin. If ether of these signs became “a spot of leprosy,” the person affected was to be brought to the priest, that he might examine the complaint. The term zaraath , from an Arabic word signifying to strike down or scourge, is applied to leprosy as a scourge of God, and in the case of men it always denotes the white leprosy, which the Arabs call baras .
נגע, a stroke (lit. , “stroke of leprosy”), is applied not only to the spot attacked by the leprosy, the leprous mole (Lev 13:3, Lev 13:29-32, Lev 13:42, etc.) , but to the persons and even to things affected with leprosy (Lev 13:4, Lev 13:12, Lev 13:13, Lev 13:31, Lev 13:50, Lev 13:55).
Lev 13:2-28 The symptoms of leprosy, whether proceeding directly from eruptions in the skin, or caused by a boil or burn . - Lev 13:2-8. The first case: “When a man shall have in the skin of his flesh (body) a raised spot or scab, or a bright spot. ” שׂאת, a lifting up (Gen 4:7, etc.) , signifies here an elevation of the skin in some part of the body, a raised spot like a pimple.
ספּחת, an eruption, scurf, or scab, from ספח to pour out, “a pouring out as it were from the flesh or skin” ( Knobel ). בּהרת .) le, from בּהר, in the Arabic and Chaldee to shine, is a bright swollen spot in the skin. If ether of these signs became “a spot of leprosy,” the person affected was to be brought to the priest, that he might examine the complaint. The term zaraath , from an Arabic word signifying to strike down or scourge, is applied to leprosy as a scourge of God, and in the case of men it always denotes the white leprosy, which the Arabs call baras .
נגע, a stroke (lit. , “stroke of leprosy”), is applied not only to the spot attacked by the leprosy, the leprous mole (Lev 13:3, Lev 13:29-32, Lev 13:42, etc.) , but to the persons and even to things affected with leprosy (Lev 13:4, Lev 13:12, Lev 13:13, Lev 13:31, Lev 13:50, Lev 13:55).
Lev 13:2-28 The symptoms of leprosy, whether proceeding directly from eruptions in the skin, or caused by a boil or burn . - Lev 13:2-8. The first case: “When a man shall have in the skin of his flesh (body) a raised spot or scab, or a bright spot. ” שׂאת, a lifting up (Gen 4:7, etc.) , signifies here an elevation of the skin in some part of the body, a raised spot like a pimple.
ספּחת, an eruption, scurf, or scab, from ספח to pour out, “a pouring out as it were from the flesh or skin” ( Knobel ). בּהרת .) le, from בּהר, in the Arabic and Chaldee to shine, is a bright swollen spot in the skin. If ether of these signs became “a spot of leprosy,” the person affected was to be brought to the priest, that he might examine the complaint. The term zaraath , from an Arabic word signifying to strike down or scourge, is applied to leprosy as a scourge of God, and in the case of men it always denotes the white leprosy, which the Arabs call baras .
נגע, a stroke (lit. , “stroke of leprosy”), is applied not only to the spot attacked by the leprosy, the leprous mole (Lev 13:3, Lev 13:29-32, Lev 13:42, etc.) , but to the persons and even to things affected with leprosy (Lev 13:4, Lev 13:12, Lev 13:13, Lev 13:31, Lev 13:50, Lev 13:55).
Lev 13:2-28 The symptoms of leprosy, whether proceeding directly from eruptions in the skin, or caused by a boil or burn . - Lev 13:2-8. The first case: “When a man shall have in the skin of his flesh (body) a raised spot or scab, or a bright spot. ” שׂאת, a lifting up (Gen 4:7, etc.) , signifies here an elevation of the skin in some part of the body, a raised spot like a pimple.
ספּחת, an eruption, scurf, or scab, from ספח to pour out, “a pouring out as it were from the flesh or skin” ( Knobel ). בּהרת .) le, from בּהר, in the Arabic and Chaldee to shine, is a bright swollen spot in the skin. If ether of these signs became “a spot of leprosy,” the person affected was to be brought to the priest, that he might examine the complaint. The term zaraath , from an Arabic word signifying to strike down or scourge, is applied to leprosy as a scourge of God, and in the case of men it always denotes the white leprosy, which the Arabs call baras .
נגע, a stroke (lit. , “stroke of leprosy”), is applied not only to the spot attacked by the leprosy, the leprous mole (Lev 13:3, Lev 13:29-32, Lev 13:42, etc.) , but to the persons and even to things affected with leprosy (Lev 13:4, Lev 13:12, Lev 13:13, Lev 13:31, Lev 13:50, Lev 13:55).
Lev 13:2-28 The symptoms of leprosy, whether proceeding directly from eruptions in the skin, or caused by a boil or burn . - Lev 13:2-8. The first case: “When a man shall have in the skin of his flesh (body) a raised spot or scab, or a bright spot. ” שׂאת, a lifting up (Gen 4:7, etc.) , signifies here an elevation of the skin in some part of the body, a raised spot like a pimple.
ספּחת, an eruption, scurf, or scab, from ספח to pour out, “a pouring out as it were from the flesh or skin” ( Knobel ). בּהרת .) le, from בּהר, in the Arabic and Chaldee to shine, is a bright swollen spot in the skin. If ether of these signs became “a spot of leprosy,” the person affected was to be brought to the priest, that he might examine the complaint. The term zaraath , from an Arabic word signifying to strike down or scourge, is applied to leprosy as a scourge of God, and in the case of men it always denotes the white leprosy, which the Arabs call baras .
נגע, a stroke (lit. , “stroke of leprosy”), is applied not only to the spot attacked by the leprosy, the leprous mole (Lev 13:3, Lev 13:29-32, Lev 13:42, etc.) , but to the persons and even to things affected with leprosy (Lev 13:4, Lev 13:12, Lev 13:13, Lev 13:31, Lev 13:50, Lev 13:55).
Lev 13:2-28 The symptoms of leprosy, whether proceeding directly from eruptions in the skin, or caused by a boil or burn . - Lev 13:2-8. The first case: “When a man shall have in the skin of his flesh (body) a raised spot or scab, or a bright spot. ” שׂאת, a lifting up (Gen 4:7, etc.) , signifies here an elevation of the skin in some part of the body, a raised spot like a pimple.
ספּחת, an eruption, scurf, or scab, from ספח to pour out, “a pouring out as it were from the flesh or skin” ( Knobel ). בּהרת .) le, from בּהר, in the Arabic and Chaldee to shine, is a bright swollen spot in the skin. If ether of these signs became “a spot of leprosy,” the person affected was to be brought to the priest, that he might examine the complaint. The term zaraath , from an Arabic word signifying to strike down or scourge, is applied to leprosy as a scourge of God, and in the case of men it always denotes the white leprosy, which the Arabs call baras .
נגע, a stroke (lit. , “stroke of leprosy”), is applied not only to the spot attacked by the leprosy, the leprous mole (Lev 13:3, Lev 13:29-32, Lev 13:42, etc.) , but to the persons and even to things affected with leprosy (Lev 13:4, Lev 13:12, Lev 13:13, Lev 13:31, Lev 13:50, Lev 13:55).
Lev 13:2-28 The symptoms of leprosy, whether proceeding directly from eruptions in the skin, or caused by a boil or burn . - Lev 13:2-8. The first case: “When a man shall have in the skin of his flesh (body) a raised spot or scab, or a bright spot. ” שׂאת, a lifting up (Gen 4:7, etc.) , signifies here an elevation of the skin in some part of the body, a raised spot like a pimple.
ספּחת, an eruption, scurf, or scab, from ספח to pour out, “a pouring out as it were from the flesh or skin” ( Knobel ). בּהרת .) le, from בּהר, in the Arabic and Chaldee to shine, is a bright swollen spot in the skin. If ether of these signs became “a spot of leprosy,” the person affected was to be brought to the priest, that he might examine the complaint. The term zaraath , from an Arabic word signifying to strike down or scourge, is applied to leprosy as a scourge of God, and in the case of men it always denotes the white leprosy, which the Arabs call baras .
נגע, a stroke (lit. , “stroke of leprosy”), is applied not only to the spot attacked by the leprosy, the leprous mole (Lev 13:3, Lev 13:29-32, Lev 13:42, etc.) , but to the persons and even to things affected with leprosy (Lev 13:4, Lev 13:12, Lev 13:13, Lev 13:31, Lev 13:50, Lev 13:55).
Lev 13:2-28 The symptoms of leprosy, whether proceeding directly from eruptions in the skin, or caused by a boil or burn . - Lev 13:2-8. The first case: “When a man shall have in the skin of his flesh (body) a raised spot or scab, or a bright spot. ” שׂאת, a lifting up (Gen 4:7, etc.) , signifies here an elevation of the skin in some part of the body, a raised spot like a pimple.
ספּחת, an eruption, scurf, or scab, from ספח to pour out, “a pouring out as it were from the flesh or skin” ( Knobel ). בּהרת .) le, from בּהר, in the Arabic and Chaldee to shine, is a bright swollen spot in the skin. If ether of these signs became “a spot of leprosy,” the person affected was to be brought to the priest, that he might examine the complaint. The term zaraath , from an Arabic word signifying to strike down or scourge, is applied to leprosy as a scourge of God, and in the case of men it always denotes the white leprosy, which the Arabs call baras .
נגע, a stroke (lit. , “stroke of leprosy”), is applied not only to the spot attacked by the leprosy, the leprous mole (Lev 13:3, Lev 13:29-32, Lev 13:42, etc.) , but to the persons and even to things affected with leprosy (Lev 13:4, Lev 13:12, Lev 13:13, Lev 13:31, Lev 13:50, Lev 13:55).
Lev 13:2-28 The symptoms of leprosy, whether proceeding directly from eruptions in the skin, or caused by a boil or burn . - Lev 13:2-8. The first case: “When a man shall have in the skin of his flesh (body) a raised spot or scab, or a bright spot. ” שׂאת, a lifting up (Gen 4:7, etc.) , signifies here an elevation of the skin in some part of the body, a raised spot like a pimple.
ספּחת, an eruption, scurf, or scab, from ספח to pour out, “a pouring out as it were from the flesh or skin” ( Knobel ). בּהרת .) le, from בּהר, in the Arabic and Chaldee to shine, is a bright swollen spot in the skin. If ether of these signs became “a spot of leprosy,” the person affected was to be brought to the priest, that he might examine the complaint. The term zaraath , from an Arabic word signifying to strike down or scourge, is applied to leprosy as a scourge of God, and in the case of men it always denotes the white leprosy, which the Arabs call baras .
נגע, a stroke (lit. , “stroke of leprosy”), is applied not only to the spot attacked by the leprosy, the leprous mole (Lev 13:3, Lev 13:29-32, Lev 13:42, etc.) , but to the persons and even to things affected with leprosy (Lev 13:4, Lev 13:12, Lev 13:13, Lev 13:31, Lev 13:50, Lev 13:55).
Lev 13:2-28 The symptoms of leprosy, whether proceeding directly from eruptions in the skin, or caused by a boil or burn . - Lev 13:2-8. The first case: “When a man shall have in the skin of his flesh (body) a raised spot or scab, or a bright spot. ” שׂאת, a lifting up (Gen 4:7, etc.) , signifies here an elevation of the skin in some part of the body, a raised spot like a pimple.
ספּחת, an eruption, scurf, or scab, from ספח to pour out, “a pouring out as it were from the flesh or skin” ( Knobel ). בּהרת .) le, from בּהר, in the Arabic and Chaldee to shine, is a bright swollen spot in the skin. If ether of these signs became “a spot of leprosy,” the person affected was to be brought to the priest, that he might examine the complaint. The term zaraath , from an Arabic word signifying to strike down or scourge, is applied to leprosy as a scourge of God, and in the case of men it always denotes the white leprosy, which the Arabs call baras .
נגע, a stroke (lit. , “stroke of leprosy”), is applied not only to the spot attacked by the leprosy, the leprous mole (Lev 13:3, Lev 13:29-32, Lev 13:42, etc.) , but to the persons and even to things affected with leprosy (Lev 13:4, Lev 13:12, Lev 13:13, Lev 13:31, Lev 13:50, Lev 13:55).
Lev 13:2-28 The symptoms of leprosy, whether proceeding directly from eruptions in the skin, or caused by a boil or burn . - Lev 13:2-8. The first case: “When a man shall have in the skin of his flesh (body) a raised spot or scab, or a bright spot. ” שׂאת, a lifting up (Gen 4:7, etc.) , signifies here an elevation of the skin in some part of the body, a raised spot like a pimple.
ספּחת, an eruption, scurf, or scab, from ספח to pour out, “a pouring out as it were from the flesh or skin” ( Knobel ). בּהרת .) le, from בּהר, in the Arabic and Chaldee to shine, is a bright swollen spot in the skin. If ether of these signs became “a spot of leprosy,” the person affected was to be brought to the priest, that he might examine the complaint. The term zaraath , from an Arabic word signifying to strike down or scourge, is applied to leprosy as a scourge of God, and in the case of men it always denotes the white leprosy, which the Arabs call baras .
נגע, a stroke (lit. , “stroke of leprosy”), is applied not only to the spot attacked by the leprosy, the leprous mole (Lev 13:3, Lev 13:29-32, Lev 13:42, etc.) , but to the persons and even to things affected with leprosy (Lev 13:4, Lev 13:12, Lev 13:13, Lev 13:31, Lev 13:50, Lev 13:55).
Lev 13:29-31 Leprosy upon the head or chin . - If the priest saw a mole upon the head or chin of a man or woman, the appearance of which was deeper than the skin, and on which the hair was yellow (צהב golden, reddish, fox-colour) and thin, he was to regard it as נתק. Leprosy on the head or chin is called נתק, probably from נתק to pluck or tear, from its plucking out the hair, or causing it to fall off; like κνήφη, the itch, from κνάω, to itch or scratch, and scabies , from scabere .
But if he did not observe these two symptoms, if there was no depression of the skin, and the hair was black and not yellow, he was to shut up the person affected for seven days. In בּו אין שׁחר (Lev 13:31) there is certainly an error of the text: either שׁחר must be retained and אין dropped, or שׁהר must be altered into צהב, according to Lev 13:37. The latter is probably the better of the two.
Lev 13:29-31 Leprosy upon the head or chin . - If the priest saw a mole upon the head or chin of a man or woman, the appearance of which was deeper than the skin, and on which the hair was yellow (צהב golden, reddish, fox-colour) and thin, he was to regard it as נתק. Leprosy on the head or chin is called נתק, probably from נתק to pluck or tear, from its plucking out the hair, or causing it to fall off; like κνήφη, the itch, from κνάω, to itch or scratch, and scabies , from scabere .
But if he did not observe these two symptoms, if there was no depression of the skin, and the hair was black and not yellow, he was to shut up the person affected for seven days. In בּו אין שׁחר (Lev 13:31) there is certainly an error of the text: either שׁחר must be retained and אין dropped, or שׁהר must be altered into צהב, according to Lev 13:37. The latter is probably the better of the two.
Lev 13:29-31 Leprosy upon the head or chin . - If the priest saw a mole upon the head or chin of a man or woman, the appearance of which was deeper than the skin, and on which the hair was yellow (צהב golden, reddish, fox-colour) and thin, he was to regard it as נתק. Leprosy on the head or chin is called נתק, probably from נתק to pluck or tear, from its plucking out the hair, or causing it to fall off; like κνήφη, the itch, from κνάω, to itch or scratch, and scabies , from scabere .
But if he did not observe these two symptoms, if there was no depression of the skin, and the hair was black and not yellow, he was to shut up the person affected for seven days. In בּו אין שׁחר (Lev 13:31) there is certainly an error of the text: either שׁחר must be retained and אין dropped, or שׁהר must be altered into צהב, according to Lev 13:37. The latter is probably the better of the two.
Lev 13:32-34 If the mole had not spread by that time, and the two signs mentioned were not discernible, the person affected was to shave himself, but not to shave the nethek, the eruption or scurfy place, and the priest was to shut him up for seven days more, and then to look whether any alteration had taken place; and if not, to pronounce him clean, whereupon he was to wash his clothes (see Lev 13:6).
Lev 13:32-34 If the mole had not spread by that time, and the two signs mentioned were not discernible, the person affected was to shave himself, but not to shave the nethek, the eruption or scurfy place, and the priest was to shut him up for seven days more, and then to look whether any alteration had taken place; and if not, to pronounce him clean, whereupon he was to wash his clothes (see Lev 13:6).
Lev 13:32-34 If the mole had not spread by that time, and the two signs mentioned were not discernible, the person affected was to shave himself, but not to shave the nethek, the eruption or scurfy place, and the priest was to shut him up for seven days more, and then to look whether any alteration had taken place; and if not, to pronounce him clean, whereupon he was to wash his clothes (see Lev 13:6).
Lev 13:35-36 But if the eruption spread even after his purification, the priest, on seeing this, was not to look for yellow hair. “He is unclean:” that is to say, he was to pronounce him unclean without searching for yellow hairs; the spread of the eruption was a sufficient proof of the leprosy.
Lev 13:35-36 But if the eruption spread even after his purification, the priest, on seeing this, was not to look for yellow hair. “He is unclean:” that is to say, he was to pronounce him unclean without searching for yellow hairs; the spread of the eruption was a sufficient proof of the leprosy.
Lev 13:37 But if, on the contrary, the eruption stood (see Lev 13:5), and black hair grew out of it, he was healed, and the person affected was to be declared clean.
Lev 13:38-39 Harmless leprosy . - This broke out upon the skin of the body in בּהרת plaits, “white rings.” If these were dull or a pale white, it was the harmless bohak , ἀλφός (lxx), which did not defile, and which even the Arabs, who still call it bahak , consider harmless. It is an eruption upon the skin, appearing in somewhat elevated spots or rings of inequal sizes and a pale white colour, which do not change the hair; it causes no inconvenience, and lasts from two months to two years.
Lev 13:38-39 Harmless leprosy . - This broke out upon the skin of the body in בּהרת plaits, “white rings.” If these were dull or a pale white, it was the harmless bohak , ἀλφός (lxx), which did not defile, and which even the Arabs, who still call it bahak , consider harmless. It is an eruption upon the skin, appearing in somewhat elevated spots or rings of inequal sizes and a pale white colour, which do not change the hair; it causes no inconvenience, and lasts from two months to two years.
Lev 13:40-41 The leprosy of bald heads . - קרח is a head bald behind; גּבּח, in front, “bald from the side, or edge of his face, i.e., from the forehead and temples.” Bald heads of both kinds were naturally clean.
Lev 13:40-41 The leprosy of bald heads . - קרח is a head bald behind; גּבּח, in front, “bald from the side, or edge of his face, i.e., from the forehead and temples.” Bald heads of both kinds were naturally clean.
Lev 13:42-44 But if a white reddish mole was formed upon the bald place before or behind, it was leprosy breaking out upon it, and was to be recognised by the fact that the rising of the mole had the appearance of leprosy on the skin of the body. In that case the person was unclean, and to be pronounced so by the priest. “On his head is his plague of leprosy,” i.e., he has it in his head.
Lev 13:42-44 But if a white reddish mole was formed upon the bald place before or behind, it was leprosy breaking out upon it, and was to be recognised by the fact that the rising of the mole had the appearance of leprosy on the skin of the body. In that case the person was unclean, and to be pronounced so by the priest. “On his head is his plague of leprosy,” i.e., he has it in his head.
Lev 13:42-44 But if a white reddish mole was formed upon the bald place before or behind, it was leprosy breaking out upon it, and was to be recognised by the fact that the rising of the mole had the appearance of leprosy on the skin of the body. In that case the person was unclean, and to be pronounced so by the priest. “On his head is his plague of leprosy,” i.e., he has it in his head.
Lev 13:45-46 With regard to the treatment of lepers , the lawgiver prescribed that they should wear mourning costume, rend their clothes, leave the hair of their head in disorder (see at Lev 10:6), keep the beard covered (Eze 24:17, Eze 24:22), and cry “Unclean, unclean,” that every one might avoid them for fear of being defiled (Lam 4:15); and as long as the disease lasted they were to dwell apart outside the camp (Num 5:2. , Num 12:10.
, cf. 2Ki 15:5; 2Ki 7:3), a rule which implies that the leper rendered others unclean by contact. From this the Rabbins taught, that by merely entering a house, a leper polluted everything within it ( Mishnah , Kelim i. 4; Negaim xiii. 11).
Lev 13:45-46 With regard to the treatment of lepers , the lawgiver prescribed that they should wear mourning costume, rend their clothes, leave the hair of their head in disorder (see at Lev 10:6), keep the beard covered (Eze 24:17, Eze 24:22), and cry “Unclean, unclean,” that every one might avoid them for fear of being defiled (Lam 4:15); and as long as the disease lasted they were to dwell apart outside the camp (Num 5:2. , Num 12:10.
, cf. 2Ki 15:5; 2Ki 7:3), a rule which implies that the leper rendered others unclean by contact. From this the Rabbins taught, that by merely entering a house, a leper polluted everything within it ( Mishnah , Kelim i. 4; Negaim xiii. 11).
Lev 13:47-52 Leprosy in linen, woollen, and leather fabrics and clothes . - The only wearing apparel mentioned in Lev 13:47 is either woollen or linen, as in Deu 22:11; Hos 2:7; Pro 31:13; and among the ancient Egyptians and ancient Greeks these were the materials usually worn. In Lev 13:48. שׁתי and ערב, “the flax and the wool,” i. e. , for linen and woollen fabrics, are distinguished from clothes of wool or flax.
The rendering given to these words by the early translators is στήμων and κρόκη, stamen et subtegmen (lxx, Vulg.) , i. e. , warp and weft. The objection offered to this rendering, that warp and weft could not be kept so separate from one another, that the one could be touched and rendered leprous without the other, has been met by Gussetius by the simple but correct remark, that the reference is to the yarn prepared for the warp and weft, and not to the woven fabrics themselves.
So long as the yarn was not woven into a fabric, the warp-yarn and weft-yarn might very easily be separated and lie in different places, so that the one could be injured without the other. In this case the yarn intended for weaving is distinguished from the woven material, just as the leather is afterwards distinguished from leather-work (Lev 13:49). The signs of leprosy were, if the mole in the fabric was greenish or reddish.
In that case the priest was to shut up the thing affected with leprosy for seven days, and then examine it. If the mole had spread in the meantime, it was a “grievous leprosy. ” ממארת, from מאר irritavit, recruduit ( vulnus ), is to be explained, as it is by Bochart , as signifying lepra exasperata . הנּגע ממארת making the mole bad or angry; not, as Gesenius maintains, from מאר = מרר acerbum faciens , i.
e. , dolorem acerbum excitans , which would not apply to leprosy in fabrics and houses (Lev 14:44), and is not required by Eze 28:24. All such fabrics were to be burned as unclean.
Lev 13:47-52 Leprosy in linen, woollen, and leather fabrics and clothes . - The only wearing apparel mentioned in Lev 13:47 is either woollen or linen, as in Deu 22:11; Hos 2:7; Pro 31:13; and among the ancient Egyptians and ancient Greeks these were the materials usually worn. In Lev 13:48. שׁתי and ערב, “the flax and the wool,” i. e. , for linen and woollen fabrics, are distinguished from clothes of wool or flax.
The rendering given to these words by the early translators is στήμων and κρόκη, stamen et subtegmen (lxx, Vulg.) , i. e. , warp and weft. The objection offered to this rendering, that warp and weft could not be kept so separate from one another, that the one could be touched and rendered leprous without the other, has been met by Gussetius by the simple but correct remark, that the reference is to the yarn prepared for the warp and weft, and not to the woven fabrics themselves.
So long as the yarn was not woven into a fabric, the warp-yarn and weft-yarn might very easily be separated and lie in different places, so that the one could be injured without the other. In this case the yarn intended for weaving is distinguished from the woven material, just as the leather is afterwards distinguished from leather-work (Lev 13:49). The signs of leprosy were, if the mole in the fabric was greenish or reddish.
In that case the priest was to shut up the thing affected with leprosy for seven days, and then examine it. If the mole had spread in the meantime, it was a “grievous leprosy. ” ממארת, from מאר irritavit, recruduit ( vulnus ), is to be explained, as it is by Bochart , as signifying lepra exasperata . הנּגע ממארת making the mole bad or angry; not, as Gesenius maintains, from מאר = מרר acerbum faciens , i.
e. , dolorem acerbum excitans , which would not apply to leprosy in fabrics and houses (Lev 14:44), and is not required by Eze 28:24. All such fabrics were to be burned as unclean.
Lev 13:47-52 Leprosy in linen, woollen, and leather fabrics and clothes . - The only wearing apparel mentioned in Lev 13:47 is either woollen or linen, as in Deu 22:11; Hos 2:7; Pro 31:13; and among the ancient Egyptians and ancient Greeks these were the materials usually worn. In Lev 13:48. שׁתי and ערב, “the flax and the wool,” i. e. , for linen and woollen fabrics, are distinguished from clothes of wool or flax.
The rendering given to these words by the early translators is στήμων and κρόκη, stamen et subtegmen (lxx, Vulg.) , i. e. , warp and weft. The objection offered to this rendering, that warp and weft could not be kept so separate from one another, that the one could be touched and rendered leprous without the other, has been met by Gussetius by the simple but correct remark, that the reference is to the yarn prepared for the warp and weft, and not to the woven fabrics themselves.
So long as the yarn was not woven into a fabric, the warp-yarn and weft-yarn might very easily be separated and lie in different places, so that the one could be injured without the other. In this case the yarn intended for weaving is distinguished from the woven material, just as the leather is afterwards distinguished from leather-work (Lev 13:49). The signs of leprosy were, if the mole in the fabric was greenish or reddish.
In that case the priest was to shut up the thing affected with leprosy for seven days, and then examine it. If the mole had spread in the meantime, it was a “grievous leprosy. ” ממארת, from מאר irritavit, recruduit ( vulnus ), is to be explained, as it is by Bochart , as signifying lepra exasperata . הנּגע ממארת making the mole bad or angry; not, as Gesenius maintains, from מאר = מרר acerbum faciens , i.
e. , dolorem acerbum excitans , which would not apply to leprosy in fabrics and houses (Lev 14:44), and is not required by Eze 28:24. All such fabrics were to be burned as unclean.
Lev 13:47-52 Leprosy in linen, woollen, and leather fabrics and clothes . - The only wearing apparel mentioned in Lev 13:47 is either woollen or linen, as in Deu 22:11; Hos 2:7; Pro 31:13; and among the ancient Egyptians and ancient Greeks these were the materials usually worn. In Lev 13:48. שׁתי and ערב, “the flax and the wool,” i. e. , for linen and woollen fabrics, are distinguished from clothes of wool or flax.
The rendering given to these words by the early translators is στήμων and κρόκη, stamen et subtegmen (lxx, Vulg.) , i. e. , warp and weft. The objection offered to this rendering, that warp and weft could not be kept so separate from one another, that the one could be touched and rendered leprous without the other, has been met by Gussetius by the simple but correct remark, that the reference is to the yarn prepared for the warp and weft, and not to the woven fabrics themselves.
So long as the yarn was not woven into a fabric, the warp-yarn and weft-yarn might very easily be separated and lie in different places, so that the one could be injured without the other. In this case the yarn intended for weaving is distinguished from the woven material, just as the leather is afterwards distinguished from leather-work (Lev 13:49). The signs of leprosy were, if the mole in the fabric was greenish or reddish.
In that case the priest was to shut up the thing affected with leprosy for seven days, and then examine it. If the mole had spread in the meantime, it was a “grievous leprosy. ” ממארת, from מאר irritavit, recruduit ( vulnus ), is to be explained, as it is by Bochart , as signifying lepra exasperata . הנּגע ממארת making the mole bad or angry; not, as Gesenius maintains, from מאר = מרר acerbum faciens , i.
e. , dolorem acerbum excitans , which would not apply to leprosy in fabrics and houses (Lev 14:44), and is not required by Eze 28:24. All such fabrics were to be burned as unclean.
Lev 13:47-52 Leprosy in linen, woollen, and leather fabrics and clothes . - The only wearing apparel mentioned in Lev 13:47 is either woollen or linen, as in Deu 22:11; Hos 2:7; Pro 31:13; and among the ancient Egyptians and ancient Greeks these were the materials usually worn. In Lev 13:48. שׁתי and ערב, “the flax and the wool,” i. e. , for linen and woollen fabrics, are distinguished from clothes of wool or flax.
The rendering given to these words by the early translators is στήμων and κρόκη, stamen et subtegmen (lxx, Vulg.) , i. e. , warp and weft. The objection offered to this rendering, that warp and weft could not be kept so separate from one another, that the one could be touched and rendered leprous without the other, has been met by Gussetius by the simple but correct remark, that the reference is to the yarn prepared for the warp and weft, and not to the woven fabrics themselves.
So long as the yarn was not woven into a fabric, the warp-yarn and weft-yarn might very easily be separated and lie in different places, so that the one could be injured without the other. In this case the yarn intended for weaving is distinguished from the woven material, just as the leather is afterwards distinguished from leather-work (Lev 13:49). The signs of leprosy were, if the mole in the fabric was greenish or reddish.
In that case the priest was to shut up the thing affected with leprosy for seven days, and then examine it. If the mole had spread in the meantime, it was a “grievous leprosy. ” ממארת, from מאר irritavit, recruduit ( vulnus ), is to be explained, as it is by Bochart , as signifying lepra exasperata . הנּגע ממארת making the mole bad or angry; not, as Gesenius maintains, from מאר = מרר acerbum faciens , i.
e. , dolorem acerbum excitans , which would not apply to leprosy in fabrics and houses (Lev 14:44), and is not required by Eze 28:24. All such fabrics were to be burned as unclean.
Lev 13:47-52 Leprosy in linen, woollen, and leather fabrics and clothes . - The only wearing apparel mentioned in Lev 13:47 is either woollen or linen, as in Deu 22:11; Hos 2:7; Pro 31:13; and among the ancient Egyptians and ancient Greeks these were the materials usually worn. In Lev 13:48. שׁתי and ערב, “the flax and the wool,” i. e. , for linen and woollen fabrics, are distinguished from clothes of wool or flax.
The rendering given to these words by the early translators is στήμων and κρόκη, stamen et subtegmen (lxx, Vulg.) , i. e. , warp and weft. The objection offered to this rendering, that warp and weft could not be kept so separate from one another, that the one could be touched and rendered leprous without the other, has been met by Gussetius by the simple but correct remark, that the reference is to the yarn prepared for the warp and weft, and not to the woven fabrics themselves.
So long as the yarn was not woven into a fabric, the warp-yarn and weft-yarn might very easily be separated and lie in different places, so that the one could be injured without the other. In this case the yarn intended for weaving is distinguished from the woven material, just as the leather is afterwards distinguished from leather-work (Lev 13:49). The signs of leprosy were, if the mole in the fabric was greenish or reddish.
In that case the priest was to shut up the thing affected with leprosy for seven days, and then examine it. If the mole had spread in the meantime, it was a “grievous leprosy. ” ממארת, from מאר irritavit, recruduit ( vulnus ), is to be explained, as it is by Bochart , as signifying lepra exasperata . הנּגע ממארת making the mole bad or angry; not, as Gesenius maintains, from מאר = מרר acerbum faciens , i.
e. , dolorem acerbum excitans , which would not apply to leprosy in fabrics and houses (Lev 14:44), and is not required by Eze 28:24. All such fabrics were to be burned as unclean.
Lev 13:53-55 If the mole had not spread during the seven days, the priest was to cause the fabric in which the mole appeared to be washed, and then shut it up for seven days more. If the mole did not alter its appearance after being washed, even though it had not spread, the fabric was unclean, and was therefore to be burned. “It is a corroding in the back and front” (of the fabric of leather).
פּחתת, from פּחת, in Syriac fodit , from which comes פּחת a pit, lit. , a digging: here a corroding depression. קרחת a bald place in the front or right side, גּבּחת a bald place in the back or left side of the fabric or leather.
Lev 13:53-55 If the mole had not spread during the seven days, the priest was to cause the fabric in which the mole appeared to be washed, and then shut it up for seven days more. If the mole did not alter its appearance after being washed, even though it had not spread, the fabric was unclean, and was therefore to be burned. “It is a corroding in the back and front” (of the fabric of leather).
פּחתת, from פּחת, in Syriac fodit , from which comes פּחת a pit, lit. , a digging: here a corroding depression. קרחת a bald place in the front or right side, גּבּחת a bald place in the back or left side of the fabric or leather.
Lev 13:53-55 If the mole had not spread during the seven days, the priest was to cause the fabric in which the mole appeared to be washed, and then shut it up for seven days more. If the mole did not alter its appearance after being washed, even though it had not spread, the fabric was unclean, and was therefore to be burned. “It is a corroding in the back and front” (of the fabric of leather).
פּחתת, from פּחת, in Syriac fodit , from which comes פּחת a pit, lit. , a digging: here a corroding depression. קרחת a bald place in the front or right side, גּבּחת a bald place in the back or left side of the fabric or leather.
Lev 13:56 But if the mole had turned pale by the seventh day after the washing, it (the place of the mole) was to be separated (torn off) from the clothes, leather or yarn, and then (as is added afterwards in Lev 13:58) the garment or fabric from which the mole had disappeared was to be washed a second time, and would then be clean.
Lev 13:57-59 But if the mole appeared again in any such garment or cloth, i. e. , if it appeared again after this, it was a leprosy bursting forth afresh, and the thing affected with it was to be burned. Leprosy in linen and woollen fabrics or clothes, and in leather, consisted in all probability in nothing but so-called mildew, which commonly arises from damp and want of air, and consists, in the case of linen, of round, partially coloured spots, which spread, and gradually eat up the fabric, until it falls to pieces like mould.
In leather the mildew consists most strictly of “holes eaten in,” and is of a “greenish, reddish, or whitish colour, according to the species of the delicate cryptogami by which it has been formed. ”
Lev 13:57-59 But if the mole appeared again in any such garment or cloth, i. e. , if it appeared again after this, it was a leprosy bursting forth afresh, and the thing affected with it was to be burned. Leprosy in linen and woollen fabrics or clothes, and in leather, consisted in all probability in nothing but so-called mildew, which commonly arises from damp and want of air, and consists, in the case of linen, of round, partially coloured spots, which spread, and gradually eat up the fabric, until it falls to pieces like mould.
In leather the mildew consists most strictly of “holes eaten in,” and is of a “greenish, reddish, or whitish colour, according to the species of the delicate cryptogami by which it has been formed. ”