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13 Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, “When a man shall have a swelling in his body’s skin, or a scab, or a bright spot, and it becomes in the skin of his body the plague of leprosy, then he shall be brought to Aaron the priest or to one of his sons, the priests. The priest shall examine the plague in the skin of the body. If the hair in the plague has turned white, and the appearance of the plague is deeper than the body’s skin, it is the plague of leprosy; so the priest shall examine him and pronounce him unclean. If the bright spot is white in the skin of his body, and its appearance isn’t deeper than the skin, and its hair hasn’t turned white, then the priest shall isolate the infected person for seven days. The priest shall examine him on the seventh day. Behold, if in his eyes the plague is arrested and the plague hasn’t spread in the skin, then the priest shall isolate him for seven more days. The priest shall examine him again on the seventh day. Behold, if the plague has faded and the plague hasn’t spread in the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him clean. It is a scab. He shall wash his clothes, and be clean. But if the scab spreads on the skin after he has shown himself to the priest for his cleansing, he shall show himself to the priest again. The priest shall examine him; and behold, if the scab has spread on the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean. It is leprosy.

“When the plague of leprosy is in a man, then he shall be brought to the priest; 10 and the priest shall examine him. Behold, if there is a white swelling in the skin, and it has turned the hair white, and there is raw flesh in the swelling, 11 it is a chronic leprosy in the skin of his body, and the priest shall pronounce him unclean. He shall not isolate him, for he is already unclean.

12 “If the leprosy breaks out all over the skin, and the leprosy covers all the skin of the infected person from his head even to his feet, as far as it appears to the priest, 13 then the priest shall examine him. Behold, if the leprosy has covered all his flesh, he shall pronounce him clean of the plague. It has all turned white: he is clean. 14 But whenever raw flesh appears in him, he shall be unclean. 15 The priest shall examine the raw flesh, and pronounce him unclean: the raw flesh is unclean. It is leprosy. 16 Or if the raw flesh turns again, and is changed to white, then he shall come to the priest. 17 The priest shall examine him. Behold, if the plague has turned white, then the priest shall pronounce him clean of the plague. He is clean.

18 “When the body has a boil on its skin, and it has healed, 19 and in the place of the boil there is a white swelling, or a bright spot, reddish-white, then it shall be shown to the priest. 20 The priest shall examine it. Behold, if its appearance is deeper than the skin, and its hair has turned white, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean. It is the plague of leprosy. It has broken out in the boil. 21 But if the priest examines it, and behold, there are no white hairs in it, and it isn’t deeper than the skin, but is dim, then the priest shall isolate him seven days. 22 If it spreads in the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean. It is a plague. 23 But if the bright spot stays in its place, and hasn’t spread, it is the scar from the boil; and the priest shall pronounce him clean.

24 “Or when the body has a burn from fire on its skin, and the raw flesh of the burn becomes a bright spot, reddish-white, or white, 25 then the priest shall examine it; and behold, if the hair in the bright spot has turned white, and its appearance is deeper than the skin, it is leprosy. It has broken out in the burning, and the priest shall pronounce him unclean. It is the plague of leprosy. 26 But if the priest examines it, and behold, there is no white hair in the bright spot, and it isn’t deeper than the skin, but has faded, then the priest shall isolate him seven days. 27 The priest shall examine him on the seventh day. If it has spread in the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean. It is the plague of leprosy. 28 If the bright spot stays in its place, and hasn’t spread in the skin, but is faded, it is the swelling from the burn, and the priest shall pronounce him clean, for it is the scar from the burn.

29 “When a man or woman has a plague on the head or on the beard, 30 then the priest shall examine the plague; and behold, if its appearance is deeper than the skin, and the hair in it is yellow and thin, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean. It is an itch. It is leprosy of the head or of the beard. 31 If the priest examines the plague of itching, and behold, its appearance isn’t deeper than the skin, and there is no black hair in it, then the priest shall isolate the person infected with itching seven days. 32 On the seventh day the priest shall examine the plague; and behold, if the itch hasn’t spread, and there is no yellow hair in it, and the appearance of the itch isn’t deeper than the skin, 33 then he shall be shaved, but he shall not shave the itch. Then the priest shall isolate the one who has the itch seven more days. 34 On the seventh day, the priest shall examine the itch; and behold, if the itch hasn’t spread in the skin, and its appearance isn’t deeper than the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him clean. He shall wash his clothes and be clean. 35 But if the itch spreads in the skin after his cleansing, 36 then the priest shall examine him; and behold, if the itch has spread in the skin, the priest shall not look for the yellow hair; he is unclean. 37 But if in his eyes the itch is arrested and black hair has grown in it, then the itch is healed. He is clean. The priest shall pronounce him clean.

38 “When a man or a woman has bright spots in the skin of the body, even white bright spots, 39 then the priest shall examine them. Behold, if the bright spots on the skin of their body are a dull white, it is a harmless rash. It has broken out in the skin. He is clean.

40 “If a man’s hair has fallen from his head, he is bald. He is clean. 41 If his hair has fallen off from the front part of his head, he is forehead bald. He is clean. 42 But if a reddish-white plague is in the bald head or the bald forehead, it is leprosy breaking out in his bald head or his bald forehead. 43 Then the priest shall examine him. Behold, if the swelling of the plague is reddish-white in his bald head, or in his bald forehead, like the appearance of leprosy in the skin of the body, 44 he is a leprous man. He is unclean. The priest shall surely pronounce him unclean. His plague is on his head.

45 “The leper in whom the plague is shall wear torn clothes, and the hair of his head shall hang loose. He shall cover his upper lip, and shall cry, ‘Unclean! Unclean!’ 46 All the days in which the plague is in him he shall be unclean. He is unclean. He shall dwell alone. His dwelling shall be outside of the camp.

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Regulations About Defiling Skin Diseases

13 Then[a] Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, “When a person[b] has on his body’s skin a swelling or an epidermal eruption or a spot and it becomes[c] an infectious skin disease on his body’s skin, then[d] he shall be brought to Aaron the priest or to one of his sons the priests. And the priest shall examine the infection on his body’s skin, and if the hair in the infection turns white and the appearance of the infection is deeper than his body’s skin, it is an infectious skin disease, and the priest shall examine it, and he shall declare him unclean. But[e] if a spot is white on his body’s skin and its appearance is not deeper than the skin and its hair does not turn white, then[f] the priest shall confine the afflicted person for seven days. And the priest shall examine it on the seventh day, and if,[g] in his eyes, the infection has stayed unchanged, the infection has not spread on the skin, then[h] the priest shall confine him for seven days a second time. And the priest shall examine him on the seventh day for a second time, and if[i] the infection has faded and the infection has not spread on the skin, then[j] the priest shall declare him clean—it is an epidermal eruption; and he shall wash his garments, and so he shall be clean. But[k] if the epidermal eruption spreads further on the skin after showing himself to the priest for his cleansing, then[l] he shall appear a second time to the priest. And the priest shall examine it,[m] and if[n] the epidermal eruption has spread on the skin, then[o] the priest shall declare him unclean—it is an infectious skin disease.

“When an infectious skin disease is on a person and he is brought to the priest, 10 the priest shall examine it,[p] and if[q] a white swelling is on the skin and it turns the hair white and raw flesh[r] is in the swelling, 11 it is a chronic infectious skin disease on his body’s skin, and the priest shall declare him unclean; he shall not confine him, because he is unclean. 12 And if the infectious skin disease breaks out all over on the skin and the infectious skin disease covers all of the afflicted person’s skin from his head to his feed, so far as the priest can see,[s] 13 then[t] the priest shall examine it,[u] and if[v] the infectious skin disease covers his whole body, then[w] he shall pronounce the afflicted person clean—all of it has turned white; he is clean. 14 But[x] whenever[y] raw flesh[z] appears on him, he shall become unclean. 15 And the priest shall examine the raw flesh,[aa] and he shall pronounce him unclean—the raw flesh[ab] is unclean; it is an infectious skin disease. 16 Or, when the raw flesh[ac] returns and it has changed to white, then[ad] he shall come to the priest, 17 and the priest shall examine him, and if[ae] the infection has changed to white, then[af] the priest shall pronounce the afflicted person clean—he is clean.

18 “And when someone’s body has[ag] a skin sore on his skin and it is healed 19 and a white swelling or a pinkish[ah] spot appears in the skin sore’s place, then[ai] he shall show himself to the priest. 20 And the priest shall examine it,[aj] and if[ak] its appearance is deeper than the skin and its hair has changed to white, then[al] the priest shall declare him unclean—it is an infectious skin disease; it has broken out in the skin sore. 21 And if the priest examines it and if[am] there is no white hair in it and it is not deeper than the skin and it is faded, then[an] the priest shall confine him for seven days. 22 But[ao] if it has spread further on the skin, then[ap] the priest shall declare him unclean—it is an infection. 23 But[aq] if the spot has stayed unchanged, it has not spread, it is the skin sore’s scar, so[ar] the priest shall declare him clean.

24 “Or when a body has[as] a burn-spot from[at] fire on its skin and the raw flesh[au] of the burn-spot is pinkish[av] or white, 25 then[aw] the priest shall examine it, and if[ax] the hair turns white in the spot and its appearance is deeper than the skin, it is an infectious skin disease—it has broken out in the burn-spot; so[ay] the priest shall declare him unclean—it is an infectious skin disease. 26 But[az] if the priest examines it and if[ba] there is not white hair in the spot and it is not deeper than the skin and it is faded, then[bb] the priest shall confine him for seven days. 27 And the priest shall examine him on the seventh day; if it has spread further on the skin, then[bc] the priest shall declare him unclean—it is an infectious skin disease. 28 But[bd] if it the spot has stayed unchanged in its place, it has not spread on the skin and it is faded, then it is the burn-spot’s swelling, so[be] the priest shall declare him clean, because it is the burn-spot’s scar.

29 “And when a man or a woman has[bf] an infection on the head or in the beard, 30 then[bg] the priest shall examine the infection, and if[bh] its appearance is deeper than the skin and in it is thin bright red hair, then[bi] the priest shall declare it unclean—it is a diseased area of skin; it is an infectious skin disease of the head or the beard. 31 But[bj] if the priest examines the diseased area of the skin’s infection and if[bk] its appearance is not deeper than the skin and there is no black hair in it, then[bl] the priest shall confine the afflicted person with the diseased area of skin for seven days. 32 And the priest shall examine the infection on the seventh day, and if[bm] the diseased area of skin has not spread and it does not have bright red hair in it and the diseased area of the skin’s appearance is not deeper than the skin, 33 then[bn] he shall shave himself, but[bo] he shall not shave the diseased area of skin, and the priest shall confine the person with[bp] the diseased area of skin a second time for seven days. 34 And the priest shall examine the diseased area of skin on the seventh day, and if[bq] the diseased area has not spread on the skin and its appearance is not deeper than the skin, then[br] the priest shall pronounce him clean, and he shall wash his garments, and he shall be clean. 35 But[bs] if the diseased area of skin has not spread further on the skin after his cleansing, 36 then[bt] the priest shall examine him, and if[bu] the diseased area of skin has spread on the skin, the priest shall not inspect for bright[bv] red hair—he is unclean. 37 But[bw] if, in his eyes, the diseased area of skin has stayed unchanged and black hair has grown in it, the diseased area of skin is healed—he is clean, and the priest shall pronounce him clean.

38 “And when a man or a woman has[bx] spots on their body’s skin, white spots, 39 then[by] the priest shall examine them,[bz] and if[ca] the spots on their body’s skin are a faded white, it is a skin rash; it has broken out on the skin—it is clean.

40 “And if a man becomes bald, his head is bald, he is clean. 41 And if he becomes bald from his forehead,[cb] his head is bald, he is clean. 42 But[cc] if a pinkish[cd] infection occurs[ce] on the bald spot or on the bald forehead, it is an infectious skin disease that sprouts on his bald spot or on his bald forehead. 43 So[cf] the priest shall examine him, and if[cg] the infection’s swelling is pinkish[ch] on his bald spot or on his bald forehead, like the appearance of an infectious skin disease on[ci] the body, 44 he is a man afflicted with a skin disease—he is unclean; the priest certainly shall declare him unclean—his infection is on his head.

45 “As for[cj] the person who is afflicted with a skin disease, his garments must be torn and his hair[ck] must be allowed to hang loosely, and he must cover his upper lip, and he must call out, ‘Unclean! Unclean!’ 46 For all the days during which the infection is on him, he shall be unclean; he must live alone; his dwelling must be outside the camp.”[cl]

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Footnotes

  1. Leviticus 13:1 Or “And”
  2. Leviticus 13:2 Literally “man”
  3. Leviticus 13:2 Perfect of הָיָה followed by לְ; see HALOT 244 s.v. 7.c
  4. Leviticus 13:2 Or “and”
  5. Leviticus 13:4 Or “And”
  6. Leviticus 13:4 Or “and”
  7. Leviticus 13:5 Literally “look” or “behold”
  8. Leviticus 13:5 Or “and”
  9. Leviticus 13:6 Literally “look” or “behold”
  10. Leviticus 13:6 Or “and”
  11. Leviticus 13:7 Or “And”
  12. Leviticus 13:7 Or “and”
  13. Leviticus 13:8 The direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
  14. Leviticus 13:8 Literally “look” or “behold”
  15. Leviticus 13:8 Or “and”
  16. Leviticus 13:10 The direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
  17. Leviticus 13:10 Literally “look” or “behold”
  18. Leviticus 13:10 Literally “living of living flesh”
  19. Leviticus 13:12 Literally “for all the sight of the eyes of the priest”
  20. Leviticus 13:13 Or “and”
  21. Leviticus 13:13 The direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
  22. Leviticus 13:13 Literally “look” or “behold”
  23. Leviticus 13:13 Or “and”
  24. Leviticus 13:14 Or “And”
  25. Leviticus 13:14 Literally “on a day”
  26. Leviticus 13:14 Literally “living flesh”
  27. Leviticus 13:15 Literally “living flesh”
  28. Leviticus 13:15 Literally “living flesh”
  29. Leviticus 13:16 Literally “living flesh”
  30. Leviticus 13:16 Or “and”
  31. Leviticus 13:17 Literally “look” or “behold”
  32. Leviticus 13:17 Or “and”
  33. Leviticus 13:18 Literally “becomes on it”
  34. Leviticus 13:19 Literally “white red”
  35. Leviticus 13:19 Or “and”
  36. Leviticus 13:20 The direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
  37. Leviticus 13:20 Literally “look” or “behold”
  38. Leviticus 13:20 Or “and”
  39. Leviticus 13:21 Literally “look” or “behold”
  40. Leviticus 13:21 Or “and”
  41. Leviticus 13:22 Or “And”
  42. Leviticus 13:22 Or “and”
  43. Leviticus 13:23 Or “And”
  44. Leviticus 13:23 Or “and”
  45. Leviticus 13:24 Literally “it becomes”
  46. Leviticus 13:24 Literally “of”
  47. Leviticus 13:24 Literally “living”
  48. Leviticus 13:24 Literally “white red”
  49. Leviticus 13:25 Or “and”
  50. Leviticus 13:25 Literally “look” or “behold”
  51. Leviticus 13:25 Or “and”
  52. Leviticus 13:26 Or “And”
  53. Leviticus 13:26 Literally “look” or “behold”
  54. Leviticus 13:26 Or “and”
  55. Leviticus 13:27 Or “and”
  56. Leviticus 13:28 Or “And”
  57. Leviticus 13:28 Or “and”
  58. Leviticus 13:29 Literally “becomes on him”
  59. Leviticus 13:30 Or “and”
  60. Leviticus 13:30 Literally “look” or “behold”
  61. Leviticus 13:30 Or “and”
  62. Leviticus 13:31 Or “And”
  63. Leviticus 13:31 Literally “look” or “behold”
  64. Leviticus 13:31 Or “and”
  65. Leviticus 13:32 Literally “look” or “behold”
  66. Leviticus 13:33 Or “and”
  67. Leviticus 13:33 Or “and”
  68. Leviticus 13:33 The direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
  69. Leviticus 13:34 Literally “look” or “behold”
  70. Leviticus 13:34 Or “and”
  71. Leviticus 13:35 Or “And”
  72. Leviticus 13:36 Or “and”
  73. Leviticus 13:36 Literally “look” or “behold”
  74. Leviticus 13:36 Hebrew “the bright”
  75. Leviticus 13:37 Or “And”
  76. Leviticus 13:38 Literally “becomes”
  77. Leviticus 13:39 Or “and”
  78. Leviticus 13:39 The direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
  79. Leviticus 13:39 Literally “look” or “behold”
  80. Leviticus 13:41 Literally “from the forehead of his face”
  81. Leviticus 13:42 Or “And”
  82. Leviticus 13:42 Literally “white red”
  83. Leviticus 13:42 Or “becomes” or “happens”
  84. Leviticus 13:43 Or “And”
  85. Leviticus 13:43 Literally “look” or “behold”
  86. Leviticus 13:43 Literally “white red”
  87. Leviticus 13:43 Literally “of”
  88. Leviticus 13:45 Or “And”
  89. Leviticus 13:45 Literally “head”
  90. Leviticus 13:46 Literally “from an outside place of the camp”