Text -- Leviticus 13:4-8 (NET)

A Bright Spot on the Skin

13:4 “If it is a white bright spot on the skin of his body, but it does not appear to be deeper than the skin, and the hair has not turned white, then the priest is to quarantine the person with the infection for seven days. 13:5 The priest must then examine it on the seventh day, and if, as far as he can see, the infection has stayed the same and has not spread on the skin, then the priest is to quarantine the person for another seven days. 13:6 The priest must then examine it again on the seventh day, and if the infection has faded and has not spread on the skin, then the priest is to pronounce the person clean. It is a scab, so he must wash his clothes and be clean. 13:7 If, however, the scab is spreading further on the skin after he has shown himself to the priest for his purification, then he must show himself to the priest a second time. 13:8 The priest must then examine it, and if the scab has spread on the skin, then the priest is to pronounce the person unclean. It is a disease.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Lev 13:4

¹ tn Heb “and if.”

² tn Heb “and deep is not its appearance from the skin”; cf. NAB “does not seem to have penetrated below the skin.”

³ tn Heb “and the priest will shut up the infection seven days.”

NET Notes: Lev 13:5

¹ tn Heb “and behold” (so KJV, ASV).

² tn Heb “the infection has stood in his eyes”; ASV “if in his eyes the plague be at a stay.”

³ tn Although there is no expressed “and” at the beginning of this clause, there is in the corresponding clause of v. 6, so it should be assumed here as well.

⁴ tn Heb “a second seven days.”

NET Notes: Lev 13:6

¹ tn That is, at the end of the second set of seven days referred to at the end of v. 5, a total of fourteen days after the first appearance before the priest.

² tn Heb “and behold.”

³ tn Heb “he shall make him clean.” The verb is the Piel of טָהֵר (taher, “to be clean”). Here it is a so-called “declarative” Piel (i.e., “to declare clean”), but it also implies that the person is put into the category of being “clean” by the pronouncement itself (J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 176; cf. the corresponding opposite in v. 3 above).

⁴ tn On the term “scab” see the note on v. 2 above. Cf. NAB “it was merely eczema”; NRSV “only an eruption”; NLT “only a temporary rash.”

⁵ tn Heb “and he shall wash his clothes.”

NET Notes: Lev 13:7

¹ tn Heb “And if spreading [infinitive absolute] it spreads [finite verb].” For the infinitive absolute used to highlight contrast rather than emphasis see GKC 343 §113.p.

NET Notes: Lev 13:8

¹ tn The “it” is not expressed but is to be understood. It refers to the “infection” (cf. the note on v. 2 above).

² tn Heb “and behold” (so KJV, ASV).

³ tn This is the declarative Piel of the verb טָמֵא (tame’, cf. the note on v. 3 above).