Leviticus 13:38-41

Bright White Spots on the Skin

13:38 “When a man or a woman has bright spots – white bright spots – on the skin of their body, 13:39 the priest is to examine them, ¹  and if ²  the bright spots on the skin of their body are faded white, it is a harmless rash that has broken out on the skin. The person is clean. ³ 

Baldness on the Head

13:40 “When a man’s head is bare so that he is balding in back, ⁴  he is clean. 13:41 If his head is bare on the forehead ⁵  so that he is balding in front, ⁶  he is clean.

[13:39]  ¹ tn Heb “and the priest shall see.”

[13:39]  ² tn Heb “and behold” (so KJV, ASV).

[13:39]  ³ tn Heb “he,” but the regulation applies to a man or a woman (v. 38a). In the translation “the person” is used to specify the referent more clearly.

[13:40]  ¹ tn Heb “And a man, when his head is rubbed bare, he is bald-headed.” The translation offered here, referring to the back of the head (i.e., the area from the top of the head sloping backwards), is based on the contrast between this condition and that of the following verse. See also B. A. Levine, Leviticus (JPSTC), 82.

[13:41]  ¹ tn Heb “And if from the front edge of his face, his head is rubbed bare.” See the note on v. 40 above.

[13:41]  ² tn The rendering “balding in front” corresponds to the location of the bareness at the beginning of the verse.