^13:34The priest must then examine the scall on the seventh day, and if⁹⁸ the scall has not spread on the skin and it does not appear to be deeper than the skin,⁹⁹ then the priest is to pronounce him clean.¹⁰⁰ So he is to wash his clothes and be clean. ^13:35If, however, the scall spreads further¹⁰¹ on the skin after his purification, ^13:36then the priest is to examine it, and if¹⁰² the scall has spread on the skin the priest is not to search further for reddish yellow hair.¹⁰³ The person¹⁰⁴ is unclean. ^13:37If, as far as the priest can see, the scall has stayed the same¹⁰⁵ and black hair has sprouted in it, the scall has been healed; the person is clean. So the priest is to pronounce him clean.¹⁰⁶

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, ^13:39the priest is to examine them,¹⁰⁷ and if¹⁰⁸ 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.¹⁰⁹

Baldness on the Head

^13:40“When a man’s head is bare so that he is balding in back,¹¹⁰ he is clean. ^13:41If his head is bare on the forehead¹¹¹ so that he is balding in front,¹¹² he is clean. ^13:42But if there is a reddish white infection in the back or front bald area, it is a disease breaking out in his back or front bald area. ^13:43The priest is to examine it,¹¹³ and if¹¹⁴ the swelling of the infection is reddish white in the back or front bald area like the appearance of a disease on the skin of the body,¹¹⁵^13:44he is a diseased man. He is unclean. The priest must surely pronounce him unclean because of his infection on his head.¹¹⁶

The Life of the Person with Skin Disease

^13:45“As for the diseased person who has the infection,¹¹⁷ his clothes must be torn, the hair of his head must be unbound, he must cover his mustache,¹¹⁸ and he must call out ‘Unclean! Unclean!’ ^13:46The whole time he has the infection¹¹⁹ he will be continually unclean. He must live in isolation, and his place of residence must be outside the camp.

Infections in Garments, Cloth, or Leather

^13:47“When a garment has a diseased infection in it,¹²⁰ whether a wool or linen garment,¹²¹^13:48or in the warp or woof¹²² of the linen or the wool, or in leather or anything made of leather,¹²³^13:49if the infection¹²⁴ in the garment or leather or warp or woof or any article of leather is yellowish green or reddish, it is a diseased infection and it must be shown to the priest. ^13:50The priest is to examine and then quarantine the article with the infection for seven days.¹²⁵^13:51He must then examine the infection on the seventh day. If the infection has spread in the garment, or in the warp, or in the woof, or in the leather—whatever the article into which the leather was made¹²⁶—the infection is a malignant disease. It is unclean. ^13:52He must burn the garment or the warp or the woof, whether wool or linen, or any article of leather which has the infection in it. Because it is a malignant disease it must be burned up in the fire. ^13:53But if the priest examines it and¹²⁷ the infection has not spread in the garment or in the warp or in the woof or in any article of leather,

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Footnotes

98 Heb “and behold” (so , ).
99 Heb “and its appearance is not deep ‘from’ (comparative מִן, min, meaning “deeper than”) the skin.”
100 This is the declarative Piel of the verb טָהֵר (taher, cf. the note on v. above).
101 Heb “And if spreading (infinitive absolute) it spreads further (finite verb).” For the infinitive absolute used to highlight contrast rather than emphasis see §113.p.
102 Heb “and behold.”
103 Heb “the priest shall not search to the reddish yellow hair.”
104 Heb “he”; the referent (the affected person) is specified in the translation for clarity (likewise in the following verse).
105 Heb “and if in his eyes the infection has stood.”
106 This is the declarative Piel of the verb טָהֵר (taher, cf. the note on v. above).
107 Heb “and the priest shall see.”
108 Heb “and behold” (so , ).
109 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.
110 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 (), .
111 Heb “And if from the front edge of his face, his head is rubbed bare.” See the note on v. above.
112 The rendering “balding in front” corresponds to the location of the bareness at the beginning of the verse.
113 Heb “and the priest shall see it” (cf. ). The has “him/it” which some take to refer to the person as a whole (i.e., “him”; see, e.g., J. Milgrom, Leviticus [], 1:; , , etc.), while others take it as a reference to the “infection” (נֶגַע, nega’) in v. 42 (J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [], , ). has “her/it,” which would probably refer to “disease” (צָרַעַת, tsara’at) in v. 42. The general pattern in the chapter suggests that “it,” either the infection or the disease, is the object of the examination (see, e.g., v. 3 above and v. 50 below).
114 Heb “and behold.”
115 Heb “like appearance of disease of skin of flesh.”
116 Or perhaps translate, “His infection [is] on his head,” as a separate independent sentence (cf. , , , ). There is no causal expression in the Hebrew text connecting these two clauses, but the logical relationship between them seems to be causal.
117 Heb “And the diseased one who in him is the infection.”
118 Heb “and his head shall be unbound, and he shall cover on [his] mustache.” Tearing one’s clothing, allowing the hair to hang loose rather than bound up in a turban, and covering the mustache on the upper lip are all ways of expressing shame, grief, or distress (cf., e.g., Lev 10:6 and Micah 3:7).
119 Heb “All the days which the infection is in him.”
120 Heb “And the garment, if there is in it a mark of disease.”
121 Heb “in a wool garment or in a linen garment.”
122 The warp (vertical) and woof (horizontal) thread may be two different sets of thread not yet woven together, or they may refer to two different kinds of thread already woven, in which case one might have the disease in it while the other does not. See the explanation in J. Milgrom, Leviticus (), 1:.
123 Heb “in any handiwork of skin” (cf. , , ); most other modern English versions have “leather.”
124 Heb “and the infection is.” This clause is conditional in force, and is translated as such by almost all English versions.
125 Heb “And the priest shall see the infection and he shall shut up the infection seven days.”
126 Heb “to all which the leather was made into a handiwork.”
127 Heb “And if the priest sees and behold”; “and indeed.”