^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, ^13:54the priest is to command that they wash whatever has the infection and quarantine it for another seven days.¹²⁸^13:55The priest must then examine it after the infection has been washed out, and if¹²⁹ the infection has not changed its appearance¹³⁰ even though the infection has not spread, it is unclean. You must burn it up in the fire. It is a fungus, whether on the back side or front side of the article.¹³¹^13:56But if the priest has examined it and¹³² the infection has faded after it has been washed, he is to tear it out of¹³³ the garment or the leather or the warp or the woof. ^13:57Then if¹³⁴ it still appears again in the garment or the warp or the woof, or in any article of leather, it is an outbreak. Whatever has the infection in it you must burn up in the fire. ^13:58But the garment or the warp or the woof or any article of leather which you wash and infection disappears from it¹³⁵ is to be washed a second time and it will be clean.”

Summary of Infection Regulations

^13:59This is the law¹³⁶ of the diseased infection in the garment of wool or linen, or the warp or woof, or any article of leather, for pronouncing it clean or unclean.¹³⁷

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Footnotes

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.”
128 Heb “a second seven days.”
129 Heb “and behold” (so , ).
130 Heb “the infection has not changed its eye.” has “its/his eyes,” as in vv. 5 and 37, but here it refers to the appearance of the article of cloth or leather, unlike vv. 5 and 37 where there is a preposition attached and it refers to the eyes of the priest.
131 The terms “back side” and “front side” are the same as those used in v. 42 for the “back or front bald area” of a man’s head. The exact meaning of these terms when applied to articles of cloth or leather is uncertain. It could refer, for example, to the inside versus the outside of a garment, or the back versus the front side of an article of cloth or leather. See J. Milgrom, Leviticus (), 1:, for various possibilities.
132 Heb “And if the priest saw and behold.…”
133 Heb “and he shall tear it from.”
134 Heb “And if”; , “But if”; “If, however.”
135 Heb “and the infection turns aside from them.”
136 The Hebrew term translated “law” (תוֹרָה, torah) introduces here a summary or colophon for all of Lev 13. Similar summaries are found in Lev 7:37–38; 11:46–47; 14:54–57; and 15:32–33.
137 These are declarative Piel forms of the verbs טָהֵר (taher) and טָמֵא (tame’) respectively (cf. the notes on vv. and above).