Leviticus 13:4-6
Context13:4 “If 1 it is a white bright spot on the skin of his body, but it does not appear to be deeper than the skin, 2 and the hair has not turned white, then the priest is to quarantine the person with the infection for seven days. 3 13:5 The priest must then examine it on the seventh day, and if, 4 as far as he can see, the infection has stayed the same 5 and has not spread on the skin, 6 then the priest is to quarantine the person for another seven days. 7 13:6 The priest must then examine it again on the seventh day, 8 and if 9 the infection has faded and has not spread on the skin, then the priest is to pronounce the person clean. 10 It is a scab, 11 so he must wash his clothes 12 and be clean.
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.”
4 tn Heb “and behold” (so KJV, ASV).
5 tn Heb “the infection has stood in his eyes”; ASV “if in his eyes the plague be at a stay.”
6 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.
7 tn Heb “a second seven days.”
8 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.
9 tn Heb “and behold.”
10 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).
11 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.”
12 tn Heb “and he shall wash his clothes.”