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Leviticus 13

1Yahweh spoke to Moses and Aaron: 2“If a person has a swelling, a scab, or a bright spot on the skin of their body, and it becomes an affliction of tzaraat on the skin of their body, they must be brought to Aaron the priest or to one of his sons, the priests. 3The priest must examine the lesion on the skin of the body. If the hair in the lesion has turned white and the lesion appears deeper than the skin of the body, it is an affliction of tzaraat. The priest must examine it and pronounce the person unclean. 4But if the bright spot on the skin of their body is white, does not appear deeper than the skin, and its hair has not turned white, the priest must isolate the affected person for seven days. 5On the seventh day the priest must examine them. If in his judgment the lesion is unchanged and has not spread on the skin, the priest must isolate them for another seven days. 6On the seventh day the priest must examine them again. If the lesion has faded and has not spread on the skin, the priest must pronounce them clean. It is a scab. They must wash their clothes, and they will be clean. 7But if the scab spreads on the skin after they have shown themselves to the priest to be pronounced clean, they must show themselves to the priest again. 8The priest must examine it, and if the scab has spread on the skin, the priest must pronounce them unclean. It is tzaraat.

9“When a person has an affliction of tzaraat, they must be brought to the priest. 10The priest must examine them. If there is a white swelling on the skin, it has turned the hair white, and there is a patch of raw flesh in the swelling, 11it is longstanding tzaraat in the skin of their body. The priest must pronounce them unclean. He must not isolate them for observation, because they are unclean. 12But if the tzaraat breaks out on the skin and covers all the skin of the affected person, from head to foot, as far as the priest can see, 13the priest must examine them. If the tzaraat has covered their whole body, he must pronounce the affected person clean. It has all turned white; they are clean. 14But whenever raw flesh appears on them, they become unclean. 15The priest must examine the raw flesh and pronounce them unclean. The raw flesh is unclean; it is tzaraat. 16Or if the raw flesh turns white again, they must come to the priest. 17The priest must examine them. If the lesion has turned white, the priest must pronounce the affected person clean; they are clean.

18“If there is a boil on the skin of someone's body and it heals, 19and in the place of the boil there is a white swelling or a reddish-white bright spot, they must show themselves to the priest. 20The priest must examine it. If it appears lower than the skin and its hair has turned white, the priest must pronounce them unclean. It is an affliction of tzaraat that has broken out in the boil. 21But if the priest examines it and there is no white hair in it, it is not lower than the skin, and it has faded, the priest must isolate them for seven days. 22If it spreads on the skin, the priest must pronounce them unclean; it is an affliction. 23But if the bright spot stays in place and has not spread, it is the scar of the boil, and the priest must pronounce them clean.

24“Or if there is a burn from fire on the skin of someone's body and the raw area of the burn becomes a reddish-white or white bright spot, 25the priest must examine it. If the hair in the bright spot has turned white and it appears deeper than the skin, it is tzaraat that has broken out in the burn. The priest must pronounce them unclean; it is an affliction of tzaraat. 26But if the priest examines it and there is no white hair in the bright spot, it is not lower than the skin, and it has faded, the priest must isolate them for seven days. 27On the seventh day the priest must examine them. If it spreads on the skin, the priest must pronounce them unclean; it is an affliction of tzaraat. 28But if the bright spot stays in place, has not spread on the skin, and has faded, it is the swelling from the burn. The priest must pronounce them clean, because it is the scar of the burn.

29“If a man or woman has a lesion on the head or in the beard, 30the priest must examine the lesion. If it appears deeper than the skin and there is thin yellow hair in it, the priest must pronounce the person unclean. It is a scaly affliction, tzaraat of the head or beard. 31But if the priest examines the lesion of the scaly affliction and it does not appear deeper than the skin, and there is no black hair in it, the priest must isolate the person with the scaly affliction for seven days. 32On the seventh day the priest must examine the lesion. If the scaly affliction has not spread, there is no yellow hair in it, and it does not appear deeper than the skin, 33the person must shave, but must not shave the affected area. The priest must isolate the person with the scaly affliction for another seven days. 34On the seventh day the priest must examine the scaly affliction. If it has not spread on the skin and does not appear deeper than the skin, the priest must pronounce the person clean. They must wash their clothes, and they will be clean. 35But if the scaly affliction spreads on the skin after they have been pronounced clean, 36the priest must examine them. If the scaly affliction has spread on the skin, the priest need not look for yellow hair; the person is unclean. 37But if in his judgment the scaly affliction is unchanged and black hair has grown in it, the scaly affliction has healed. The person is clean, and the priest must pronounce them clean.

38“If a man or woman has bright spots on the skin of their body, white bright spots, 39the priest must examine them. If the bright spots on the skin of their body are dull white, it is a pale eruption that has broken out on the skin. The person is clean. 40If a man loses the hair from his head, he is bald; he is clean. 41If he loses the hair from the front of his head, he has a receding hairline; he is clean. 42But if there is a reddish-white lesion on his bald scalp or bald front of his head, it is tzaraat breaking out on his bald scalp or bald front of his head. 43The priest must examine him. If the swelling of the lesion on his bald scalp or bald front of his head is reddish-white, like the appearance of tzaraat on the skin of the body, 44he is a man with tzaraat; he is unclean. The priest must certainly pronounce him unclean; his affliction is on his head.

45“The person with the affliction of tzaraat must wear torn clothes, let their hair hang loose, cover their upper lip, and call out, ‘Unclean! Unclean!’ 46They will be unclean as long as they have the affliction. They are unclean; they must live apart. Their dwelling must be outside the camp.

47“If an affliction of tzaraat occurs in a garment, whether woolen or linen, 48or in the warp or weft of linen or wool, or in leather or anything made of leather, 49and the affected area in the garment, leather, warp, weft, or any leather article is greenish or reddish, it is an affliction of tzaraat and must be shown to the priest. 50The priest must examine the affected area and isolate the affected article for seven days. 51On the seventh day he must examine the affected area. If it has spread in the garment, warp, weft, or leather, whatever the leather is used for, the affliction is destructive tzaraat; the article is unclean. 52He must burn the garment, the warp or weft of wool or linen, or any leather article in which the affliction occurs. It is destructive tzaraat; it must be burned in the fire. 53But if the priest examines it and the affected area has not spread in the garment, warp, weft, or any leather article, 54the priest must order the affected article washed and isolate it for another seven days. 55After the affected article has been washed, the priest must examine it. If the affected area has not changed in appearance, even though it has not spread, the article is unclean. You must burn it in the fire. It is a corrosive affliction, whether on the back or the front. 56But if the priest examines it and the affected area has faded after being washed, he must tear it out of the garment, leather, warp, or weft. 57If it appears again in the garment, warp, weft, or any leather article, it is breaking out; you must burn the affected article in the fire. 58But a garment, warp, weft, or any leather article that you wash, and from which the affliction disappears, must be washed a second time; then it will be clean.

59“This is the instruction for an affliction of tzaraat in a woolen or linen garment, warp, weft, or any leather article, for pronouncing it clean or unclean.”

Translation notes 7

13:2 — Tzaraat. Often traditionally translated “leprosy,” this Hebrew category cannot be equated with modern Hansen's disease or any single securely identified condition. It includes afflictions of skin and also of fabrics, leather, and houses. The draft retains the name and translates the signs and procedures around it. “Swelling,” “scab,” and “bright spot” are provisional symptom descriptions, not modern diagnoses.

13:3–6 — Pronounce; isolate. The priest examines and classifies; the text does not say that his words medically heal the lesion. “Isolate the affected person” makes explicit the person meant when Hebrew speaks of shutting up the lesion. The repeated periods of seven days are retained. Pronouncing someone clean does not remove the stated requirement to wash clothes.

13:10–17 — Raw flesh; all white. Hebrew describes living or raw flesh. Raw flesh and a wholly white appearance lead to different ritual judgments. The draft retains the seemingly surprising rule that complete whiteness can be pronounced clean, rather than correcting it to a presumed modern medical rule.

13:20–28 — Lower; deeper. Two Hebrew words occur in these inspections. The draft retains “lower” and “deeper” rather than claiming a precise modern measurement of depth. A healed boil or burn scar is distinguished from an affliction that spreads or changes the hair.

13:29–37 — Scaly affliction; hair colors. The exact condition called a scaly affliction is uncertain. The wording in verse 31 is “no black hair”; verse 32 says “no yellow hair,” while verse 37 treats the growth of black hair as evidence of healing. The draft preserves these differences. Only the surrounding area is shaved in verse 33; the affected area is not shaved.

13:38–46 — Clean conditions and exclusion. Pale spots and ordinary hair loss are not automatically unclean. The person pronounced unclean must live apart outside the camp, with torn clothing, loose hair, a covered upper lip, and an audible warning. The text does not identify a particular moral offense as the cause of the condition or explain these rules as a treatment that cures it.

13:47–59 — Fabrics and leather. The same category, tzaraat, is applied to materials as to skin, without establishing that the underlying physical process is identical. Warp and weft are the two sets of threads in weaving. “Destructive” and “corrosive” are provisional renderings of rare descriptions; “back” and “front” in verse 55 use terms also applied to bald areas of the head. Their precise reference on cloth or leather is uncertain. Washing, removing a patch, and burning are distinct prescribed actions.