Leviticus 13:55

55 Then the priest must examine the object again. If he finds that the contaminated area has not changed color after being washed, even if it did not spread, the object is defiled. It must be completely burned up, whether the contaminated spot is on the inside or outside.

Leviticus 13:55 Meaning and Commentary

Leviticus 13:55

And the priest shall look on the plague after it is washed,
&c.] That is, on the second seventh day, or thirteenth day from his first inspection of it: and, behold, [if] the plague has not changed its colour; and the
plague be not spread, it [is] unclean, thou shalt burn it in the fire;
if it remains just as it was at first, very green or very red, and has not diminished of its colour at all, nor changed from one colour to another, although it should not have spread itself, yet it is defiled, and to be burnt without the camp, as before; that which spreads itself here and there, it is to be burnt: it [is] after inward, [whether] it [be] bare within or without;
that is, whether it be threadbare on the wrong or right side of the garment, the nap being eaten off by the leprosy; which shows it to be a fretting, eating, and corroding one: in the Hebrew text it is, "in the boldness of the hinder", or "in the baldness of the fore part"; they are the same words which are used of the boldness of the back part and fore part of the head, ( Leviticus 13:42 Leviticus 13:43 ) ; the nap being off either of the outer and right side of the cloth, or of the inner and wrong side, made it look like a bald head, whether before or behind.

Leviticus 13:55 In-Context

53 “But if the priest examines it and finds that the contaminated area has not spread in the clothing, the fabric, or the leather,

54 the priest will order the object to be washed and then quarantined for seven more days.

55 Then the priest must examine the object again. If he finds that the contaminated area has not changed color after being washed, even if it did not spread, the object is defiled. It must be completely burned up, whether the contaminated spot is on the inside or outside.

56 But if the priest examines it and finds that the contaminated area has faded after being washed, he must cut the spot from the clothing, the fabric, or the leather.

57 If the spot later reappears on the clothing, the fabric, or the leather article, the mildew is clearly spreading, and the contaminated object must be burned up.

Footnotes

• [a]. The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain.