Leviticus 13:44

44 he is leprous, he is unclean. The priest shall pronounce him unclean; the disease is on his head.

Leviticus 13:44 Meaning and Commentary

Leviticus 13:44

He is a leprous man, he [is] unclean
And so to be pronounced and accounted; only a leprous man is mentioned, there being no leprous women, having this sort of leprosy, their hair not falling off, or they becoming bald, usually; unless, as Ben Gersom observes, in a manner strange and wonderful:

the priest shall pronounce him utterly unclean;
as in any other case of leprosy:

his plague [is] in his head;
an emblem of such who have imbibed bad notions and erroneous principles, and are therefore, like the leper, to be avoided and rejected from the communion of the saints, ( Titus 3:10 ) ; and shows that men are accountable for their principles as well as practices, and liable to be punished for them.

Leviticus 13:44 In-Context

42 But if there is on the bald head or the bald forehead a reddish-white diseased spot, it is a leprous disease breaking out on his bald head or his bald forehead.
43 The priest shall examine him; if the diseased swelling is reddish-white on his bald head or on his bald forehead, which resembles a leprous disease in the skin of the body,
44 he is leprous, he is unclean. The priest shall pronounce him unclean; the disease is on his head.
45 The person who has the leprous disease shall wear torn clothes and let the hair of his head be disheveled; and he shall cover his upper lip and cry out, "Unclean, unclean."
46 He shall remain unclean as long as he has the disease; he is unclean. He shall live alone; his dwelling shall be outside the camp.

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. A term for several skin diseases; precise meaning uncertain
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.