Leviticus 13:42

42 But if there is a reddish-white sore on the bald head or forehead, it is an infectious disease breaking out on it.

Leviticus 13:42 Meaning and Commentary

Leviticus 13:42

And if there be
Or, "but if there be", or, "when there shall be" ^F25, or shall appear to be:

in the bald head, or in the bald forehead, a white reddish sore;
white and red mixed, as the Targum of Jonathan, having something of both colours, neither a clear white nor thorough red; though, according to Bochart, it should be rendered "a white sore exceeding bright"; (See Gill on Leviticus 13:19);

it [is] a leprosy sprung up in his bald head, or in his bald forehead;
the signs of which were raw flesh and spreading; so it is said in the Misnah ^F26,

``those two sorts of baldness defile in two weeks, by two signs, by quick raw flesh and by spreading;''

if there was the bright spot and no quick flesh, then he was to be shut up seven days, and looked upon at the end of them; and if there was either quick flesh or a spreading, he was pronounced unclean, but if neither, he was shut up seven days more; and if either of the above signs appeared he was pronounced unclean, if not he was set free.

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FOOTNOTES:

F25 (ykw) "sin autem", V. L. "quum autem", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator Drusius.
F26 Ut supra. (Misn. Negaim, c. 10. sect. 10.)

Leviticus 13:42 In-Context

40 Now if a man loses his hair and is bald, he is still clean.

41 Or if his hairline recedes and he is bald on his forehead, he is still clean.

42 But if there is a reddish-white sore on the bald head or forehead, it is an infectious disease breaking out on it.

43 The priest is to examine him, and if the swelling of the infection on his bald head or forehead is reddish-white like a skin disease,

44 the man is diseased; he is unclean. The priest must pronounce him unclean because of the infection on his head.