Leviticus 13:4

4 But if a spot [is] white on his body's skin and its appearance is not deeper than the skin and its hair does not turn white, then the priest shall confine the afflicted person [for] seven days.

Leviticus 13:4 Meaning and Commentary

Leviticus 13:4

If the bright spot be white in the skin of his flesh
The Targum of Jonathan is, white as chalk in the skin of his flesh; but other Jewish writers make the whiteness of the bright spot to be the greatest of all, like that of snow; (See Gill on Leviticus 13:2):

and in sight [be] not deeper than the skin, and the hair thereof
be not turned white;
though it be a bright spot, and be very white, yet these two marks not appearing, it cannot be judged a leprosy, at most it is only suspicious: wherefore

then the priest, shall shut up [him that hath] the plague seven
days;
in whom the bright spot is, and of whom there is a suspicion of the plague of leprosy, but it is not certain; and therefore, in order to take time, and get further knowledge, the person was to be shut up from all company and conversation for the space of seven days; by which time it might be supposed, as Ben Gersom observes, that the case and state of the leprosy (if it was one) would be altered; and Aben Ezra remarks, that most diseases change or alter on the seventh day.

Leviticus 13:4 In-Context

2 "When a {person} has on his body's skin a swelling or an epidermal eruption or a spot and it becomes an infectious skin disease on his body's skin, then he shall be brought to Aaron the priest or to one of his sons the priests.

3 And the priest shall examine the infection on his body's skin, and [if] [the] hair in the infection turns white and the appearance of the infection [is] deeper than his body's skin, it [is] an infectious skin disease, and the priest shall examine it, and he shall declare him unclean.

4 But if a spot [is] white on his body's skin and its appearance is not deeper than the skin and its hair does not turn white, then the priest shall confine the afflicted person [for] seven days.

5 And the priest shall examine it on the seventh day, and {if}, in his eyes, the infection has stayed [unchanged], the infection has not spread on the skin, then the priest shall confine him [for] seven days [a] second [time].

6 And the priest shall examine him on the seventh day [for a] second [time], and {if} the infection has faded and the infection has not spread on the skin, then the priest shall declare him clean--it [is] an epidermal eruption; and he shall wash his garments, and so he shall be clean.

Footnotes

• [a]. Or "And"
• [b]. Or "and"