Leviticus 13:42

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.

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.


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 If anyone loses the hair from his head, he is bald but he is clean.
41 If he loses the hair from his forehead and temples, he has baldness of the forehead but he is clean.
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.

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. A term for several skin diseases; precise meaning uncertain
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