Leviticus 13:39

39 the priest shall behold them; if he perceiveth, that whiteness some-deal dark shineth in the skin, know he, that it is no leprosy, but a spot of white colour, and that the man is clean. (the priest shall examine them; if he perceiveth that a somewhat dark whiteness shineth in the skin, know he, that it is not leprosy, but a spot of white colour, and they be clean.)

Leviticus 13:39 Meaning and Commentary

Leviticus 13:39

Then the priest shall look
Upon the man or woman that has these spots, and upon the spots themselves, and examine them of what kind they are: and, behold, [if] the bright spots in the skin of their flesh [be]
darkish white;
their whiteness is not strong, as Jarchi observes; but dusky and obscure, or "contracted" F23; small white spots, not large and spreading: it [is] a freckled spot [that] grows in the skin;
a kind of morphew, which the above writer describes as a sort of whiteness which appears in the flesh of a ruddy man: he [is] clean;
from leprosy; this is observed, lest a person that is freckled and has a morphew should be mistaken for a leprous person; as every man that has some spots, failings, and infirmities, is not to be reckoned a wicked man.


FOOTNOTES:

F23 (twhk) "costractae", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.

Leviticus 13:39 In-Context

37 Soothly if the spot standeth still, and the hairs be black, know then the priest that the man is healed, and trustily pronounce he the man clean. (But if the spot standeth still, and the hairs be black, then let the priest know that they be healed, and trustily pronounce he that they be clean.)
38 A man or a woman, in whose skin whiteness appeareth,
39 the priest shall behold them; if he perceiveth, that whiteness some-deal dark shineth in the skin, know he, that it is no leprosy, but a spot of white colour, and that the man is clean. (the priest shall examine them; if he perceiveth that a somewhat dark whiteness shineth in the skin, know he, that it is not leprosy, but a spot of white colour, and they be clean.)
40 A man of whose head the hairs float away, he is bald, and clean; (A man from whose head the hairs float away, he is bald, and is clean;)
41 and if the hairs fall from the forehead, he is bald, and is clean;
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.