Leviticus 13:12

Summary

The verse describes a case where the skin disease tzara'at ("serious skin disease", H6883) spreads extensively, covering the entire skin of the afflicted person from head to feet, as far as the priest's sight can determine.

Key words

• paroach tifrach ("certainly to break out" / "it will break out", H6524B) — the infinitive absolute paroach combined with the finite imperfect tifrach from the same root creates emphatic repetition, intensifying the verbal idea of breaking out or spreading.
• tzara'at ("serious skin disease", H6883) — feminine singular noun, the grammatical subject of both verbs tifrach ("it will break out") and khisetah ("it will cover"), appearing twice in the verse to frame the condition and its action.
• khisetah ("it will cover", H3680) — piel stem (intensive) sequential perfect, continuing the narrative sequence begun by the imperfect tifrach; the piel stem here conveys thorough or complete covering.
• nega' ("plagued [person]", H5061) — masculine singular noun in construct with kol-'or ("all the skin of"), designating the afflicted individual whose entire skin is in view.
• mar'eh ("appearance of", H4758) — construct noun linked to 'einei hakohen ("eyes of the priest"), establishing the priest's visual assessment as the operative standard for the description.

What the text says

The verse opens with the conditional particle 'im ("if", H0518A), introducing a hypothetical scenario within the larger diagnostic framework of skin conditions. The construction paroach tifrach — infinitive absolute plus imperfect of the same verb H6524B — is a common Biblical Hebrew emphatic pattern, here underscoring that the disease breaks out thoroughly or extensively rather than partially. This grammatical intensification is difficult to render fully in translation; English versions typically render it simply as "breaks out" without conveying the doubled emphasis.

The sequential perfect khisetah ("it will cover", H3680) continues the action begun by tifrach, describing a result: the disease covers "all the skin" (kol-'or, H3605 + H5785) of the nega' ("plagued [person]", H5061). The phrase me-rosho ve-'ad-raglav ("from his head and to his feet") uses construct forms of rosh ("head", H7218A) and raglayim ("feet", H7272) with pronominal suffixes, marking totality of bodily coverage.

The closing phrase, le-khol mar'eh 'einei hakohen ("to all the appearance of the eyes of the priest"), places the extent of the visible spread within the frame of the priest's ocular examination — the disease's coverage is measured specifically by what falls under the priest's sight.

Differences between versions

The Vulgate's quidquid sub aspectum oculorum cadit ("whatever falls under the sight of the eyes") and the LXX's καθ' ὅλην τὴν ὅρασιν τοῦ ἱερέως ("according to the whole sight of the priest") both render the Hebrew le-khol mar'eh 'einei hakohen ("to all the appearance of the eyes of the priest"), though the Vulgate omits explicit mention of "the priest" in this clause, while the LXX retains it (τοῦ ἱερέως, "of the priest") as in the Hebrew.