Leviticus 13:34

Summary

The priest examines the netek ("scall/scaly outbreak", H5424) on the seventh day of observation. If it has not spread in the skin and does not appear deeper than the skin, the priest declares the person pure; the person then washes their garments and becomes pure.

Key words

• ra'ah ("he will see", H7200G) — qal sequential perfect, continuing the narrative chain of priestly inspection actions begun earlier in the chapter.
• Netek ("scall", H5424) — masculine singular noun naming the specific skin condition being monitored; repeated twice to anchor both the inspection and the spreading-check.
• fasah ("it has spread", H6581) — qal perfect describing a completed (non-)action: the negation lo' ("not", H3808) precedes it, stating that spreading did not occur.
• tihar ("he will declare pure", H2891) — piel sequential perfect; the piel stem here carries a declarative-causative sense ("to pronounce pure"), distinct from the plain qal tahar used later.
• tahar ("he will be pure", H2891) — same root as tihar but in qal, describing the resulting state of the person after washing, rather than the priest's declarative act.

What the text says

The verse is built as a chain of sequential perfect verbs (ra'ah, tihar, khibbes, tahar), each linked by the narrative vav (H9001), which in Biblical Hebrew narrative continues a sequence of actions understood as following one another in time or logical order. This chain structure means the sentence reads as a procedural sequence: inspection → verification of non-spreading and non-depth → declaration of purity → washing → resulting purity.

The condition itself is expressed through two parallel clauses joined by hinneh ("there!", H2009), an interjection that draws attention to the observed facts: first, that the netek "has not spread" (lo' fasah) "in the skin" (ba-'or, H5785); second, that its "appearance" (mar'ehu, construct form of H4758 with 3ms suffix) "is not deep" ('einennu 'amoq) "from the skin" (min ha-'or). The construct forms mar'e-hu and 'eine-nu both carry pronominal suffixes referring back to the netek, tying the visual and spatial criteria directly to the skin condition under examination.

The pairing of tihar (piel, "he will declare pure") and tahar (qal, "he will be pure") in the same verse distinguishes the priest's formal pronouncement from the person's resulting condition after washing garments (khibbes, piel of H3526H, "he will wash").

Differences between versions

The LXX renders netek with τὸ θραῦσμα ("the fracture/breach") rather than a term specifically for "scall," and adds a phrase about "after he has been shaved" (μετὰ τὸ ξυρηθῆναι αὐτόν) not present in the Hebrew word list given. The Vulgate uses "plaga" ("the plague/mark") and "in loco suo" ("in its place"), phrasing that shifts the criterion of spreading into a statement about the mark remaining in its original location, differing from the Hebrew's direct statement that the netek "has not spread" (lo' fasah).