Leviticus 13:37

Summary

This verse describes the priest's final assessment of a scall (a scalp/skin condition) that has not spread and in which black hair has regrown, indicating healing. The text states that if these two visual signs are present, the person is pure, and the priest is to make a formal declaration of purity.

Key words

• 'einayv ("view/eyes", H5869A) — dual noun in construct with the pronominal suffix "his," forming the idiom "in his eyes," i.e., "in his (the priest's) assessment" or "in his sight." It frames the whole clause as dependent on the priest's visual judgment, not an objective medical fact stated independently.
• 'amad ("it has stayed", H5975G) — qal perfect, third person masculine. The perfect aspect marks a completed, settled state: the scall has remained stationary rather than continuing to spread.
• netek ("scall", H5424) — masculine singular noun, repeated twice in the verse (lines 8 and 17), naming the specific skin condition under diagnosis in both the condition clause and the healing statement.
• nirpa' ("it has been healed", H7495) — niphal perfect. The niphal stem here expresses a passive/resultative state: the healing is described as having occurred, with no explicit agent named who caused it.
• tihero ("he will declare pure", H2891) — piel form with third-person object suffix, in sequential-perfect construction continuing the narrative chain. The piel stem gives a declarative-causative sense: the priest does not himself purify the person medically but formally pronounces the state of purity.

What the text says

The verse opens with a conditional clause built on 'im ("if", H0518A), governed by the phrase be'einayv — placing the diagnosis explicitly within the priest's visual perception. Two qal perfect verbs, 'amad and tzamach ("it has sprouted", H6779), describe two completed conditions: the scall has stayed in place (not spread) and black hair has grown within it. These are presented as observed facts rather than ongoing processes, reflecting the perfect aspect's function of marking settled states.

The clause nirpa' hanNetek ("the scall has been healed") uses a niphal perfect, syntactically parallel to the qal perfects before it but shifting to a passive voice — the healing is stated as having taken place, with the priest as observer rather than actor. This is followed by the pronoun hu' ("he", H1931) reinforcing the predicate tahor ("pure", H2889): "pure he is," a nominal clause without a verb "to be," typical of Biblical Hebrew stative statements. The final clause shifts to a narrative sequential perfect, ve-tihero hakohen ("and the priest will declare him pure"), marking the priest's formal pronouncement as the concluding act in the sequence, distinct grammatically from the preceding descriptive perfects.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders be'einayv with ἐνώπιον ("before/in sight"), omitting the specific noun "eyes" but preserving the sense of visual judgment. The Vulgate's si steterit macula drops the "in his eyes" phrase entirely, presenting the persistence of the spot as a plain fact rather than a matter of the priest's perception. The Vulgate also adds noverit hominem sanatum esse ("let him know the man to be healed") and the adverb confidenter ("confidently") before the declaration of purity — elements not present in the Hebrew, which simply states tahor hu' ("pure he is") without any verb of knowing or manner of pronouncement.