Leviticus 13:39

Summary

The priest examines the skin and finds dull white spots (beharot kehot levanot) on the flesh; this is identified as bohaq ("skin rash", H0933), a condition that has simply broken out on the skin, and the person is declared tahor ("pure", H2889).

Key words

• bo.Hak ("skin rash", H0933) — a masculine singular noun naming a specific skin condition, distinct from the terms used elsewhere in the chapter for the skin disease under examination.
• ke.Hot ("dull", H3544) — feminine plural adjective agreeing with beharot, qualifying the whiteness as diminished or faint rather than bright.
• le.va.Not ("white", H3836) — feminine plural adjective, paired with kehot, together describing the spots as "dull-white."
• pa.Rach ("it has broken out", H6524B) — qal perfect verb, marking a completed action: the rash has already erupted on the skin, framing the diagnosis as based on an event already accomplished.
• ta.Hor ("pure", H2889) — masculine singular adjective serving as the predicate of the closing declarative clause, stating the ritual status of the person.

What the text says

The verse is built on a sequence of two qal perfect verbs functioning as the narrative backbone: ra'ah ("he will see/examine", H7200G) opens the verse, introduced by the narrative vav, and parach ("it has broken out", H6524B) later reports a completed event. Between them stands the presentative particle hinneh ("there!", H2009), which shifts the report into a vivid, observed scene: "and the priest will look — and there, on the skin of their flesh..." The construct chain 'or-besaram ("skin of their flesh") specifies exactly where the phenomenon is located, using two nouns in construct relation followed by the third-person plural pronominal suffix -m ("their").

The core diagnostic term is the pair of feminine plural adjectives kehot levanot ("dull white"), modifying beharot ("bright spots", H0934). Both adjectives agree in gender and number with beharot, forming a compound description of the spots' visual quality — not simply "white" but a diminished, non-vivid white. The verse then names the condition with the noun bohaq ("skin rash", H0933), followed by the independent pronoun hu' ("it", H1931), which functions here as a copula linking noun and predicate: "it is bohaq." The same construction — noun/adjective + hu' — recurs at the end with tahor hu' ("it/he is pure"), giving the verse a repetitive rhythmic closure that reinforces the declarative, verdict-like nature of the priestly pronouncement.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the Hebrew bohaq as alphos (a Greek term for a whitish skin blemish) and expands the description with augasmata augazonta leukathizonta ("bright, shining, whitening spots"), producing a more elaborate visual description than the Hebrew's concise kehot levanot. The Vulgate translates the same phrase as "subobscurum alborem" ("a somewhat dim whiteness"), closer to the Hebrew's "dull white" sense, and adds an explanatory clause "sciat non esse lepram" ("let him know it is not leprosy"), a clarification not present in the Hebrew text itself.