Leviticus 13:49

Summary

The verse establishes a diagnostic criterion for a discoloration (nega', H5061) that appears greenish or reddish on clothing, leather, or woven material (warp and woof). If the mark shows these colors, it is classified as a tzara'at (H6883) affliction, and the item must be shown to the priest for examination.

Key words

• Nega' ("plague", H5061) — masculine singular noun, appears twice: first as the subject of the sentence (the mark itself), then in construct form nega' tzara'at ("plague of tzara'at"), naming the category the mark belongs to.
• yerakrak ("greenish", H3422) — masculine singular adjective describing the color/appearance of the nega'; a reduplicated form (root doubling) typical of Hebrew color-intensity adjectives.
• 'adamdam ("reddish", H0125) — masculine singular adjective, parallel in form to yerakrak, offering the second possible color for the mark.
• tzara'at ("a serious disease", H6883) — feminine singular noun; the classification term applied once color and location criteria are met.
• hara'ah ("it will be shown to", H7200G) — hophal (causative passive) verb, sequential perfect; grammatically marks that the item is caused to be seen by someone, implying an agent (the owner) not stated explicitly, with the priest as recipient of the action.

What the text says

The verse opens with the narrative vav (H9001) attached to hayah (H1961) in the sequential perfect, continuing a chain of case-law conditions from the preceding verses. The subject is ha-nega' (H5061, "the plague"), described by two adjectives, yerakrak (H3422) and 'adamdam (H0125), joined by the disjunctive 'o ("or", H0176A) — repeated seven times throughout the verse to list the possible locations: beged ("clothing", H0899B), 'or ("hide", H5785), sheti ("warp", H8359), 'erev ("woof", H6154B), and kol-keli-'or ("every article of hide", H3605+H3627+H5785). This repeated disjunction creates a list structure in which any one of the named materials qualifies for the ruling.

The clause nega' tzara'at hu' ("it is a plague of tzara'at") uses the construct chain nega' + tzara'at (H5061 + H6883) to classify the mark, with the independent pronoun hu' (H1931) reinforcing the identification ("it, [specifically]"). The final clause shifts to the hophal verb hara'ah (H7200G), a causative-passive form indicating that the item is brought to be seen, with ha-kohen (H3548, "the priest") marked by the direct object marker 'et (H0853) as the one to whom it is shown.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders yerakrak and 'adamdam with participial forms chlōrizousa ("becoming green") and pyrrizousa ("becoming red"), describing the mark as undergoing a color change rather than simply being green or red. The Vulgate uses alba ("white") instead of a term corresponding to "greenish," diverging from both the Hebrew yerakrak (H3422, "greenish") and the LXX's chlōrizousa, while retaining rufa ("red") for the second color. The Hebrew tzara'at (H6883) is rendered lepra in the Vulgate and lepras in the LXX, both using terms broader than a specific modern disease category.