Leviticus 13:56

Summary

This verse addresses the case where the priest reexamines a mark of skin disease or mold and finds it has faded after the affected item was washed. Upon confirming this fading, the priest must physically remove (tear out) the affected section from the garment, leather, or woven material.

Key words

• ra'ah ("he has seen", H7200G) — qal perfect, marking the priest's completed act of examination that triggers the legal procedure.
• kehah ("it has become dull", H3543A) — piel perfect; the intensive stem indicates a marked change of state (the plague going from visible/active to faded), not merely a passive occurrence.
• hukabbes ("was washed out", H3526H) — an infinitive in a passive-type stem, expressing the prior action ("after being washed") that precedes and conditions the priest's finding.
• qara' ("he will tear", H7167) — qal sequential perfect; this verb continues the narrative chain begun by ra'ah, marking the priest's next required action once the fading is confirmed.
• ko.hen ("priest", H3548) — masculine singular noun with definite article, the sole grammatical subject who performs both the seeing and the tearing.

What the text says

The verse opens with the conditional particle 'im ("if", H0518A) governing two verbs in sequence: ra'ah ("he has seen") and kehah ("it has become dull"), joined by the presentative hinneh ("there!", H2009), which draws attention to the observed state of the nega' ("plague", H5061). The temporal clause 'acharei hukabbes 'oto ("after it was washed") uses the infinitive construction to place the washing as a prior, completed event relative to the priest's inspection. The narrative vav on qara' ("and he will tear") signals that this action is the direct legal consequence of the priest's finding, continuing the same verbal sequence rather than introducing a new independent clause.

The final section lists four possible materials — beged ("clothing", H0899B), 'or ("hide", H5785), sheti ("warp", H8359), and 'erev ("woof", H6154B) — each introduced by min ("from") and separated by 'o ("or"), specifying exactly where the affected section is to be cut regardless of the type of textile or leather involved.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew and the LXX both preserve the fourfold list of materials (garment/hide/warp/woof), matching closely in structure. The Vulgate, however, condenses this into "abrumpet eum, et a solido dividet" ("he shall break it off and divide it from the sound part"), omitting the explicit enumeration of beged, 'or, sheti, and 'erev found in the Hebrew and LXX.