Leviticus 14:36

Summary

The priest orders that the house be emptied before he enters to examine the plague-mark, so that nothing inside the house becomes ritually unclean. Only after this emptying does the priest return to inspect the house itself.

Key words

• tzivvah ("he will command", H6680) — piel sequential perfect; the priest is the subject giving an intensive/causative command, initiating the procedure.
• pinnu ("people will make clear", H6437G) — piel sequential perfect, third person plural; an unspecified group (not the priest) performs the act of clearing out the house.
• terem ("before", H2962) — introduces a temporal clause marking that the clearing happens prior to the priest's entry.
• yitma' ("it will be unclean", H2930A) — qal imperfect; describes a potential future state of uncleanness that the prior clearing is meant to prevent.
• achar ken ("after thus/after this", H0310A + H3651C) — construct phrase marking the second temporal stage, contrasting with terem and structuring the verse into a clear before/after sequence.

What the text says

The verse is built around two temporal markers, terem ("before") and achar ken ("after this"), which divide the action into two stages separated by the priest's entry to see the nega' ("plague", H5061). In the first stage, the priest (ha-kohen, H3548) issues a command (tzivvah), but the actual emptying of the house is performed by a grammatically distinct group, expressed through the third-person plural verb pinnu. The Hebrew does not identify who this "they" are — the text simply shifts from the priest's singular command to a plural action, implying that others (occupants or assistants) carry out the physical task.

The clause ve-lo yitma' kol asher ba-bayit ("and all that is in the house shall not become unclean") states the purpose of the emptying: whatever objects were inside the house are protected from acquiring uncleanness once the priest formally examines the afflicted house. Only after this — marked by achar ken, a construct phrase literally "after so" — does the priest reenter, this time not to see the nega' specifically but to see ha-bayit ("the house", H1004B) as a whole, using the same infinitive lir'ot ("to see", H7200G) as in the first visit. The repetition of lir'ot with two different objects (ha-nega' vs. ha-bayit) marks a shift in the scope of inspection between the two stages.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders pinnu with ἀποσκευάσαι ("to remove belongings"), making explicit that the objects are to be carried out, a nuance the Hebrew leaves in a general plural verb without a specified object of removal. The Vulgate similarly specifies "efferant universa de domo" ("that they carry out all things from the house"), adding the direct object "everything" not stated in the Hebrew verb pinnu itself.