Leviticus 14:54

Summary

The verse closes a section of legal material by stating that what has preceded constitutes the torah ("legal procedure", H8451) governing every case of tzara'at ("serious skin disease", H6883) and netek ("scall", H5424). It functions as a summary formula marking the end of a set of regulations.

Key words

• zot ("this", H2063) — feminine demonstrative pronoun pointing back to the preceding legal material, anchoring the formula as a retrospective summary.
• ha-Torah ("the legal [procedure]", H8451) — feminine singular noun with definite article; here torah denotes a specific body of procedural instruction rather than "law" in a general sense.
• khol ("every", H3605) — construct form meaning "every/all of," governing the noun that follows and signaling comprehensive scope ("every plague of...").
• nega' ("plague of", H5061) — masculine singular construct, linked directly to ha-tzara'at, forming the phrase "plague of the skin disease."
• netek ("scall", H5424) — masculine singular noun, joined by the conjunction ve- ("and") and preposition la- ("to/for the"), naming a second, distinct condition covered by the same torah.

What the text says

The sentence opens with the demonstrative zot ("this") followed immediately by the definite noun ha-Torah ("the legal procedure"), forming a nominal clause: "This [is] the legal procedure." No verb "to be" appears in the Hebrew; it is implied by the juxtaposition of subject and predicate, a common pattern in Biblical Hebrew nominal sentences.

The scope of this torah is defined by the prepositional phrase beginning with le-khol ("to every"), which governs the construct chain nega' ha-tzara'at ("plague of the skin disease"). The construct state links nega' tightly to tzara'at, presenting them as a single compound concept — "the plague/mark associated with the skin disease" — rather than two separate items. The clause then adds a second condition, netek ("scall"), joined by ve- ("and") and preceded by its own preposition la- ("to the"), indicating that the same body of instruction applies equally to this distinct affliction.

The repetition of the preposition (le- before khol and la- before netek) grammatically marks two applications of the same torah: one for the general category of tzara'at-related plagues, and one specifically for netek, treated as a related but separate condition under the same procedural heading.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders torah (H8451) as nomos ("law"), and the Vulgate as lex ("law"), both using terms broader than the Hebrew torah, which here specifically denotes a procedural instruction rather than law in a general legislative sense. The LXX also renders nega' ("plague of") as haphē ("touch/infection"), shifting the semantic emphasis slightly from "mark/plague" toward "contact" or "affection."