Leviticus 14:8

Summary

Leviticus 14:8 describes a sequence of purification actions for a person recovering from a skin condition: washing garments, shaving all hair, bathing in water, and being declared pure — followed by a waiting period outside one's own tent for seven days before full re-entry into domestic life.

Key words

• khiBes ("he will wash", H3526H) — piel (intensive) sequential perfect; the intensive stem often marks thorough or repeated action, here applied to washing garments.
• mitaHer ("[one] purifying himself", H2891) — hithpael (reflexive) participle; grammatically marks the subject as the one undergoing/performing purification on himself, rather than being purified by another.
• gilLach ("he will shave", H1548) — piel sequential perfect, parallel in form to khiBes, continuing the same chain of intensive actions.
• taHer ("he will be pure", H2891) — qal (simple) sequential perfect; note this is the same root as mitaHer but in the simple stem, marking the resulting state of purity rather than the reflexive act.
• shiv'At yaMim ("seven of days", H7651 + H3117G) — construct chain, "seven of days," specifying the exact duration of the outside-tent period.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence is built as a chain of sequential perfect verbs (ve-prefixed forms functioning as narrative continuations): khiBes ("he will wash"), gilLach ("he will shave"), raChatz ("he will wash," H7364, qal), and taHer ("he will be pure"). This verb chain presents four actions as a linked sequence, each building on the prior one, typical of Hebrew procedural or legal instruction. The subject throughout is hamitaHer, "the one purifying himself" — a hithpael participle with the definite article, meaning the text names him by the very reflexive action he is undergoing before the sequence of khiBes/gilLach/raChatz/taHer is applied.

After the purification chain, the text shifts from perfect sequential forms to an imperfect verb, yaVo' ("he will come," H0935G), for entry into the camp, and then returns to sequential perfect with yaShav ("he will remain," H3427) for dwelling outside his tent. The phrase miChutz le'oholO ("from outside of his tent") uses two construct/preposition combinations to specify a location distinct from the camp itself — the person may enter the general camp but not yet his own tent, for a period marked by the construct phrase shiv'At yaMim ("seven of days").

Differences between versions

The LXX renders hamitaHer ("the one purifying himself," reflexive) as ὁ καθαρισθεὶς ("the one having been purified," passive), shifting the reflexive nuance of the Hebrew hithpael to a passive construction in Greek. The Vulgate similarly uses "purificatusque" (passive participle), aligning with the LXX's passive framing rather than the Hebrew's reflexive one. Additionally, where the Hebrew specifies remaining "outside his tent" (miChutz le'oholO), the LXX reads ἔξω τοῦ οἴκου αὐτοῦ ("outside his house"), using "house" (οἶκος) instead of "tent."