Leviticus 13:1
in Leviticus 13Then the LORD said to Moses and Aaron,
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And Jehovah spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying,
KJV
And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron, saying,
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This verse in Leviticus 13
Commentary
3 notes on this verseThis site's exposition
the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron
on Leviticus 13:1-3
The chapter puts a priest where a reader expects a physician and gives him nothing to prescribe. The word rendered leprosy occurs here for the first time in Scripture, and the Hebrew tsara'ath covers a range of skin conditions wider than the disease that carries the English name now. Across fifty-nine verses the priest looks or sees seventeen times and no treatment is ordered anywhere, so his whole office here is to decide and to say.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
And the Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron,....
Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean, which was more than the priests could do, Matt. viii. Some think that the leprosy signified, not so much sin in general as a state of sin, by which men are separated from God (their spot not being the spot of God's children), and scandalous sin, for which men are to be shut out from the communion of the faithful.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
Because it is according to the word of the priest that every strife and every plague shall be, 46 Deuteronomy:5.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 6 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
7 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיְדַבֵּ֣ר | vaydaber | and he spoke | H1696 → | 1141 times |
| יְהוָ֔ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| אֶל־ | ʾel- | to | H413 → | 5510 times |
| מֹשֶׁ֥ה | mosheh | Moses | H4872 → | 765 times |
| וְאֶֽל־ | veel- | and to | H413 → | 5510 times |
| אַהֲרֹ֖ן | ʾaharon | Aaron | H175 → | 347 times |
| לֵאמֹֽר׃ | lemor | <to> saying | H559 → | 5305 times |
וַיְדַבֵּ֣רand he spoke
vaydaberH1696 →1141 times
יְהוָ֔הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
אֶל־to
ʾel-H413 →5510 times
מֹשֶׁ֥הMoses
moshehH4872 →765 times
וְאֶֽל־and to
veel-H413 →5510 times
אַהֲרֹ֖ןAaron
ʾaharonH175 →347 times
לֵאמֹֽר׃<to> saying
lemorH559 →5305 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Leviticus
Who and where
2 names in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.