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Leviticus 13:11

in Leviticus 13

it is a chronic skin disease and the priest must pronounce him unclean. He need not isolate him, for he is unclean.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

it is an old leprosy in the skin of his flesh, and the priest shall pronounce him unclean: he shall not shut him up; for he is unclean.

KJV

It is an old leprosy in the skin of his flesh, and the priest shall pronounce him unclean, and shall not shut him up: for he is unclean.

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This verse in Leviticus 13

Commentary

5 notes on this verse

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

Several of these characteristics, taken separately, belong to other blemishes of the skin as well; so that none of them was to be taken alone, and it was only when the whole of them concurred that the Jewish priest, in his capacity of physician, was to pronounce the disease a malignant leprosy.

This site's exposition

When anyone develops a skin disease

on Leviticus 13:9-17

A man covered from head to foot is pronounced clean at verse 13, and raw flesh appearing on him makes him unclean at verse 14. What defiles is the living sore, whatever the extent of the whiteness.

This site's exposition

He need not isolate him

Older English versions render chronic as old, the word John Gill's heading keeps. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown say the priest pronounced only when all the signs concurred, and in verse 10 they all have. So the waiting weeks of verses 4 and 5 are skipped.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

Nor is there any surer indication of the badness of a man's spiritual state than the heart's rising in self-conceit, confidence in the flesh, and resistance of the reproofs of the word and strivings of the Spirit. If the eruption, whatever it was, covered all the skin from head to foot, it was no leprosy (

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens

It is an old leprosy in the skin of his flesh,....

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

On the verses either side of this one

AND IF THE LEPROSY BREAK OUT ABROAD IN THE SKIN, AND THE LEPROSY COVER ALL THE SKIN OF THE PLAGUE. It is clear from Ramban’s words further on, that he interpreted the Hebrew eth kol or hanega literally: “all the skin of the plague.
Ramban: Spain, 1194–1270 · Ramban on Leviticus 13:12:1, via Sefaria, Commentary on the Torah by Ramban (Nachmanides). Translated and annotated by Charles B. Chavel. New York, Shilo Pub. House, 1971-1976

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

12 Hebrew words

Every 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.

  • צָרַ֨עַת[is] a serious skin disease

    tzaraatH6883 →35 times

  • נוֹשֶׁ֤נֶתgrown old

    noshenetH3462 →

  • הִוא֙it

    hi'H1931 →1879 times

  • בְּע֣וֹרin [the] skin of

    beorH5785 →99 times

  • בְּשָׂר֔וֹflesh his

    besaroH1320 →270 times

  • וְטִמְּא֖וֹand he will declare unclean him

    vetimeoH2930 →162 times

  • הַכֹּהֵ֑ןthe priest

    hakohenH3548 →750 times

  • לֹ֣אnot

    lo'H3808 →5168 times

  • יַסְגִּרֶ֔נּוּhe will shut up him

    yasgirenuH5462 →91 times

  • כִּ֥יfor

    kiH3588 →4482 times

  • טָמֵ֖א[is] unclean

    tame'H2931 →88 times

  • הֽוּא׃he

    hu'H1931 →1879 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Where this verse is studied

About Leviticus

The Scapegoat, William Holman Hunt, 1854. Public domain.
The Scapegoat, William Holman Hunt, 1854. Public domain.
Leviticus: the study guide →Read Leviticus 13 →

This page draws on Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; 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.

Read on in Leviticus 13 →