What Does Leviticus 13:22 Mean in the King James?

And if it spread much abroad in the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean: it is a plague.

Leviticus 13:22 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

THE KEY

Hebrew repeats the root for “spread,” making expansion itself, not the mark’s mere presence, the trigger for the verdict.

THE MEANING

Here, visible expansion changes the reading: as the mark spreads across the skin, the priest pronounces the person unclean. The ruling follows what can be seen on the skin; it does not describe the person’s character.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

Being pronounced “unclean” here does not mean the person is morally corrupt; it names a ritual status tied to the visible change in the skin.

THE ROOT

פָּשֹׂה תִפְשֶׂה

pāśōh tiphśeh

GROWS FROM

פשה

to spread or extend

“spread abroad” in this verse is pāśōh tiphśeh. The verse uses two forms of the same root together: literally, “spreading, it spreads.” That repetition puts the focus on the condition’s movement across the skin.

ALSO GROWS

pāśōh: spreading; infinitive absolute

פָּשֹׂה

The form names the action before the verse repeats it as a finite verb.

tiphśeh: it spreads; imperfect

תִפְשֶׂה

Together, these forms emphasize the spread that determines the ruling.

נֶגַע

negaʿ

GROWS FROM

נגע

to touch, reach, or strike

The word translated “plague” is negaʿ, which can also mean a stroke or affliction. Its root connects the visible lesion with the idea of something that touches or strikes the body.

ALSO GROWS

nāgaʿ: touch or reach

נָגַע

This verbal form carries the root’s sense of contact.

negaʿ: stroke, lesion, or affliction

נֶגַע

This is the noun used here for the mark on the skin.

טִמֵּא

ṭimmēʾ

GROWS FROM

טמא

to be or render ritually impure

“unclean” in this verse is ṭimmēʾ. The priest’s verb and the status pronounced over the person come from the same root. The sentence links the act of declaring and the resulting ritual status without turning that status into a judgment on the person’s character.

ALSO GROWS

ṭāmēʾ: unclean

טָמֵא

This is the status assigned to the person.

ṭimmēʾ: declare or render unclean

טִמֵּא

This is the verb describing the priest’s ruling.

THE PATTERN

A condition is assessed by whether it stays contained or crosses its boundary and spreads.

And the priest shall look on him the seventh day: and, behold, if the plague in his sight be at a stay, and the plague spread not in the skin; then the priest shall shut him up seven days more:

Leviticus 13:5 · KJVWhen the mark remains contained, the priest continues to observe it rather than pronounce the person unclean.

And if the priest see that, behold, the scab spreadeth in the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean: it is a leprosy.

Leviticus 13:8 · KJVSpread across the skin changes the priest’s ruling, as it does in the verse being read.

Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?

1 Corinthians 5:6 · KJVThe leaven image shows a small beginning spreading until it affects the whole.

THE THREAD

And if the priest shall come in, and look upon it, and, behold, the plague hath not spread in the house, after the house was plaistered: then the priest shall pronounce the house clean, because the plague is healed.

Leviticus 14:48 · KJV

The same root ⁨פשה⁩ (pāśāh, “spread”) sets the threshold in both passages. Here, spread brings an unclean ruling; there, when the mark has not spread, the priest pronounces the house clean.

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