What Does Leviticus 13:36 Mean in the King James?
Then the priest shall look on him: and, behold, if the scall be spread in the skin, the priest shall not seek for yellow hair; he is unclean.
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
The spread of the detached patch is decisive enough that the priest no longer searches for yellow hair.
THE MEANING
The verse gives a clear threshold: when the scalp patch spreads across the skin, the search for yellow hair ends and the condition is named unclean.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the assumption that yellow hair must be found before the condition can be judged: visible spread alone is sufficient.
THE ROOT
נֶתֶק
neteq
GROWS FROM
נתק
n-t-q
to tear away, detach, or break loose
The Hebrew word for the scall, נֶתֶק (neteq, a detached or torn-away patch), comes from a root meaning to tear away. The verse then tracks whether that detached place spreads; once it does, yellow hair no longer needs to be sought.
ALSO GROWS
nāṯaq: to tear away or detach
נָתַק
The root gives the scalp patch a sense of separation, beyond its appearance as a skin mark.
waynatteq: he broke or tore apart
וַיְנַתֵּק
The same root describes Samson breaking the cords loose, connecting the scall’s name with something torn away.
THE PATTERN
When a condition visibly spreads, its spread can settle the diagnosis without a secondary sign.
And if the priest see that, behold, the scab spreadeth in the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean: it is a leprosy.And if it spread much abroad in the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean: it is a plague.And the priest shall look upon him the seventh day: and if it be spread much abroad in the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean: it is the plague of leprosy.THE THREAD
Now there were men lying in wait, abiding with her in the chamber. And she said unto him, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he brake the withs, as a thread of tow is broken when it toucheth the fire. So his strength was not known.The Hebrew word for “scall,” נֶתֶק (neteq, a detached or torn-away patch), comes from נתק (n-t-q, to tear away). Judges uses that same root for Samson breaking the cords; the shared root gives the skin patch a sense of separation, whose spread becomes the diagnostic sign.
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