What Does Leviticus 14:39 Mean in the King James?
And the priest shall come again the seventh day, and shall look: and, behold, if the plague be spread in the walls of the house;
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 plague’s movement through the walls, not its mere presence, is the sign worth returning to see.
THE MEANING
Assessment waits for a second look: after seven days, the priest returns and sees whether the affliction has spread through the house’s walls. The mark’s direction across time reveals whether the dwelling is being overtaken.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A first inspection tells the whole story.
THE ROOT
פָּשָׂה
pāsāh
GROWS FROM
פשה
pashah
To spread or extend outward.
“spread” in this verse is pāsāh. The same Hebrew verb describes a condition spreading across skin and spreading through a house. Its force is directional: the question is whether the mark stays contained or advances.
ALSO GROWS
pāsāh: Spread or extend.
פָּשָׂה
In Leviticus 13:5, this verb marks whether a skin condition advances or remains contained.
pāśōh: Spreading.
פָּשֹׂה
In Leviticus 13:7, this emphatic form intensifies the same outward advance across the skin.
וְשָׁב
veshav
GROWS FROM
שׁוב
shuv
To turn back or return.
“again” in this verse is veshav. The priest does not merely look twice; he returns after an interval. The root gives the inspection a turning motion, allowing what has changed to become visible.
ALSO GROWS
yashuv: He will return or turn back.
יָשׁוּב
The future return keeps the act of seeing open until the interval has passed.
meshuvah: Turning away; backsliding.
מְשׁוּבָה
The same root can name a turn away, showing that the direction of movement matters.
THE PATTERN
A condition becomes legible through its direction over time, as return and observation reveal whether it is advancing or changing.
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:But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.And should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how.THE THREAD
But if the scab spread much abroad in the skin, after that he hath been seen of the priest for his cleansing, he shall be seen of the priest again:The same Hebrew verb פָּשָׂה (pāsāh), “spread,” describes a condition extending across skin here and across a house’s walls in Leviticus 14:39. One word carries the movement across both body and dwelling: the mark’s reach is what comes into view.
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