What Does Leviticus 14:56 Mean in the King James?
And for a rising, and for a scab, and for a bright spot:
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 word for “rising” belongs to the Hebrew family of lifting and bearing, so a raised mark shares its root with the language of carrying.
THE MEANING
The verse names three distinct changes on the skin: a raised swelling, a scab, and a bright patch. Each has its own word, so the body’s visible condition is not one blur but a set of particular signs.
THE ROOT
שְׂאֵת
se'et
GROWS FROM
נשא
n-s-ʾ
to lift, carry, bear
The noun for “rising” comes from the same lift-and-carry family as נשא (nasa). Its wider family also speaks of bearing, a kinship the English label does not show.
ALSO GROWS
nasa: to lift, carry, bear
נָשָׂא
This verb makes the lifting and bearing senses of the root explicit.
massa: a load or burden
מַשָּׂא
This word for a load belongs to the same family, joining the sense of what is lifted with what is carried.
סַפַּחַת
sappachat
GROWS FROM
ספח
s-p-ḥ
to join, attach, add
The noun for “scab” sits in a root-family for joining or attaching. Its name carries the sense of something adhering to the skin alongside its visible form.
ALSO GROWS
saphach: to join, attach, add
סָפַח
In 1 Samuel 2:36 this verb has the sense of being attached to a group, showing the root’s wider use.
sappachat: a scab or scurf
סַפַּחַת
The skin condition named here carries the same root-family sense of attachment.
THE PATTERN
A condition on the body becomes legible through its particular visible form.
When a man shall have in the skin of his flesh a rising, a scab, or bright spot, and it be in the skin of his flesh like the plague of leprosy; then he shall be brought unto Aaron the priest, or unto one of his sons the priests:And it came to pass, when he was in a certain city, behold a man full of leprosy: who seeing Jesus fell on his face, and besought him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.THE THREAD
Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.The Hebrew noun behind “rising” belongs to נשא (nasa), the same root rendered “borne” in Isaiah. A raised mark and the carrying of grief resonate through one Hebrew family of lifting and bearing.
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