What Does Leviticus 13:11 Mean?
It is an old striking in the skin of his flesh, and the priest shall declare him soiled, and shall not shut him in; for he is soiled.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
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.THE KEY
The Hebrew word for “old” shares its root with “sleep,” marking this condition as long-established enough to name without another period of confinement.
THE MEANING
The condition is already established: the priest names the person unclean and does not keep him shut away for another inspection. The ruling recognizes what is present rather than making it so.
THE ROOT
נוֹשֶׁנֶת
noshenet
GROWS FROM
ישן
To sleep; to be or become old, long-standing.
The Hebrew for “old” belongs to the same root as a word for “sleep.” Here it marks the condition as long-established, not something still awaiting another period of observation.
ALSO GROWS
yāshēn: Sleeping.
יָשֵׁן
This branch shares the root behind “old,” keeping the Hebrew’s connection between sleep and age audible.
yāshān: Old or long-established.
יָשָׁן
This branch clarifies that the condition is described as established over time.
יַסְגִּרֶנּוּ
yasgirennu
GROWS FROM
סגר
To close, shut, or enclose.
“shut in” in this verse is yasgirennu. The same root can describe closing someone in or holding them under observation. The verse distinguishes that confinement from the act of naming a condition that is already clear.
ALSO GROWS
sāgar: To shut or close.
סָגַר
The basic sense makes the verse’s image of keeping someone enclosed concrete.
hisgîr: To confine or shut someone in.
הִסְגִּיר
This form is used for the priest’s period of observation in this chapter; here, that confinement is not continued.
THE PATTERN
When signs are fully manifest, the condition can be named by what is already visible.
And the priest shall look upon the stroke in the skin of the flesh; and when the hair in the stroke has turned white, and the stroke in its sight is deeper than the skin of his flesh, it is a stroke of the striking; and the priest shall look upon him, and declare him soiled.Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree rotten and its fruit rotten, for the tree is known by its fruit.THE THREAD
I lie down and sleep; I wake, for the LORD bears my weight.“Slept” translates וָאִישָׁנָה (wāʾîšānāh, “I slept”), from the same root as “old” in Leviticus. The shared root holds both sleeping and being long-established, revealing a connection English leaves hidden.
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