What Does Leviticus 13:22 Mean?
And if it spreads far in the skin, then the priest shall declare him soiled; it is a stroke.
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
And if it spread much abroad in the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean: it is a plague.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 upon him on the seventh day; and behold, if the stroke in its sight stands, and the stroke has not spread in the skin; then the priest shall shut him in seven days more;And if the priest sees that, behold, the scab spreads in the skin, then the priest shall declare him soiled; it is a striking.Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?THE THREAD
And if the priest comes in, and looks upon it, and sees that the stroke has not spread in the house after the house was plastered, then the priest shall make the house clean, because the stroke is healed.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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