What Does Leviticus 13:29 Mean?
If a man or a woman has a stroke upon the head or the beard;
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
If a man or woman have a plague upon the head or the beard;THE KEY
The Hebrew word for “plague” grows from the root for touch or strike, naming a mark that has come upon a particular place on the body.
THE MEANING
A bodily mark appears on the head or beard, and the verse names its location precisely. That specific place becomes the starting point for examining what is present.
THE ROOT
נֶגַע
negaʿ
GROWS FROM
נגע
To touch, reach, come upon, or strike.
“stroke” in this verse is negaʿ. The word translated “plague” shares its root with the verb for touching or striking. It presents the condition as a mark that has come upon the body, then names exactly where it appears: the head or beard.
ALSO GROWS
nagaʿ: To touch, reach, or strike.
נָגַע
This verb gives “plague” its sense of a mark or stroke that has come upon the body.
naguaʿ: Affected or stricken.
נָגוּעַ
This related form keeps the connection between affliction and something that has touched or struck.
THE PATTERN
A condition is discerned by examining its observable signs and location.
Then the priest shall look upon the stroke; and behold, if it is in its sight deeper than the skin, and there is in it a yellow thin hair; then the priest shall declare him soiled; it is a dry crust, even a striking upon the head or the beard.For every tree is known by its own fruit. For people do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they gather grapes from a bramble bush.Test everything, and hold fast to what is good.THE THREAD
Then the priest shall look upon the stroke; and behold, if it is in its sight deeper than the skin, and there is in it a yellow thin hair; then the priest shall declare him soiled; it is a dry crust, even a striking upon the head or the beard.Verse 30 repeats נֶגַע (negaʿ, “plague”) and gives observable criteria for the mark: whether it appears deeper than the skin and whether a yellow hair is present. The named location in verse 29 is the beginning of a closer examination.
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