What Does Leviticus 13:3 Mean?
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.
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 the priest shall look on the plague in the skin of the flesh: and when the hair in the plague is turned white, and the plague in sight be deeper than the skin of his flesh, it is a plague of leprosy: and the priest shall look on him, and pronounce him unclean.THE KEY
The priest’s “look” and the plague’s “appearance” share one Hebrew root, making the verdict turn on what careful seeing actually discerns.
THE MEANING
A visible sign receives a name only after its details are read together: the mark, the whitened hair, and the appearance of depth. The priest looks before pronouncing the person unclean, so the verdict rests on a specific finding and still carries its full weight.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A visible mark by itself makes the person unclean. Here, the declaration follows particular signs examined together.
THE ROOT
רָאָה
ra’ah
GROWS FROM
ראה
r-ʾ-h
To see, look, or perceive; מַרְאֶה is sight or appearance.
“look upon” in this verse is ra’ah. The verb רָאָה (ra’ah), “look,” and the noun מַרְאֶה (mar’eh), “appearance,” belong to the same root family. English makes the priest’s act and the sign’s visible form sound separate, while Hebrew binds the diagnosis to what is seen.
ALSO GROWS
ra’ah: To see, look, or perceive.
רָאָה
The priest’s repeated act is careful seeing before he speaks the verdict.
mar’eh: Sight, appearance, or what is seen.
מַרְאֶה
The condition is discerned by how its appearance compares with the skin.
נֶגַע
negaʿ
GROWS FROM
נגע
n-g-ʿ
To touch or strike; as a noun, a touch, stroke, or affliction.
English “plague” names a condition; נֶגַע (negaʿ) also carries the sense of a stroke or touch. The shared root retains the image of an affliction that has struck the body, while the verse gives specific signs by which it is recognized.
ALSO GROWS
nagaʿ: To touch, reach, or strike.
נָגַע
The verb behind the noun keeps the bodily image of contact or impact present.
negaʿ: A touch, stroke, or affliction.
נֶגַע
This is the verse’s word for the condition the priest examines.
עָמֹק
ʿamoq
GROWS FROM
עמק
ʿ-m-q
To be deep or extend below the surface.
“deeper” in this verse is ʿamoq. The comparison is spatial: the appearance seems to reach below the skin. The root’s language of depth makes that detail part of the discernment, not merely a description of color.
ALSO GROWS
ʿomeq: Depth.
עֹמֶק
It names the dimension being compared with the skin’s surface.
heʿemiq: To deepen or make deep.
הֶעֱמִיק
This related form preserves the sense of something extending farther down.
THE PATTERN
Discernment gives a visible sign its name only after its particular details are examined.
If the shining spot is white in the skin of his flesh, and in its sight it is not deeper than the skin, and the hair in it has not turned white; then the priest shall shut in the one who has the stroke seven days;And it is told to you, and you hear it, and you search it out well, and behold, it is the truth, and the matter stands firm, that this thing the LORD recoils from is done in Israel.Do not judge by what the eye sees, but judge the judgment of alignment.THE THREAD
But the LORD said to Samuel, Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, for I have pushed him away. The LORD does not see as the human sees. The human sees what is outside, but the LORD sees the heart.Leviticus uses רָאָה (ra’ah), “look,” for the priest’s act and מַרְאֶה (mar’eh), “appearance,” for what he examines; both grow from the root ראה, “to see.” Samuel uses that same seeing-root for outward appearance and for the LORD’s sight of the heart, opening the question of what a given act of seeing can discern.
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