What Does Leviticus 13:32 Mean?
And on the seventh day the priest shall look upon the stroke; and behold, if the crust does not spread, and there is in it no yellow hair, and the crust is not in its sight deeper than the skin;
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 in the seventh day the priest shall look on the plague: and, behold, if the scall spread not, and there be in it no yellow hair, and the scall be not in sight deeper than the skin;THE KEY
The diagnosis rests on three visible signs, spread, hair color, and depth, so the condition’s name alone does not settle what the body is showing.
THE MEANING
On the seventh day, the priest looks again at the scalp condition. Its spread, the presence of yellow hair, and its depth beneath the skin remain distinct signs, so the case is read from what is actually visible.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that a visible mark, by itself, tells the whole story.
THE ROOT
רָאָה
ra'ah
GROWS FROM
ראה
r-ʾ-h
to see, look, perceive
“look / in sight” in this verse is ra'ah. The Hebrew uses the seeing-root both for the priest’s act of looking and for the lesion’s visible appearance. That links the judgment to what can actually be seen: spread, hair color, and depth.
ALSO GROWS
ra'ah: to see, look at, perceive
רָאָה
This is the priest’s act of examining the condition.
mar'eh: the visible aspect of something
מַרְאֶה
The KJV’s “in sight” refers to the lesion’s appearance and how deeply it seems to reach.
נֶתֶק
neteq
GROWS FROM
נתק
n-t-q
to tear or pull away; to detach
“crust” in this verse is neteq. The condition-word neteq is linked to the root for tearing or pulling something loose, carrying an echo of separation at the hair-bearing surface. That root gives added texture to the verse’s close attention to hair and spread.
ALSO GROWS
nataq: to pull off, tear away, or detach
נָתַק
This verbal form gives the condition’s name an echo of loosening or separation.
neteq: a scalp condition
נֶתֶק
The word names the condition whose spread and hair color the priest examines.
THE PATTERN
Sound judgment waits for visible evidence to be examined before it settles a case.
And the judges shall search well; and, behold, if the witness is a witness of lies, and has answered a lie against his brother;The one who returns a word before he hears it, folly and shame are his.You will know them by their fruits. Do people gather grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles?THE THREAD
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.Leviticus 13:3 uses the same seeing-root in “look” and “in sight,” tying the verdict to visible signs. Here, that same pattern is applied to a scalp condition and its signs over time.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us