What Does Leviticus 13:44 Mean?
He is a stricken man; he is soiled. The priest shall declare him soiled through; his stroke is in his head.
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
He is a leprous man, he is unclean: the priest shall pronounce him utterly unclean; his plague is in his head.THE KEY
The affliction is located in the head, while “unclean” is the priest’s declared status.
THE MEANING
The man’s affliction is present on his head, and the priest pronounces him unclean; both the condition and its status are stated plainly. The verse holds the bodily mark and the ruling together without softening either.
THE ROOT
נִגְעוֹ
nigʿo
GROWS FROM
נגע
n-g-ʿ
To touch or strike; as a noun, a stroke or affliction.
“plague” in this verse is nigʿo. The word נֶגַע (negaʿ, “stroke” or “affliction”) carries the concrete force of a touch or strike. Here the affliction is pinned to the head, while the priest’s declaration names its status.
ALSO GROWS
nāgaʿ: To touch, reach, or strike.
נָגַע
This verb supplies the movement beneath the noun: the affliction is a mark of impact.
negaʿ: A stroke, mark, or affliction.
נֶגַע
This noun names the condition located in the man’s head.
טָמֵא
ṭāmēʾ
GROWS FROM
טמא
ṭ-m-ʾ
To be unclean, especially in ritual status.
“soiled through” in this verse is ṭāmēʾ. The Hebrew line repeats this root: the man is unclean, and the priest declares him unclean. That repetition gives the ruling emphatic force, while the separate word for the affliction identifies its location.
ALSO GROWS
ṭumʾāh: Uncleanness or ritual impurity.
טֻמְאָה
This noun names the status stated over the man.
yəṭamməʾennû: He shall declare him unclean.
יְטַמְּאֶנּוּ
The priest’s ruling repeats the same root, making the status explicit.
THE PATTERN
A visible bodily condition is observed, named, and given an explicit status.
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.And the cloud turned aside from over the tent, and look, Miriam was leprous, white as snow. And Aaron turned toward Miriam, and look, she was leprous.And it happened, while he was in one of the towns, and look, a man full of leprosy. And when he saw Jesus, he fell upon his face and begged him, saying, Lord, if you will, you are able to make me clean.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 word translated “plague” for the mark the priest inspects, then repeats the declaration of uncleanness. It opens this verse as the succinct outcome of an examination: the affliction is in view, and its status is spoken.
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