What Does Leviticus 13:58 Mean?
And the garment, whether warp or weft, or whatever thing of skin it is, which you shall wash, if the stroke has turned aside from them, then it shall be washed a second time, and shall be clean.
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 garment, either warp, or woof, or whatsoever thing of skin it be, which thou shalt wash, if the plague be departed from them, then it shall be washed the second time, and shall be clean.THE KEY
The affliction’s departure and the garment’s cleanness are two separate events: what leaves is followed by a second washing.
THE MEANING
This verse presents restoration as a sequence: first the affliction has departed, then the garment is washed again, and only then is it called clean. The lifting of the affliction and the renewed condition of cleanness remain distinct. Completion comes through that second washing.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that the end of an affliction automatically means restoration is complete. Here the affliction departs first, and cleanness follows another washing.
THE ROOT
נֶגַע
negaʿ
GROWS FROM
נגע
touch, reach, or strike
“stroke” in this verse is negaʿ. The word translated “plague” belongs to a root that also describes touching or striking, giving the affliction a concrete sense of impact. In this verse, that affliction departs before the garment is laundered again and declared clean.
ALSO GROWS
nāgaʿ: to touch, reach, or strike
נָגַע
This verb reveals the physical force held within the word for affliction.
nāgûaʿ: struck, affected, or afflicted
נָגוּעַ
This form describes something bearing the effect of the impact.
negaʿ: affliction, lesion, or plague
נֶגַע
The word names the condition that must depart before the garment can be declared clean.
כָּבַס
kābas
GROWS FROM
כבס
launder or wash textiles
“wash” in this verse is kābas. The verse uses the root for laundering clothing, not a general word for washing. Its second use comes after the affliction has departed, so the laundering act and the lifting of the affliction are distinct movements.
ALSO GROWS
kibbēs: laundered or washed clothing
כִּבֵּס
This form names the textile-cleaning action repeated after the affliction departs.
kōbēs: launderer or fuller
כֹּבֵס
This related word keeps the root grounded in the work of cleaning cloth.
טָהֵר
ṭāhēr
GROWS FROM
טהר
be clean or pure
The root names the clean condition reached after the washing, while כבס names the laundering act. Psalm 51:2 uses these same roots together for a person, showing that the pairing of washing and cleanness extends beyond fabric.
ALSO GROWS
ṭāhôr: clean or pure
טָהוֹר
This adjective names the condition the garment reaches.
ṭohŏrāh: cleanness or purification
טָהֳרָה
This noun carries the root’s sense of a state of purity.
THE PATTERN
Restoration is marked by a distinct cleansing movement that follows the lifting of an affliction.
Then he went down and immersed himself seven times in Jordan, according to the word of the man of God. And his flesh returned like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.Tread me thoroughly clean of my crookedness, and cleanse me of my falling short.THE THREAD
Tread me thoroughly clean of my crookedness, and cleanse me of my falling short.Psalm 51:2 uses the same roots as Leviticus 13:58: כבס (kābas, launder) and טהר (ṭāhēr, be clean). The pairing carries the movement from washing to cleanness from a garment into a human voice.
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