What Does Leviticus 13:59 Mean?
This is the instruction of the stroke of the striking in a garment of wool or linen, either in the warp, or in the weft, or in anything of skin, to declare it clear, or to declare it 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
This is the law of the plague of leprosy in a garment of woollen or linen, either in the warp, or woof, or any thing of skins, to pronounce it clean, or to pronounce it unclean.THE KEY
The verse’s “law” is Torah, direction for discernment, and it follows the mark past the skin into the fabric that covers it.
THE MEANING
This verse names a rule for examining a mark in wool, linen, woven cloth, or leather and deciding whether the item is clean or unclean. Its scope reaches beyond the body to the things that cover it. The mark calls for discernment wherever it appears.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A condition matters only when it appears on the body; this verse also gives the garment a status of its own.
THE ROOT
נֶגַע
negaʿ
GROWS FROM
נגע
n-g-ʿ
To touch, reach, or strike.
“stroke of the striking” in this verse is negaʿ. The KJV’s “plague” carries the additional root sense of contact and impact: נגע names both touching or reaching and a stroke or affliction. The shared seed links the garment’s mark with contact and impact, while the verse gives the textile its own clean or unclean verdict.
ALSO GROWS
nāgaʿ: To touch, reach, or strike.
נָגַע
This verb is translated “touch” in Genesis 20:6; its relation to נֶגַע links contact and affliction in one word family.
maggāʿ: Touch or contact.
מַגָּע
This noun keeps the root’s sense of contact visible beside the verse’s word for a plague or mark.
תּוֹרָה
torah
GROWS FROM
ירה
y-r-h
To direct or instruct; the root also carries the sense of throwing or pointing.
The word rendered “law” is תּוֹרָה, instruction that points a way. Here, that instruction has a concrete task: discern the condition of wool, linen, woven cloth, or leather.
ALSO GROWS
yārāh: To throw, point, or instruct.
יָרָה
Its sense of directing illuminates Torah as guidance for making a distinction.
mōreh: Teacher or instructor.
מוֹרֶה
This related word names one who directs or teaches, echoing the verse’s practical instruction.
טָהוֹר
ṭāhōr
GROWS FROM
טהר
ṭ-h-r
To be clean or pure; to cleanse.
“declare” in this verse is ṭāhōr. The word family holds both a clean state and the action of cleansing. In this verse, the textile receives a discernible status; “clean” is part of a judgment made about its condition.
ALSO GROWS
ṭāhēr: To be clean or to cleanse.
טָהֵר
The verb shows the active dimension inside the verse’s clean verdict.
ṭohŏrāh: Cleansing or purity.
טָהֳרָה
This noun names the condition toward which the clean classification points.
THE PATTERN
What surrounds the body can carry a condition of its own and be examined for its status.
And for the stroke of a garment, and of a house.Then Haggai said, If one who is unclean by a corpse touches any of these, shall it be unclean? And the priests answered and said, It shall be unclean.And deliver others with fear, snatching them out of the fire, hating even the tunic stained by the flesh.THE THREAD
And God said to him in a dream, Yes, I perceive that you did this with an unbroken heart. I also held you back from missing the mark against me, and therefore I did not let you touch her.In Genesis, the verb translated “touch” is נָגַע (nāgaʿ); here the garment’s “plague” is נֶגַע (negaʿ), from the same three-letter root נגע. Hebrew places touch and affliction in one word family, sharpening how this verse treats a mark on cloth as consequential.
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