What Does Leviticus 13:9 Mean?
When the stroke of the striking is in a man, then he shall be brought to the priest;
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
When the plague of leprosy is in a man, then he shall be brought unto the priest;THE KEY
The affliction is a touch that has landed on a person, but the person is brought into discernment rather than reduced to the mark.
THE MEANING
When an affliction is within a person, the verse brings it into the priest’s presence. The Hebrew word for “plague” carries the sense of a touch or strike, while “he shall be brought” uses a verb of coming: what has touched the body enters a place of discernment.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that an affliction is its own verdict: the condition is brought to the priest to be examined.
THE ROOT
נֶגַע
negaʿ
GROWS FROM
נגע
Touch, reach, or strike; as a noun, a stroke or affliction.
“stroke of the striking” in this verse is negaʿ. The English word “plague” can sound like a category imposed from outside, but נֶגַע (negaʿ, stroke or affliction) grows from נגע (nagaʿ, touch or strike). The word keeps the sense of an impact that has reached the body, and the verse brings that condition into the priest’s sight.
ALSO GROWS
nāgaʿ: Touch, reach, strike
נָגַע
The verb holds the contact inside the noun: the affliction is something that has touched or reached the person.
nāgûaʿ: Affected, stricken
נָגוּעַ
This related form describes someone as affected or stricken, keeping the focus on what has happened to the person rather than making the affliction their identity.
וְהוּבָא
vehûvāʾ
GROWS FROM
בוא
bôʾ
Come, enter; in this passive form, be brought or made to enter.
“He shall be brought” comes from בוא (bôʾ, come or enter). The verse describes more than moving a person from one place to another: the affliction enters the priest’s presence, where it can be examined.
ALSO GROWS
bōʾ: Come, enter
בּוֹא
The verb behind “brought” centers the movement on entering a presence.
māvoʾ: Entrance, approach
מָבוֹא
This noun from the same root names a way in, echoing the verse’s movement toward the priest.
THE PATTERN
A condition within a person is brought into a discerning presence where it can be named and met.
When a man has in the skin of his flesh a lifting, a scab, or a shining spot, and it is in the skin of his flesh like the stroke of the striking; then he shall be brought to Aaron the priest, or to one of his sons the priests;And a leper came to him, pleading with him, falling to his knees before him, and saying, "If you will, you are able to make me clean."Is anyone among you without strength? Let him call to himself the older ones of the assembly, and let them pray over him, rubbing him with oil in the nature of the LORD.THE THREAD
And the LORD struck Pharaoh and his house with great blows, because of Sarai, Abram's wife.“Plagued” and “plague” share the Hebrew root נגע (nagaʿ, touch or strike), which links an affliction to the impact that reaches someone. Genesis makes the force of that impact explicit; Leviticus shows the person bearing it brought before the priest.
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