What Does Leviticus 14:35 Mean?

And the one who holds the house shall come and tell the priest, saying, It seems to me that something like a stroke is in the house.

Leviticus 14:35 · SDV

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.

This verse in the King James

King James wording

King James Version

And he that owneth the house shall come and tell the priest, saying, It seemeth to me there is as it were a plague in the house:

THE KEY

The verse gives uncertainty a precise voice: what appears is reported, while judgment is left to examination.

THE MEANING

A troubling sign in the place that shelters you can be spoken of as an appearance before it is treated as a settled diagnosis. What you see is real enough to report, while its source still awaits examination.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It undoes the belief that you must be certain before you can speak about what is wrong: the owner reports what appears to him, not a proven diagnosis.

THE ROOT

הִגִּיד

higgid

GROWS FROM

נגד

n-g-d

Make known, declare, bring into view.

The verb translated “tell” carries the sense of bringing something into view for another person. Related forms mean “before” or “in front of,” and “leader”; the owner places the troubling sign before the priest without claiming to judge it himself.

ALSO GROWS

nagad: Declare, tell, make known.

נָגַד

This is the root verb behind the owner’s report: what he sees becomes available to another.

neged: Before, in front of, opposite.

נֶגֶד

The report brings the condition before someone who can examine it.

nagid: Leader, ruler.

נָגִיד

This related form carries the sense of one who stands out or takes a leading position, echoing the act of bringing something into view.

נֶגַע

nega

GROWS FROM

נגע

n-g-ʿ

Touch, reach, strike; a stroke or affliction.

“stroke” in this verse is nega. Beneath “plague” is the image of something that has touched or marked the house. The owner reports where the nega appears without claiming to know its cause.

ALSO GROWS

naga: Touch, reach, strike.

נָגַע

The verb gives the affliction its sense of something that has reached or touched a surface.

nagua: Touched, stricken, afflicted.

נָגוּעַ

This form describes one bearing the mark of an affliction, close to the house bearing a nega.

נִרְאָה

nir'ah

GROWS FROM

ראה

r-ʾ-h

See, look, perceive.

“seemeth / appears” in this verse is nir'ah. The wording is literally an appearance to the speaker: the sign is seen by him, but is not yet a final determination of its source. Hebrew ties seeing to appearance itself, preserving the distinction between perception and judgment.

ALSO GROWS

ra'ah: See, look, perceive.

רָאָה

This is the basic act behind the owner’s careful statement: he reports what he sees.

mar'eh: Appearance, sight, vision.

מַרְאֶה

This related noun names what is visible, reinforcing that the report is about how the sign appears.

ro'eh: Seer, one who sees.

רֹאֶה

This form names the perceiver, keeping the speaker’s point of view present in his report.

THE PATTERN

A troubling condition moves toward response when it is brought into speech before those who can discern or tend it.

Then the priest shall command that they empty the house before the priest goes in to see the stroke, so that all that is in the house is not made soiled. Afterward the priest shall go in to see the house.

Leviticus 14:36 · SDVThe priest’s examination follows the report, allowing the suspected affliction to be inspected rather than presumed.

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."

Mark 1:40 · SDVThe afflicted man puts his condition into words before Jesus, bringing the need into an encounter where a response can follow.

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.

James 5:14 · SDVThe sick person calls the elders, and the condition enters a shared response through being voiced.

THE THREAD

I pour out my murmuring before him; I set forth my narrow place before him.

Psalm 142:2 · SDV

The Hebrew verb rendered “tell” here and “shewed” in the Psalm comes from the same root: make known, declare. In both verses, trouble becomes something spoken and placed before another; the shared root makes disclosure the bridge.

Read the SDV Bible.

Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.

Get Selah Verse

The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.

Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us