What Does Leviticus 14:39 Mean?
And the priest shall turn back on the seventh day, and shall look and see, if the stroke has spread in the walls of the house.
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 priest shall come again the seventh day, and shall look: and, behold, if the plague be spread in the walls of the house;THE KEY
The plague’s movement through the walls, not its mere presence, is the sign worth returning to see.
THE MEANING
Assessment waits for a second look: after seven days, the priest returns and sees whether the affliction has spread through the house’s walls. The mark’s direction across time reveals whether the dwelling is being overtaken.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A first inspection tells the whole story.
THE ROOT
פָּשָׂה
pāsāh
GROWS FROM
פשה
pashah
To spread or extend outward.
“spread” in this verse is pāsāh. The same Hebrew verb describes a condition spreading across skin and spreading through a house. Its force is directional: the question is whether the mark stays contained or advances.
ALSO GROWS
pāsāh: Spread or extend.
פָּשָׂה
In Leviticus 13:5, this verb marks whether a skin condition advances or remains contained.
pāśōh: Spreading.
פָּשֹׂה
In Leviticus 13:7, this emphatic form intensifies the same outward advance across the skin.
וְשָׁב
veshav
GROWS FROM
שׁוב
shuv
To turn back or return.
“turn back” in this verse is veshav. The priest does not merely look twice; he returns after an interval. The root gives the inspection a turning motion, allowing what has changed to become visible.
ALSO GROWS
yashuv: He will return or turn back.
יָשׁוּב
The future return keeps the act of seeing open until the interval has passed.
meshuvah: Turning away; backsliding.
מְשׁוּבָה
The same root can name a turn away, showing that the direction of movement matters.
THE PATTERN
A condition becomes legible through its direction over time, as return and observation reveal whether it is advancing or changing.
And the priest shall look upon him on the seventh day; and behold, if the stroke in its sight stands, and the stroke has not spread in the skin; then the priest shall shut him in seven days more;But the path of the aligned is like gleaming light, walking and shining until the day stands firm.and he sleeps and wakes night and day, and the seed sprouts and stretches up, and he does not know how.THE THREAD
But if the scab spreads far in the skin, after he has been seen by the priest for his cleansing, he shall be seen by the priest again;The same Hebrew verb פָּשָׂה (pāsāh), “spread,” describes a condition extending across skin here and across a house’s walls in Leviticus 14:39. One word carries the movement across both body and dwelling: the mark’s reach is what comes into view.
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