Leviticus 13 - Common English Bible (CEB)

Diagnosis of skin disease

13 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ² When a person has a swelling, a scab, or a shiny spot on their skin, and it becomes an infection of skin disease^[a] on their skin, they will be brought to the priests, either to Aaron or one of his sons. ³ The priest will examine the infection on the skin. If hair in the infected area has turned white and the infection appears to be deeper than the skin, then it is an infection of skin disease. Once the priest sees this, he will declare the person unclean. ⁴ But if the shiny spot on the skin is white and does not appear to be deeper than the skin and the hair has not turned white, the priest will quarantine the infected person for seven days. ⁵ On the seventh day the priest will again examine the infection. If he sees that it has remained the same—the infection has not spread on the skin—the priest will quarantine the person for seven more days. ⁶ On the seventh day the priest will examine it again. If the infection has faded and has not spread over the skin, the priest will declare the person clean; it is just a rash. The person must wash their clothes, then they will be clean again. ⁷ But if the rash continues to spread over the skin after they appeared before the priest for purification, they must again show themselves to the priest. ⁸ If the priest sees that the rash has spread over the skin, the priest will declare the person unclean; it is a case of skin disease.

⁹ Whenever someone has an infection of skin disease, they will be brought to the priest. ¹⁰ If the priest sees that there is a white swelling on the skin, it has turned the hair white, and there is a patch of raw flesh in the swelling, ¹¹ then it is a case of chronic skin disease on their skin. The priest will declare the person unclean. The priest will not quarantine such persons, because they are already unclean. ¹² But if the skin disease continues to break out so that the disease covers all of the infected person’s skin from head to toe, as far as the priest can tell— ¹³ then the priest will make an examination. If the skin disease has covered the person’s whole body, the priest will declare the infected person clean. The person has turned entirely white; he is clean. ¹⁴ But as soon as raw flesh appears in the swelling, they will be unclean. ¹⁵ When the priest sees the raw flesh, he will declare the person unclean. Raw flesh is unclean; it is a case of skin disease. ¹⁶ But if the raw flesh turns white again, the person will go back to the priest. ¹⁷ The priest will examine it. If the infection has turned white, the priest will declare the infected person clean; at that point, the person is clean.

¹⁸ Whenever someone has a boil on their skin, it heals, ¹⁹ and in place of the boil there is a white swelling or reddish-white shiny spot, it must be shown to the priest. ²⁰ If the priest sees that it appears to be lower than the skin, and its hair has turned white, the priest will declare the person unclean. It is an infection of skin disease that has broken out in the boil. ²¹ But if the priest examines it and there is no white hair in it, it is not lower than the skin, and it is faded, the priest will quarantine the person seven days. ²² If it continues to spread over the skin, the priest will declare the person unclean; it is an infection. ²³ But if the shiny spot remains where it was and does not spread, it is just a scar from the boil. The priest will declare the person clean.

²⁴ Whenever there is a burn on someone’s skin, and the raw patch of the burn becomes a reddish-white or white shiny spot, ²⁵ the priest will examine it. If the hair has turned white in the shiny spot, and it appears to be deeper than the skin, it is a case of skin disease that has broken out in the burn. The priest will declare the person unclean; it is an infection of skin disease. ²⁶ But if the priest examines it, and there is no white hair in the shiny spot, it is not lower than the skin, and it is faded, the priest will quarantine the person seven days. ²⁷ On the seventh day the priest will again examine it. If it has continued to spread over the skin, the priest will declare the person unclean; it is an infection of skin disease. ²⁸ But if the shiny spot remains where it was, has not spread over the skin, and is faded, it is just swelling from the burn. The priest will declare the person clean, because it is just the scar from the burn.

²⁹ Whenever a man or woman has an infection, whether on the head or in the beard, ³⁰ the priest will examine it. If it appears to be deeper than the skin, and there is thin yellow hair in it, the priest will declare the person unclean; it is a case of scabies—a skin disease of the head or beard. ³¹ When the priest examines the scabies infection, if it does not appear to be deeper than the skin, but there is no black hair in it, the priest will quarantine the person with the scabies infection for seven days. ³² On the seventh day the priest will examine the infection again. If the scabies has not spread, there is no yellow hair in it, and it does not appear to be deeper than the skin, ³³ the person must shave the area, without shaving the scabies. The priest will then quarantine that person another seven days. ³⁴ On the seventh day the priest will again examine the scabies. If it has not spread over the skin and does not appear to be deeper than the skin, the priest will declare the person clean. They must wash their clothes; then they will be clean again. ³⁵ But if the scabies continues to spread over the skin after the person’s purification, ³⁶ the priest must examine it again. If the scabies has spread over the skin at all, the priest does not need to look for the yellow hair; the person is unclean. ³⁷ But if the priest sees that the scabies has remained the same, and black hair has grown in it, the scabies has healed. The person is clean, and the priest will declare them to be so.

³⁸ Whenever a man or woman has many white shiny spots on their skin, ³⁹ if the priest sees that there are faded white shiny spots on the skin of the body, it is just a rash that has broken out on the skin; the person is clean.

⁴⁰ If someone loses their hair, they are bald, but they are clean. ⁴¹ If the hair is lost at the sides of the forehead, the person has a receding hairline, but they are clean. ⁴² But whenever there is a reddish-white infection in the bald spot or in the receding hairline, it is a case of skin disease breaking out there. ⁴³ The priest must examine it. If the swelling of the infection is reddish white in the bald spot or receding hairline and resembles skin disease on the body, ⁴⁴ the person is afflicted with skin disease; they are unclean. The priest must declare them unclean on account of the head infection.

⁴⁵ Anyone with an infection of skin disease must wear torn clothes, dishevel their hair, cover their upper lip, and shout out, “Unclean! Unclean!” ⁴⁶ They will be unclean as long as they are infected. They are unclean. They must live alone outside the camp.

Articles with skin disease

⁴⁷ Whenever there is an infection of skin disease on clothing—on wool or linen clothing, ⁴⁸ in the weaving of the linen or wool, or on a skin or skin item— ⁴⁹ and the infection is greenish or reddish on the clothing, the weaving, or the skin or skin item, it is an infection of skin disease. It must be shown to the priest. ⁵⁰ The priest will examine the infection and quarantine the infected item seven days. ⁵¹ On the seventh day he will examine the infection again. If the infection has spread in the clothing, the weaving, or the skin, whatever it is used for, the infection is a case of infectious skin disease; the item is unclean. ⁵² The priest will burn the clothing, the weaving of the wool or linen, or whatever skin item in which the infection was found, because it is an infectious skin disease; it must be burned with fire.

⁵³ But if the priest sees that the infection has not spread in the clothing, the weaving, or on any skin item, ⁵⁴ the priest will order that the infected piece be washed, and he will quarantine it for another seven days. ⁵⁵ After it has been washed, if the priest sees that the infection has not changed its appearance, even though the infection has not spread, it is unclean. You must burn it with fire. It is a fungus,^[b] whether it is on the inside or outside.

⁵⁶ But if, after it is washed, the priest sees that the infection has faded, he will tear the infected part out of the cloth, the weaving, or the skin. ⁵⁷ If it appears again in the cloth, the weaving, or any item of skin, it is starting to break out. You must burn the infected item with fire. ⁵⁸ But if the infection disappears from the cloth, the weaving, or any item of skin that you washed, it must be washed again. Then it will be clean.

⁵⁹ This concludes the Instruction about the infection of skin disease in a woolen or linen cloth, weaving, or any skin item, in order to declare whether it is clean or unclean.

Footnotes

1. Leviticus 13:2 The precise meaning is uncertain; traditionally leprosy—a term used for several different skin diseases.
2. Leviticus 13:55 Heb uncertain