Leviticus 13

God gives Moses and Aaron careful rules for the priest to examine skin conditions and spots of mildew in cloth and leather. The priest does not heal; he looks, waits, and declares a person or an object clean or unclean. The aim is to protect the camp and keep God’s people whole and fit to approach him.

Leviticus 13:1

The LORD speaks to both Moses and Aaron. Moses brings God’s word, and Aaron’s family will carry out the work. God does not leave the community to guess about disease. He gives his people clear instructions through the men he appointed.

BSA: Aaron (“the first high priest, brother of Moses”): The priest’s office is the center of this chapter, since only a priest may judge these cases.

Leviticus 13:2

Any swelling, rash, or bright spot that might turn into serious disease must be shown to a priest. The person does not diagnose himself or hide it. The priest is the appointed judge, and any priest in Aaron’s family may serve.

BSA: infectious skin disease (“like the plague of leprosy, a dreaded disease”): The word covers a range of serious skin conditions and is not exactly what we call leprosy today.

Hebrew: צָרַעַת (tsaraʿat, H6883) — “a serious, spreading skin disease.” This one Hebrew word covers more than modern leprosy. It is used for skin disease and, later in the chapter, for mildew in cloth. It marks anything that eats away and defiles.

See also: Mark 1:44.

Leviticus 13:3

The priest looks for clear signs: white hair in the sore and a sore that lies deeper than the skin. Together these show the trouble is more than surface deep. If he finds them, he declares the person unclean.

BSA: unclean (“impure, separated from community”): Being unclean meant being cut off from normal life and from worship until the condition was resolved.

Hebrew: טָמֵא (tamē, H2930) — “unclean, ceremonially impure.” This is a status word, not a moral charge. A person pronounced unclean was not called a sinner but was kept from the community and the sanctuary.

Leviticus 13:4-5

If the spot looks shallow and the hair is not white, the priest does not rush. He confines the person for seven days, then looks again, and may repeat the wait. Time is allowed to show what the condition really is.

BSA: isolate (“shut up, separate”): The person is shut away, which protects the community while the matter is settled.

Hebrew: הִסְגִּיר (hisgir, H5462) — “he shut up, confined.” The word means to close in or shut up. It is a patient holding period, not a verdict.

Leviticus 13:6

If after the second week the sore has faded and not spread, the priest declares the person clean. It was only a rash. The person washes his clothes and returns to normal life, with the priest’s word as his assurance.

BSA: wash (“cleanse, purify”): The washing marks a fresh start, a visible step back into the community.

See also: Leviticus 14:8-9.

Leviticus 13:7-8

If the rash spreads after the person has been declared clean, he must go back to the priest. A spreading rash shows real disease, and the priest then declares him unclean. The first verdict was honest, and a later change is honestly dealt with.

BSA: spreads (“abroad, greatly”): Spreading is the main sign that a condition is not harmless.

Leviticus 13:9-11

A white swelling, white hair, and raw flesh show an established disease. Here the priest need not isolate the person for a waiting period, because the signs already settle the matter. He is declared unclean.

BSA: chronic (“old”): The disease is long settled in the body, so there is nothing left to wait and watch for.

Leviticus 13:12-13

A surprising rule: if the disease has turned the whole body white, the person is declared clean. The disease has run its course and is no longer breaking out. The rule shows that the test was about active, spreading disease, not simply about appearance.

BSA: clean (“pure, ceremonially clean”): The word is used in a ritual sense, meaning the person may rejoin the community and worship.

Leviticus 13:14-17

Raw, open flesh makes a person unclean. But if the raw flesh heals and turns white, he must return to the priest, who may then declare him clean. The way back is always open, and the priest’s word is what restores him.

BSA: raw (“living, diseased”): The raw flesh is flesh that is open and alive with trouble, and this is what makes the person unclean.

Leviticus 13:18-19

A boil has healed, but a white or reddish-white spot shows up where it was. Even after apparent recovery, the person must show himself to the priest. A healed place can still hide a deeper problem.

BSA: boil (“inflamed spot, skin condition”): It is an ordinary sore, which shows that serious disease can start from something common.

Leviticus 13:20-23

The same tests apply: a spot beneath the skin with white hair is disease, and a faded spot is watched for seven days. If it spreads, he is unclean. If it stays put, it is only a scar and he is declared clean.

BSA: scar (“mark, sign”): A scar is a sign of something finished, not something still active.

Leviticus 13:24-28

The same careful steps are followed for a burn: look for white hair and depth, wait seven days if unsure, and look again. Spreading means disease. A faded spot means only a burn scar, and the person is clean.

BSA: burn (“a fiery burning, a hot burning”): A damaged place on the skin can become a point where disease takes hold.

Leviticus 13:29-30

Now the rules turn to the head or chin, for man or woman alike. Yellow, thin hair in a sore that lies deeper than the skin marks a scaly outbreak. The priest declares such a person unclean.

BSA: scaly (“dry, crusty”): The outbreak is a dry, crusty patch in the hair-bearing skin of the head or beard.

Hebrew: נֶתֶק (netheq, H5424) — “scall, a scaly patch of the scalp or beard.” This is a special word for a scaly disease of hairy areas. The chapter keeps it distinct from the other conditions.

Leviticus 13:31-34

If the patch is shallow and without black hair, the person is isolated for seven days and checked. If it has not spread, he shaves everything except the patch, so that the patch can be watched clearly, and waits another week. Then, if all is well, he washes and is clean.

BSA: shave (“be shaven, lay waste”): Shaving clears away the hair so the priest can see the patch plainly and see whether it spreads.

Leviticus 13:35-37

If the patch spreads after he was declared clean, he is unclean, and the priest does not need to look for yellow hair. But if it holds still and black, healthy hair grows in it, the person has healed and is declared clean.

BSA: healed (“been mended, cured”): Healthy hair growing back shows that real healing, not just a pause, has taken place.

Leviticus 13:38-39

Dull white spots on the skin of a man or woman are only a harmless rash. The person is clean. Not every mark on the skin is a danger, and God does not want people burdened needlessly.

BSA: harmless (“not serious, non-threatening”): Many skin marks are mild, and the law recognizes this and lets the person go free.

Leviticus 13:40-41

Being bald, whether at the back of the head or at the front, is not a disease. A bald man is still clean. The law takes care not to treat a normal part of life as defilement.

BSA: bald (“on the back of his head, with a shiny scalp”): The text speaks of ordinary hair loss, which is no cause for suspicion.

Leviticus 13:42-44

But a reddish-white sore on a bald area, looking like skin disease, is real disease. The priest must declare the man unclean. The rule is the same as before, applied to a different part of the body: it is the sore, not the baldness, that matters.

BSA: reddish-white (“like the color of leprosy”): This special color marks the sore as disease and sets it apart from plain baldness.

Leviticus 13:45

A person declared diseased must show his condition publicly: torn clothes, loose hair, a covered mouth, and a cry of warning. These were also signs of mourning. He is a walking warning, protecting others and bearing his sorrow openly.

BSA: Unclean (“defiled, spiritually impure”): He must call it out himself, so that nobody touches him by accident.

Hebrew: טָמֵא טָמֵא (ṭāmē ṭāmē, H2930) — “unclean, unclean.” The repeated word is a spoken alarm. The sufferer must call it out himself as he walks, much like a cry of mourning.

See also: Lamentations 4:15.

Leviticus 13:46

As long as the disease lasts, the person lives alone outside the camp. This is hard and lonely. It guarded the camp, where God dwelt among his people, and it kept the unclean from reaching the holy. Christ later touched and healed such people.

BSA: alone (“in solitude, or by himself”): The word stresses the loneliness of the sufferer, shut out from family and neighbors.

Hebrew: בָּדָד (bādād, H910) — “alone, by himself.” The word means apart and solitary. His separation is complete, and that is what makes his cure such a joyful return.

See also: Numbers 12:10-15; Mark 1:40-42.

Leviticus 13:47-49

The same word is used for mildew in woolen or linen clothing or in leather. A green or red mark in the material must be shown to the priest. Even a person’s belongings come under the care of God’s law.

BSA: mildew (“a plague, leprosy”): The same Hebrew word for human skin disease is used here for a spreading blight in material.

Leviticus 13:50-52

The priest isolates the marked item for seven days. If the mark has spread, the item is declared unclean and destroyed by burning. Some corruption cannot be cleaned and must be removed entirely.

BSA: burn (“completely destroy, set on fire”): Burning leaves nothing behind for the corruption to spread from.

Hebrew: שָׂרַף (sāraf, H8313) — “to burn.” This is the plain word for burning up completely. Here the whole item is destroyed so the spreading harm ends.

Leviticus 13:53-55

If the mark has not spread, the priest orders the item washed and shut away another seven days. If it still looks unchanged after washing, it is unclean and must be burned, even though it did not spread. Washing alone did not remove it.

BSA: washed (“to clean”): Washing is the first remedy tried, but it does not always succeed.

Leviticus 13:56-58

If the mark fades after washing, the priest cuts out only that section. If it comes back, the item is burned. If it fully disappears, a second washing makes the item clean. The treatment fits the case, from mild to severe.

BSA: cut (“tear, rend”): Cutting removes only the infected piece and saves the rest of the garment.

Leviticus 13:59

This sums up the law: its purpose is to pronounce a garment clean or unclean. Everything in the chapter serves the priest’s careful judgment, so that God’s people stay whole and fit to live near him.

BSA: law (“instruction, guiding principle”): The word means teaching or guidance, so these rules are God’s instruction for living near him.

See also: Leviticus 14:54-57.