Leviticus 13:22

Study note

Setting — The passage addresses the priest examining a skin lesion during the ritual purification process. The ruling is delivered at the moment the lesion's progression determines the subject's ritual status.

The words — The Hebrew פָּשׂוֹה (pa.Soh) and תִפְשֶׂה (tif.Seh) literally mean "to spread," describing the lesion's expansion across the skin. The term נֶגַע (Ne.ga') translates to "plague" or "infection," denoting the ritual condition triggered by that expansion.

The thread — The ruling is directly contrasted with Leviticus 13:21, where a non-spreading, faded lesion results in seven-day isolation, and Leviticus 13:23, where an unchanged spot is declared a scar and the priest pronounces the person clean. The same diagnostic sequence repeats throughout Leviticus 13 with identical linguistic markers for spread and ritual declaration.

Why it lands — The text establishes that observable physical progression, not subjective feeling, dictates ritual status. A reader must recognize that the priest's declaration follows a fixed, visible criterion rather than personal discretion.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.