Bible Strands
Leviticus 13:37
If, however, in his sight the scaly outbreak is unchanged and black hair has grown in it, then it has healed. He is clean, and the priest is to pronounce him clean.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The priest examines a person with a suspected skin condition to determine ritual status after the scaly outbreak has been monitored. This ruling occurs within the Levitical regulations governing bodily cleanliness and community reintegration.
The words — The text emphasizes נִרְפָּא (nirpa, "it has been healed") and הַנֶּתֶק (ha-netek, "the scall"), noting that the lesion has stabilized and black hair has sprouted within it. These terms mark the priest's visual confirmation that the active phase has passed.
The thread — The diagnostic sequence runs through Leviticus 13:36 and 13:38, where the priest's examination shifts based on whether the condition spreads or resolves. The text confines the ruling to observable physical changes without introducing external passages.
Why it lands — The verse requires the reader to accept that ritual status depends on documented physical evidence rather than personal assertion. It establishes a clear, visible boundary where law uses objective signs to restore a person to communal worship.
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.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
But if the scall be in his sight at a stay, and that there is black hair grown up therein; the scall is healed, he is clean: and the priest shall pronounce him clean.