Bible Strands
Leviticus 13:45
A diseased person must wear torn clothes and let his hair hang loose, and he must cover his mouth and cry out, ‘Unclean, unclean!’
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The text addresses the community regarding a person diagnosed with a severe skin infection, prescribing mandatory outward signs and vocal warnings. This instruction follows the priest’s declaration of uncleanness and precedes the command for permanent isolation outside the camp.
The words — צָרֹעַ (tza.Ru.a) denotes the afflicted individual, while פְּרֻמִים (fe.ru.Mim) specifies torn garments, marking the physical state of the plague’s victim.
The thread — The mandate to tear clothes and dishevel hair echoes the prohibition in Leviticus 10:6, while the vocalized cry of uncleanness parallels the public shaming described in Lamentations 4:15. The command to cover the mouth finds a parallel in the silenced diviners of Micah 3:7.
Why it lands — The verse demands immediate public identification of ritual impurity through clothing, hair, and voice. It requires the community to recognize and maintain separation from the infection until the priest declares it healed.
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
And the leper in whom the plague is, his clothes shall be rent, and his head bare, and he shall put a covering upon his upper lip, and shall cry, Unclean, unclean.
Cross-references
- Leviticus 10:6 Then Moses said to Aaron and his sons Eleazar and Ithamar, “Do not let your hair become disheveled and do not tear your garments, or else you will die, and the LORD will be angry with the whole congregation. But your brothers, the whole house of Israel, may mourn on account of the fire that the LORD has ignited.
- Micah 3:7 Then the seers will be ashamed and the diviners will be disgraced. They will all cover their mouths because there is no answer from God.”
- Lamentations 4:15 “Go away! Unclean!” men shouted at them. “Away, away! Do not touch us!” So they fled and wandered. Among the nations it was said, “They can stay here no longer.”
- Ezekiel 24:17 Groan quietly; do not mourn for the dead. Put on your turban and strap your sandals on your feet; do not cover your lips or eat the bread of mourners.”
- Ezekiel 24:22 Then you will do as I have done: You will not cover your lips or eat the bread of mourners.
- Luke 17:12 As He entered one of the villages, He was met by ten lepers. They stood at a distance
- Leviticus 21:10 The priest who is highest among his brothers, who has had the anointing oil poured on his head and has been ordained to wear the priestly garments, must not let his hair hang loose or tear his garments.
- Luke 5:8 When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees. “Go away from me, Lord,” he said, “for I am a sinful man.”
- Psalms 51:3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.
- Isaiah 6:5 Then I said: “Woe is me, for I am ruined, because I am a man of unclean lips dwelling among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of Hosts.”