The Holy Bible – Knox Translation
The Book of Leviticus
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Chapter 13
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This, too, the Lord said to Moses and Aaron,
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If there should appear on anyone’s skin, the change of colour or the scab or the shiny patches that betoken the scourge of leprosy, he must be brought before the high priest Aaron, or one of his sons.
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If the priest, looking at the place on his skin, finds that the hairs have turned white, and the skin of the part affected seems shrunken compared with the rest of the skin round it, this is the scourge of leprosy; and when the priest so pronounces, the man must be segregated from his fellows.
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If the skin is marked by a shiny white patch, but is not shrunken, and the hairs have kept their colour, the priest will keep him shut away for a week,
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and on the seventh day examine him. If, by now, the infection has not grown worse or spread, he will shut him away for a week more.
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And now, if he finds on the seventh day that the infection is less marked, and has not spread further in the skin, he will declare the man clean; it is only a scab, and he will be clean once he has washed his garments.
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If the infection begins to grow worse, after he has been examined and pronounced clean, he must be brought back to the priest,
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and pronounced unclean after all.
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When a man is brought to the priest bearing the marks of infection,
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and he, upon examination, finds a white swelling that has turned the hair white, and shews the raw, live flesh,
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then it must be pronounced leprosy inveterate, deeply rooted in the skin, and the priest must pronounce him unclean without being at pains to shut him away; his uncleanness is manifest.
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But if the infection has broken out all over his skin, covering it from head to foot, wherever it is observed,
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the priest who examines him will decide that his infection is no defilement; when it shews white all over him, he is to be declared clean.
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But whenever the raw flesh shews,
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the priest will declare him contaminated, and he is to be reckoned unclean; the raw flesh betokens leprosy and uncleanness.
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If, afterwards, the skin turns white all over his body,
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the priest, examining him again, will pronounce him clean.
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When an ulcer formed in flesh or skin heals up
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and leaves a white or reddish scar behind it, the man so marked must be taken to the priest;
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and if the priest sees that this part of the skin has shrunk compared with the rest, and the hairs have turned white, he will pronounce him defiled; the scourge of leprosy has broken out in the ulcer.
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But if the hair keeps its old colour, and the scar is dark, and there is no shrinking of the skin, he will shut the man away for a week;
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and then, if it has spread, he will declare him a leper,
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but if it is still confined to the same spot, it is but the scar of the ulcer, and the man is clean.
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So, too, if flesh and skin that have been injured by a burn shew a white or reddish scar,
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and the priest who examines it finds that it has turned the hair white and is shrunken, he will declare such a man unclean; leprosy has broken out in the burn.
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But if the hair has kept its colour and there is no shrinking, and the look of the place itself is dark, he will shut the man away for a week,
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and if in that time he finds that infection has spread in the skin, he will pronounce the man unclean;
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but if the whiteness has not spread, and shews less plain, the burn is the cause of it, and the man is clean; it is only the scar of a burn.
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Man or woman suffering from an infection of the head or chin must be examined by the priest,
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and if the skin has shrunk and the hair gone yellow and thinner than it was, they must be pronounced unclean; there is leprosy in the head or beard.
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But if he finds the skin level and the hair still dark, they must be shut away for a week,
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and if he finds that the disfigurement has not spread, and the hair keeps its colour, and the skin is level,
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the hair must be shaved all round the infected part. For a week more they must be shut away,
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and if then he finds that the infection is confined to the same spot, and there is no shrinking of the skin, he will declare them clean, and they will be free from defilement when their clothes have been washed.
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If, after they have been pronounced clean, the infection spreads in the skin,
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he need not look to see whether the hair has gone yellow; the uncleanness is manifest.
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But if the infection remains where it was, and the hair is black, he may be sure that the man is healed, and pronounce him clean without scruple.
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When whiteness appears on the skin of man or woman,
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and the priest, examining them, finds it is only a dull whiteness that shews there, he will recognize that it is not leprosy, but ring-worm, and the man or woman is clean.
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A man may lose the hair on his crown, and still be clean;
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may lose the hair on his forehead, and still be clean, despite his baldness.
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But if in the bald patch on crown or forehead a white or reddish tinge is shewing,
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the priest who finds it there will hold him unclean beyond all doubt; the bald patch is leprous.
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The man who is infected with leprosy, and segregated at the priest’s bidding,
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must go with rent garments and bared head, his face veiled, crying out, Unclean, unclean.
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And still, as long as he remains unclean through leprosy, he must dwell away from the camp, alone.
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A garment of wool or linen, that is infected
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in warp or woof, or a skin, or anything made of leather,
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if it is stained with white or reddish spots, is suspect of leprosy and must be shewn to the priest.
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He will examine it, and shut it away for a week;
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and if, looking at it again at the end of that time, he finds that the patch has spread, it is malignant leprosy; he will pronounce the garment, or whatever else is infected, unclean,
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and it must be destroyed by fire accordingly.
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But if he finds that the patch has not spread,
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he will give orders for the infected thing to be washed, and so he will shut it away for a week more.
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If it shews the same as before, although the patch may not have spread, he will pronounce it unclean and destroy it by fire, as a thing infected, whether outwardly or all through with leprosy.
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But if the infected patch is less marked after the washing, he will cut it away and separate it from the rest.
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And if, after that, patches begin to shew where all was once unspotted, it is leprosy spreading this way and that, and the thing must be burnt.
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If, on the contrary, the infection ceases, the part that is left uncontaminated must be washed in water again, and now it is clean.
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Such are the rules for pronouncing judgement of cleanness or uncleanness upon infection in any garment of wool or linen, its warp or its woof, as well as any piece of leather-work.✻
