Imamat 13:45-46

The Life of the Person with Skin Disease

13:45 “As for the diseased person who has the infection, ¹  his clothes must be torn, the hair of his head must be unbound, he must cover his mustache, ²  and he must call out ‘Unclean! Unclean!’ 13:46 The whole time he has the infection ³  he will be continually unclean. He must live in isolation, and his place of residence must be outside the camp.

Imamat 13:59

Summary of Infection Regulations

13:59 This is the law ⁴  of the diseased infection in the garment of wool or linen, or the warp or woof, or any article of leather, for pronouncing it clean or unclean. ⁵ 

[13:45]  ¹ tn Heb “And the diseased one who in him is the infection.”

[13:45]  ² tn Heb “and his head shall be unbound, and he shall cover on [his] mustache.” Tearing one’s clothing, allowing the hair to hang loose rather than bound up in a turban, and covering the mustache on the upper lip are all ways of expressing shame, grief, or distress (cf., e.g., Lev 10:6 and Micah 3:7).

[13:46]  ³ tn Heb “All the days which the infection is in him.”

[13:59]  ⁴ sn The Hebrew term translated “law” (תוֹרָה, torah) introduces here a summary or colophon for all of Lev 13. Similar summaries are found in Lev 7:37-38; 11:46-47; 14:54-57; and 15:32-33.

[13:59]  ⁵ tn These are declarative Piel forms of the verbs טָהֵר (taher) and טָמֵא (tame’) respectively (cf. the notes on vv. 3 and 6 above).