Imamat 13:20-21

13:20 The priest will then examine it, ¹  and if ²  it appears to be deeper than the skin ³  and its hair has turned white, then the priest is to pronounce the person unclean. ⁴  It is a diseased infection that has broken out in the boil. ⁵  13:21 If, however, ⁶  the priest examines it, and ⁷  there is no white hair in it, it is not deeper than the skin, and it has faded, then the priest is to quarantine him for seven days. ⁸ 

Imamat 13:31

13:31 But if the priest examines the scall infection and it does not appear to be deeper than the skin, ⁹  and there is no black hair in it, then the priest is to quarantine the person with the scall infection for seven days. ¹⁰ 

Imamat 13:55

13:55 The priest must then examine it after the infection has been washed out, and if ¹¹  the infection has not changed its appearance ¹²  even though the infection has not spread, it is unclean. You must burn it up in the fire. It is a fungus, whether on the back side or front side of the article. ¹³ 

[13:20]  ¹ tn Heb “and the priest shall see.” The pronoun “it” is unexpressed, but it should be assumed and it refers to the infection (cf. the note on v. 8 above).

[13:20]  ² tn Heb “and behold.”

[13:20]  ³ tn Heb “and behold its appearance is low (שָׁפָל, shafal) ‘from’ (comparative מִן, min, “lower than”) the skin.” Compare “deeper” in v. 3 above where, however, a different word is used (עָמֹק, ’amoq), and see the note on “swelling” in v. 1 above (cf. J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 192; note that, contrary to the MT, Tg. Onq. has עָמֹק in this verse as well as v. 4). The alternation of these two terms (i.e., “deeper” and “lower”) in vv. 25-26 below shows that they both refer to the same phenomenon. Some have argued that “this sore was lower than the surrounding skin” (J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:773, 788), in which case “swelling” would be an inappropriate translation of שְׂאֵת (sÿ’et) in v. 19. It seems unlikely, however, that the surface of a “boil” would sink below the surface of the surrounding skin. The infectious pus etc. that makes up a boil normally causes swelling.

[13:20]  ⁴ tn The declarative Piel of the verb טָמֵא (tame’, cf. the note on v. 3 above).

[13:20]  ⁵ tn Heb “It is an infection of disease. In the boil it has broken out.” For the rendering “diseased infection” see the note on v. 2 above.

[13:21]  ⁶ tn Heb “and if.”

[13:21]  ⁷ tn Heb “and behold” (so KJV, ASV, NASB).

[13:21]  ⁸ tn Heb “and the priest will shut him up seven days.”

[13:31]  ⁹ tn Heb “and behold there is not its appearance deep ‘from’ (comparative מִן, min, meaning “deeper than”) the skin.”

[13:31]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and the priest will shut up the infection of the scall seven days.”

[13:55]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and behold” (so KJV, ASV).

[13:55]  ¹² tn Heb “the infection has not changed its eye.” Smr has “its/his eyes,” as in vv. 5 and 37, but here it refers to the appearance of the article of cloth or leather, unlike vv. 5 and 37 where there is a preposition attached and it refers to the eyes of the priest.

[13:55]  ¹³ tn The terms “back side” and “front side” are the same as those used in v. 42 for the “back or front bald area” of a man’s head. The exact meaning of these terms when applied to articles of cloth or leather is uncertain. It could refer, for example, to the inside versus the outside of a garment, or the back versus the front side of an article of cloth or leather. See J. Milgrom, Leviticus (AB), 1:814, for various possibilities.