Imamat 13:4

A Bright Spot on the Skin

13:4 “If ¹  it is a white bright spot on the skin of his body, but it does not appear to be deeper than the skin, ²  and the hair has not turned white, then the priest is to quarantine the person with the infection for seven days. ³ 

Imamat 13:16

13:16 If, however, ⁴  the raw flesh once again turns white, ⁵  then he must come to the priest.

[13:4]  ¹ tn Heb “and if.”

[13:4]  ² tn Heb “and deep is not its appearance from the skin”; cf. NAB “does not seem to have penetrated below the skin.”

[13:4]  ³ tn Heb “and the priest will shut up the infection seven days.”

[13:16]  ⁴ tn Heb “Or if/when.”

[13:16]  ⁵ tn Heb “the living flesh returns and is turned/changed to white.” The Hebrew verb “returns” is שׁוּב (shuv), which often functions adverbially when combined with a second verb as it is here (cf. “and is turned”) and, in such cases, is usually rendered “again” (see, e.g., GKC 386-87 §120.g). Another suggestion is that here שׁוּב means “to recede” (cf., e.g., 2 Kgs 20:9), so one could translate “the raw flesh recedes and turns white.” This would mean that the new “white” skin “has grown over” the raw flesh (B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 79).