Leviticus 13:39

New King James Version

then the priest shall look; and indeed if the bright spots on the skin of the body are dull white, it is a white spot that grows on the skin. He is clean.

Parallel Translations

Hebrew Names Version
then the Kohen shall examine them; and, behold, if the bright spots on the skin of their body are a dull white, it is a harmless rash, it has broken out in the skin; he is clean.

King James Version
Then the priest shall look: and, behold, if the bright spots in the skin of their flesh be darkish white; it is a freckled spot that groweth in the skin; he is clean.

Lexham English Bible
then the priest shall examine them, and if the spots on their body's skin are a faded white, it is a skin rash; it has broken out on the skin—it is clean.

New Century Version
a priest must look at them. If the spots on the skin are dull white, the disease is only a harmless rash. That person is clean.

New English Translation
the priest is to examine them, and if the bright spots on the skin of their body are faded white, it is a harmless rash that has broken out on the skin. The person is clean.

Amplified Bible
then the priest shall look, and if the bright spots on the skin of their bodies is a dull white, it is [only] a rash that has broken out on the skin; he is clean.

New American Standard Bible
then the priest shall look, and if the bright spots on the skin of their bodies are a faint white, it is eczema that has broken out on the skin; he is clean.

Geneva Bible (1587)
Then the Priest shall consider: and if the spots in the skin of their flesh be somewhat darke and white withall, it is but a white spot broken out in the skin: therefore he is cleane.

Legacy Standard Bible
then the priest shall look, and if the bright spots on the skin of their bodies are a faded white, it is eczema that has broken out on the skin; he is clean.

Contemporary English Version
but the priest discovers that it is only a rash, he will say, "You are clean."

Complete Jewish Bible
then the cohen is to examine them. If he sees that the bright spots on the skin are dull white, it is only a rash that has broken out on the skin; he is clean.

Darby Translation
and the priest look, and behold, there are in the skin of their flesh pale white spots, it is an eruption which is broken out in the skin: he is clean.

Easy-to-Read Version
a priest must look at them. If the spots on that person's skin are dull white, the disease is only a harmless rash. That person is clean.

English Standard Version
the priest shall look, and if the spots on the skin of the body are of a dull white, it is leukoderma that has broken out in the skin; he is clean.

George Lamsa Translation
Then the priest shall look; and if the shiny spots in the skin of the body are darkish white or reddish, it is a scab that has grown on the skin; he is clean.

Good News Translation
the priest shall examine you. If the spots are dull white, it is only a blemish that has broken out on the skin; you are ritually clean.

Christian Standard Bible®
the priest is to make an examination. If the spots on the skin of the body are dull white, it is only a rash that has broken out on the skin; the person is clean.

Literal Translation
and the priest has seen it; and, behold there are pale white spots in the skin of their flesh, it is a pale spot springing up in the skin; he is clean.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
and the prest seyth there that the glisterynge whyte vanysheth: then is it but a whyte scabbe rysen vp in ye skynne, & he is cleane.

American Standard Version
then the priest shall look; and, behold, if the bright spots in the skin of their flesh be of a dull white, it is a tetter, it hath broken out in the skin; he is clean.

Bible in Basic English
Then the priest is to see them: and if the white marks on their skin are not very bright, it is a skin disease which has come out on the skin; he is clean.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
The priest shall loke vpon it: and yf the spottes in the skynne of their fleshe be somewhat darke and whyte withal, it is a frekell growyng in the skynne: therfore he is cleane.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
then the priest shall look; and, behold, if the bright spots in the skin of their flesh be of a dull white, it is a tetter, it hath broken out in the skin: he is clean.

King James Version (1611)
Then the Priest shall looke: and behold, if the bright spots in the skinne of their flesh bee darkish white, it is a freckled spot that groweth in the skin: he is cleane.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
then the priest shall look; and, behold, there being bright spots of a bright whiteness in the skin of their flesh, it is a tetter; it burst forth in the skin of his flesh; he is clean.

English Revised Version
then the priest shall look: and, behold, if the bright spots in the skin of their flesh be of a dull white; it is a tetter, it hath broken out in the skin; he is clean.

Berean Standard Bible
the priest shall examine them, and if the spots are dull white, it is a harmless rash that has broken out on the skin; the person is clean.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
if he perseyueth, that whijtnesse `sum deel derk schyneth in the skyn, wite he, that it is no lepre, but a spotte of whijt colour, and that the man is cleene.

Young's Literal Translation
and the priest hath seen, and lo, in the skin of their flesh white weak bright spots, it [is] a freckled spot broken out in the skin; he [is] clean.

Update Bible Version
then the priest shall look; and see if the bright spots in the skin of their flesh are of a dull white, it is a tetter, it has broken out in the skin; he is clean.

Webster's Bible Translation
Then the priest shall look: and behold, [if] the bright spots in the skin of their flesh [are] darkish white; it [is] a freckled spot [that] groweth in the skin; he [is] clean.

World English Bible
then the priest shall examine them; and, behold, if the bright spots on the skin of their body are a dull white, it is a harmless rash, it has broken out in the skin; he is clean.

New Living Translation
the priest must examine the affected area. If he finds that the shiny patches are only pale white, this is a harmless skin rash, and the person is ceremonially clean.

New Life Bible
then the religious leader will look at them. If the white spots on the skin are not very bright, it is not a bad disease that has broken out on the skin. He is clean.

New Revised Standard
the priest shall make an examination, and if the spots on the skin of the body are of a dull white, it is a rash that has broken out on the skin; he is clean.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
then shall the priest take a view and lo! if, in the skin of their flesh, are bright spots that are dull white, dead white spot, it is, that hath broken through in the skin - clean, he is.

Douay-Rheims Bible
The priest shall view them. If he find that a darkish whiteness shineth in the skin, let him know that it is not the leprosy, but a white blemish, and that the man is clean.

Revised Standard Version
the priest shall make an examination, and if the spots on the skin of the body are of a dull white, it is tetter that has broken out in the skin; he is clean.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
then the priest shall look, and if the bright spots on the skin of their bodies are a faint white, it is eczema that has broken out on the skin; he is clean.

Contextual Overview

³⁸ "If a man or a woman has bright spots on the skin of the body, specifically white bright spots, ³⁹ then the priest shall look; and indeed if the bright spots on the skin of the body are dull white, it is a white spot that grows on the skin. He is clean. ⁴⁰ "As for the man whose hair has fallen from his head, he is bald, but he is clean. ⁴¹ He whose hair has fallen from his forehead, he is bald on the forehead, but he is clean. ⁴² And if there is on the bald head or bald forehead a reddish-white sore, it is leprosy breaking out on his bald head or his bald forehead. ⁴³ Then the priest shall examine it; and indeed if the swelling of the sore is reddish-white on his bald head or on his bald forehead, as the appearance of leprosy on the skin of the body, ⁴⁴ he is a leprous man. He is unclean. The priest shall surely pronounce him unclean; his sore is on his head. ⁴⁵ "Now the leper on whom the sore is, his clothes shall be torn and his head bare; and he shall cover his mustache, and cry, "Unclean! Unclean!' ⁴⁶ He shall be unclean. All the days he has the sore he shall be unclean. He is unclean, and he shall dwell alone; his dwelling shall be outside the camp.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

if the bright: Ecclesiastes 7:20, Romans 7:22-25, James 3:2

a freckled spot: The word bohak, from the Syriac behak, to be white, or shining, here rendered "a freckled spot," is used by the Arabs to denote a kind of leprosy, of which Niebuhr says, "Bohak is neither contagious nor dangerous. A black boy at Mocha, who was affected with this eruption, had here and there upon his body white spots. We were told that the use of sulphur had relieved this boy for a time, but had not entirely removed the disease." He adds subsequently from Forskal's papers, "The Arabs call a sort of leprosy, in which some little spots shew themselves here and there on the body, behaq; and it is without doubt the same as is named bohak, (Leviticus 13:1-59). They believe it to be so far from contagious, that one may sleep with a person affected without danger.

"On the 15th day of May, 1765, I myself first saw the Bohak leprosy in a Jew at Mocha. The spots in this disease are of an unequal size. They do not shine; are not perceptibly higher than the skin; and do not change the colour of the hair. Their colour is an obscure white, inclining to red. The rest of the skin of the patient was darker than that of the people of the country in general; but the spots were not so white as the skin of an European, when not sun-burnt. The spots in this leprosy do not appear on the hands, or near the navel, but on the neck and face, yet not on that part where the hair grows thick. They gradually spread, and continue sometimes only about two months, but in some cases one or two years, and then disappear by degrees, of themselves. This disorder is neither contagious nor hereditary, nor does it occasion any inconvenience." Hence a person infected with the bohak is declared clean."

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Then the priest shall look,.... Upon the man or woman that has these spots, and upon the spots themselves, and examine them of what kind they are:

and, behold, [if] the bright spots in the skin of their flesh [be] darkish white; their whiteness is not strong, as Jarchi observes; but dusky and obscure, or "contracted" w; small white spots, not large and spreading:

it [is] a freckled spot [that] grows in the skin; a kind of morphew, which the above writer describes as a sort of whiteness which appears in the flesh of a ruddy man:

he [is] clean; from leprosy; this is observed, lest a person that is freckled and has a morphew should be mistaken for a leprous person; as every man that has some spots, failings, and infirmities, is not to be reckoned a wicked man.

w כהות "costractae", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Freckled spot - If Leviticus 13:12 refers to the Lepra commonis, the Hebrew בהק bôhaq here may denote some kind of eczema, a skin disease of a somewhat similar external character.

Leviticus 13:38, Leviticus 13:39 would seem more in their natural place between Leviticus 13:17-18.