the man is indeed infected with a skin disease and is unclean. The priest must pronounce him ceremonially unclean because of the sore on his head.
Parallel translations
- WEB he is a leprous man. He is unclean. The priest shall surely pronounce him unclean. His plague is on his head.
- KJV He is a leprous man, he is unclean: the priest shall pronounce him utterly unclean; his plague is in his head.
- BSB the man is diseased; he is unclean. The priest must pronounce him unclean because of the infection on his head.
- NKJV he is a leprous man. He is unclean. The priest shall surely pronounce him unclean; his sore is on his head.
- NASB he is a leprous man, he is unclean. The priest must pronounce him unclean; his infection is on his head.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
A man with the disease on his head is declared leprous and unclean by the priest. It matters because the priest's verdict, not self-assessment, settles a person's standing before God's holiness.
Overview
Concluding the diagnosis of disease that reaches the head, this verse names the man as a confirmed leper whom the priest must pronounce unclean. Uncleanness here is ceremonial, barring fellowship with the camp and the sanctuary, rather than a moral judgment on the sufferer. The need for an authoritative declaration of cleanness anticipates Christ, who alone can pronounce and make the defiled truly clean (Mark 1:40-44).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 5
- 2 Jn 1:8–10Watch yourselves, that we don’t lose the things which we have accomplished, but that we receive a full reward.
- Matt 6:23But if your eye is evil, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!
- 2 Pet 2:1–2But false prophets also arose among the people, as false teachers will also be among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, denying even the Master who bought them, bringing on themselves swift destruction.
- Isa 1:5Why should you be beaten more, that you revolt more and more? The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.
- Job 36:14They die in youth. Their life perishes among the unclean.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Commentaries & study tools
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Christ at the center
Every sacrifice, every priest, and every day of atonement points beyond itself to the one perfect offering and the great High Priest who, by his own blood, makes the unclean holy once for all.
How Leviticus 13:44 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.