All the days in which the plague is in him he shall be unclean. He is unclean. He shall dwell alone. Outside of the camp shall be his dwelling.
Parallel translations
- KJV All the days wherein the plague shall be in him he shall be defiled; he is unclean: he shall dwell alone; without the camp shall his habitation be.
- BSB As long as he has the infection, he remains unclean. He must live alone in a place outside the camp.
- NKJV 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.
- NASB He shall remain unclean all the days during which he has the infection; he is unclean. He shall live alone; he shall live outside the camp.
- NLT As long as the serious disease lasts, they will be ceremonially unclean. They must live in isolation in their place outside the camp.
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
As long as the disease remains, the leper stays unclean and must live alone outside the camp. It matters because sin's defilement separates a person from the community and the presence of God.
Overview
Lifelong or long-term separation from the camp dramatized the isolating power of uncleanness, cutting the sufferer off from worship and fellowship. The exile 'outside the camp' shows how defilement excludes from God's dwelling. Christ bore reproach 'outside the camp' (Hebrews 13:12-13) and touched lepers without being defiled, reversing this exile and bringing the unclean back into fellowship.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 17
- 2 Kgs 7:3Now there were four leprous men at the entrance of the gate. They said to one another, “Why do we sit here until we die?
- 2 Kgs 15:5Yahweh struck the king, so that he was a leper to the day of his death, and lived in a separate house. Jotham, the king’s son was over the household, judging the people of the land.
- 2 Chr 26:21Uzziah the king was a leper to the day of his death, and lived in a separate house, being a leper; for he was cut off from Yahweh’s house. Jotham his son was over the king’s house, judging the people of the land.
- Num 12:14–15Yahweh said to Moses, “If her father had but spit in her face, shouldn’t she be ashamed seven days? Let her be shut up outside of the camp seven days, and after that she shall be brought in again.”
- Num 5:1–4Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,
- 2 Th 3:14If any man doesn’t obey our word in this letter, note that man, that you have no company with him, to the end that he may be ashamed.
- Lam 1:1How the city sits solitary, that was full of people! She has become as a widow, who was great among the nations! She who was a princess among the provinces has become tributary!
- Rev 21:27There will in no way enter into it anything profane, or one who causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
- 1 Cor 5:5are to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.
- Luke 17:12As he entered into a certain village, ten men who were lepers met him, who stood at a distance.
- 1 Tim 6:5constant friction of people of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. Withdraw yourself from such.
- 1 Cor 5:9–13I wrote to you in my letter to have no company with sexual sinners;
- Rev 22:15Outside are the dogs, the sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.
- Prov 30:12There is a generation that is pure in their own eyes, yet are not washed from their filthiness.
- 2 Th 3:6Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw yourselves from every brother who walks in rebellion, and not after the tradition which they received from us.
- Lam 1:8Jerusalem has grievously sinned; therefore she has become as an unclean thing; all who honored her despise her, because they have seen her nakedness: yes, she sighs, and turns backward.
- Heb 12:15–16looking carefully lest there be any man who falls short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and many be defiled by it;
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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 13:46 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.