If any fabric is contaminated with mildew—any wool or linen garment,
Parallel translations
- WEB “The garment also that the plague of leprosy is in, whether it is a woolen garment, or a linen garment;
- KJV The garment also that the plague of leprosy is in, whether it be a woollen garment, or a linen garment;
- NKJV “Also, if a garment has a leprous plague in it, whether it is a woolen garment or a linen garment,
- NASB “When a garment has a mark of leprosy in it, whether it is a wool garment or a linen garment,
- NLT “Now suppose mildew contaminates some woolen or linen clothing,
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
The law now turns to a 'leprous' contamination found in garments of wool or linen. It matters because God's concern for purity extended even to the objects of daily life, not only to persons.
Overview
The same Hebrew term used for skin disease covers a spreading rot or mildew in fabric, showing that defilement could attach to a person's possessions as well as his body. By regulating clothing, God taught Israel that holiness touched every sphere of ordinary living. The thoroughness of this concern points to the comprehensive cleansing the gospel brings, renewing all that sin has corrupted.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Jude 1:23save others by snatching them from the fire; and to still others show mercy tempered with fear, hating even the clothing stained by the flesh.
- Col 3:3For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.
- Ezek 16:16You took some of your garments and made colorful high places for yourself, and on them you prostituted yourself. Such things should not have happened; never should they have occurred!
- Isa 64:6Each of us has become like something unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all wither like a leaf, and our iniquities carry us away like the wind.
- Eph 4:22to put off your former way of life, your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires;
- Rom 13:12The night is nearly over; the day has drawn near. So let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.
- Isa 59:6Their cobwebs cannot be made into clothing, and they cannot cover themselves with their works. Their deeds are sinful deeds, and acts of violence are in their hands.
- Isa 3:16–24The LORD also says: “Because the daughters of Zion are haughty—walking with heads held high and wanton eyes, prancing and skipping as they go, jingling the bracelets on their ankles—
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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 13:47 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.