Then the priest shall look at the mark and shall quarantine the article with the mark for seven days.
Parallel translations
- WEB The priest shall examine the plague, and isolate the plague seven days.
- KJV And the priest shall look upon the plague, and shut up it that hath the plague seven days:
- BSB And the priest is to examine the mildew and isolate the contaminated fabric for seven days.
- NKJV The priest shall examine the plague and isolate that which has the plague seven days.
- NLT After examining the affected spot, the priest will put the article in quarantine for seven days.
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 priest examines the affected article and isolates it for seven days. It matters because patient, careful diagnosis guarded against both careless declarations of cleanness and hasty destruction.
Overview
A seven-day quarantine allowed time to observe whether the contamination was active and spreading. This deliberate process reflects God's order and care in distinguishing clean from unclean rather than acting on appearances. The pattern of watchful waiting underscores that genuine purity requires testing over time, and that God's judgments are thorough and just.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 1
- Ezek 44:23They shall teach my people the difference between the holy and the common, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean.
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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 13:50 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
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