the priest is to order the contaminated article to be washed and isolated for another seven days.
Parallel translations
- WEB then the priest shall command that they wash the thing in which the plague is, and he shall isolate it seven more days.
- KJV Then the priest shall command that they wash the thing wherein the plague is, and he shall shut it up seven days more:
- NKJV then the priest shall command that they wash the thing in which is the plague; and he shall isolate it another seven days.
- NASB then the priest shall order them to wash the thing in which the mark occurs, and he shall quarantine it for seven more days.
- NLT the priest will order the object to be washed and then quarantined for seven more 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 commands the article to be washed and isolated for seven more days. It matters because washing and renewed testing offered a path toward restoration rather than immediate loss.
Overview
Washing the suspect article and quarantining it again gave opportunity for the defilement to be removed or exposed. The provision shows God's willingness to make a way for cleansing where possible. Washing as the means of purification anticipates the cleansing imagery fulfilled in Christ, who washes his people and makes the defiled clean (Ephesians 5:26).
Cross-references & the web
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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 13:54 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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