The priest is to go outside the camp to examine him, and if the skin disease of the afflicted person has healed,
Parallel translations
- WEB and the priest shall go out of the camp. The priest shall examine him, and behold, if the plague of leprosy is healed in the leper,
- KJV And the priest shall go forth out of the camp; and the priest shall look, and, behold, if the plague of leprosy be healed in the leper;
- NKJV And the priest shall go out of the camp, and the priest shall examine him; and indeed, if the leprosy is healed in the leper,
- NASB and the priest shall go out to a place outside of the camp. Then the priest shall look, and if the leprous infection has been healed in the person with leprosy,
- NLT who will examine them at a place outside the camp. If the priest finds that someone has been healed of a serious skin disease,
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 goes outside the camp and examines the man to confirm the disease is healed. It matters because the priest must verify God's healing work before any cleansing rite proceeds.
Overview
The priest goes out to the excluded leper, examining him to confirm the plague has been cured. The cleansing ritual presupposes that God has already healed; the priest certifies what God has done. That the priest comes out to the outcast beautifully anticipates Christ, who goes to sinners in their exclusion to bring them home (Luke 15:4-5).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Lev 13:46As long as he has the infection, he remains unclean. He must live alone in a place outside the camp.
- 2 Kgs 5:3She said to her mistress, “If only my master would go to the prophet who is in Samaria, he would cure him of his leprosy.”
- 1 Cor 6:9–11Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who submit to or perform homosexual acts,
- Luke 7:22So He replied, “Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor.
- Job 5:18For He wounds, but He also binds; He strikes, but His hands also heal.
- 2 Kgs 5:7–8When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and asked, “Am I God, killing and giving life, that this man expects me to cure a leper? Surely you can see that he is seeking a quarrel with me!”
- Luke 17:15–19When one of them saw that he was healed, he came back, praising God in a loud voice.
- Luke 4:27And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet. Yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian.”
- Exod 15:26saying, “If you will listen carefully to the voice of the LORD your God, and do what is right in His eyes, and pay attention to His commands, and keep all His statutes, then I will not bring on you any of the diseases I inflicted on the Egyptians. For I am the LORD who heals you.”
- Matt 10:8Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.
- Matt 11:5The blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor.
- 2 Kgs 5:14So Naaman went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, according to the word of the man of God, and his flesh was restored and became like that of a little child, and he was clean.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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 14:3 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.