Leviticus 13:16

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

Or if the raw flesh turns again, and is changed to white, then he shall come to the priest;

World English Bible · Public Domain

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Word by word

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לְלָבָ֑ן

lâbân

H3836

“to/for · white”

Preposition + Adjective, Adjective, Masculine, Singular, Absolute

Appears 29× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Genesis 30:35

Full BDB Definition

Origin: from H3835

TWOT: 1074a

white

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

10: words
10: distinct lemmas
Pentateuch: section

Shared distinctive vocabulary

לְלָבָ֑ן white H3836 occurs in 24 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Grammatical profile

3 verbs
2 nouns
2 adjectives
1 preposition
2 conjunctions

Verb forms

יָשׁ֛וּב Qal · Imperfect
וְנֶהְפַּ֣ךְ Niphal · Sequential Perfect
וּבָ֖א Qal · Sequential Perfect

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 19 words from the Hebrew and 18 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — closely comparable.

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

In the original languages it is 10 Hebrew tokens and 16 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to Leviticus 13:16 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Romans 7:14–24 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am fleshly, sold under sin.
Galatians 1:14–16 I advanced in the Jews' religion beyond many of my own age among my countrymen, being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my fathers.
Philippians 3:6–8 concerning zeal, persecuting the assembly; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, found blameless.
1 Timothy 1:13–15 although I was before a blasphemer, a persecutor, and insolent. However, I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew Leviticus 13:16 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

א֣וֹ כִ֥י יָשׁ֛וּב הַבָּשָׂ֥ר הַחַ֖י וְנֶהְפַּ֣ךְ לְלָבָ֑ן וּבָ֖א אֶל הַכֹּהֵֽן

Or if the raw flesh turns again, and is changed to white, then he shall come to the priest;

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Leviticus 13:16 Septuagint · lemma form

ἐάν δέ ἀπο καταἵστημι ὁ χρώς ὁ ὑγιής καί μεταβάλλω λευκός καί ἔρχομαι πρός ὁ ἱερεύς

But if the sound flesh be restored and changed to white, then shall he come to the priest;

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Targum (Aramaic paraphrase)

The Targum is the ancient Jewish Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Scriptures — an interpretive translation, not the Hebrew text itself. Onkelos (literal) and Pseudo-Jonathan (expansive) render the Torah, and Jonathan the Prophets. Coverage is partial: where no permissively-licensed English translation exists for a verse, only the Aramaic is shown. This is verse-level text, not a word-by-word alignment to the Hebrew.

Targum Onkelos Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)

אוֹ אֲרֵי יְתוּב בִּסְרָא חַיָא וְיִתְהֲפִיךְ לְמֶחֱוָר וְיִתֵּתֵי לְוַת כַּהֲנָא

(no public-domain English translation for this verse)

Targum Onkelos — Aramaic: “Onkelos Genesis” (public domain); “Onkelos Exodus” (public domain); “Onkelos Leviticus” (public domain); “Onkelos Numbers” (public domain); “Onkelos Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “J.W. Etheridge. The Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan Ben Uzziel on the Pentateuch. London: Longmans, Green, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)

אוֹ אֲרוּם יֵיתוּב בִּישְרָא חַיָיא וְיִתְהַפִּיךְ לְחִיוַור וְיַיְתֵי לְוַת כַּהֲנָא

Or if the live flesh be turned and changed into whiteness, he shall be brought to the priest;

Targum Pseudo-Jonathan — Aramaic: “Targum Jonathan on Genesis” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Exodus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Leviticus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Numbers” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “The Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel, trans. J. W. Etheridge, London, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.

Commentary

Notes on Leviticus 13:16 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Trapp's Complete Commentary

John Trapp

Lev 13:16 Or if the raw flesh turn again, and be changed unto white, he shall come unto the priest;

Ver. 16. Turn again,] viz., To be white like the rest of the body: so if a sinner stop or step back, &c.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Joseph Benson's Commentary

Lev 13:16. Unto white — As it is usual with sores, when they begin to be healed, the skin, which is white, coming upon the flesh.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(16, 17) Or if the raw flesh turn again.—Rather, yet if the sound flesh changeth again and becometh, &c. As soon, however, as the patches of sound flesh resume the white colour, so that the whole body is again white, without exhibiting any spots, the patient is to betake himself to the priest, who, after assuring himself of the fact, will pronounce him clean.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Gill's Exposition

Or if the raw flesh turn again,.... Changes its colour, from redness, which is in raw flesh:

and be changed unto white: and does not look ruddy as flesh in common does, nor red and fiery, as raw and proud flesh, but is white, of the same colour with the swelling or scab:

he shall come unto the priest; again, and show himself, even though he was before by him pronounced clean.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

Whiteness, after the red flesh is covered with skin as usual.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Matthew Poole's English Annotations

Be changed unto white; it is usual with sores, when they begin to be healed, the skin, which is white, coming upon the flesh.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

John Wesley's Explanatory Notes

Unto white - As it is usual with sores, when they begin to be healed, the skin which is white, coming upon the flesh.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

Leviticus, in the Pentateuch, opens this verse with 10 words (10 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is lâbân (“white”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

The word lâbân carries the sense “white.” How does it shape the verse?
How does Genesis 30:35, which shares the word «white», read alongside this verse?
These translations render this verse differently. What is at stake in choosing one wording over another?
«יָשׁ֛וּב» is a Qal Imperfect verb. How does that grammatical form shape the action described?
Compare how Trapp's Complete Commentary and Joseph Benson's Commentary read this verse. Where do they agree or differ?

Things to notice

This verse counts 10 Hebrew ↔ 16 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 11 words in this verse.
10 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 10 words in this verse.