Leviticus 13:20

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex) Leviticus 13:20 appears in the Hebrew Old Testament. The text above is from the Westminster Leningrad Codex. Each word links to its Strong’s number, a concise gloss, and parsing drawn from the Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible morphology. Click any word for its full Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB) entry.
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Leviticus 13:20 (World English Bible). Public Domain. Lemma interlinear Bible study tool, https://lemma.gebible.app/v/leviticus/13/20.

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English Translation
and the priest shall examine it; and, behold, if the appearance of it is lower than the skin, and the hair of it has turned white, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean. It is the plague of leprosy. It has broken out in the boil.
World English Bible · Public Domain
Highlights
  • 1 first appearance in the Hebrew Bible
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Compare translations 3

The same verse in 3 English versions, stacked beneath the original-language interlinear above. Click any original word for its lexicon entry.

Each is an independent rendering of the whole verse — the interlinear is not word-aligned to these translations.

Highlighted words mark where these versions differ — a whole-verse word diff, not a word-by-word alignment.

  • World English Bible Public Domain
    and the priest shall examine it; and, behold, if the appearance of it is lower than the skin, and the hair of it has turned white, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean. It is the plague of leprosy. It has broken out in the boil.
  • King James Version Public Domain
    And if, when the priest seeth it, behold, it be in sight lower than the skin, and the hair thereof be turned white; the priest shall pronounce him unclean: it is a plague of leprosy broken out of the boil.
  • unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
    And the priest shall see, and behold, the appearance deeper than the skin, and its hair has turned white. Then the priest shall pronounce him unclean. It an infection of skin disease; it has broken out in the boil.

unfoldingWord Literal Text — © unfoldingWord, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Word-aligned USFM3 via Door43 (git.door43.org/unfoldingWord/en_ult).

Versions to compare (up to 4)

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Show all 18 translations

Every available English version of this verse, each an independent rendering of the whole verse.

  • World English Bible Public Domain
    and the priest shall examine it; and, behold, if the appearance of it is lower than the skin, and the hair of it has turned white, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean. It is the plague of leprosy. It has broken out in the boil.
  • Berean Standard Bible Public Domain
    The priest shall examine it, and if it appears to be beneath the skin and the hair in it has turned white, the priest shall pronounce him unclean; it is a diseased infection that has broken out in the boil.
  • Majority Standard Bible Public Domain
    The priest shall examine it, and if it appears to be beneath the skin and the hair in it has turned white, the priest shall pronounce him unclean; it is a diseased infection that has broken out in the boil.
  • King James Version Public Domain
    And if, when the priest seeth it, behold, it be in sight lower than the skin, and the hair thereof be turned white; the priest shall pronounce him unclean: it is a plague of leprosy broken out of the boil.
  • American Standard Version (1901) Public Domain
    and the priest shall look; and, behold, if the appearance thereof be lower than the skin, and the hair thereof be turned white, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean: it is the plague of leprosy, it hath broken out in the boil.
  • Revised Version (1885) Public Domain
    and the priest shall look, and, behold, if the appearance thereof be lower than the skin, and the hair thereof be turned white, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean: it is the plague of leprosy, it hath broken out in the boil.
  • Geneva Bible (1599) Public Domain
    And when the Priest seeth it, if it appeare lower then the skinne, and the heare thereof bee changed into white, ye Priest then shall pronounce him vncleane: for it is a plague of leprosie, broken out in the bile.
  • Douay-Rheims (1899) Public Domain
    And when he shall see the place of the leprosy lower than the other flesh, and the hair turned white, he shall declare him unclean, for the plague of leprosy is broken out in the ulcer.
  • Young's Literal Translation Public Domain
    and the priest hath seen, and lo, its appearance `is' lower than the skin, and its hair hath turned white, and the priest hath pronounced him unclean; it `is' a plague of leprosy -- in an ulcer it hath broken out.
  • Literal Standard Version CC BY-SA 4.0
    and the priest has seen, and behold, its appearance [is] lower than the skin, and its hair has turned white, and the priest has pronounced him unclean; it [is] a plague of leprosy—it has broken out in an ulcer.
  • Unlocked Literal Bible CC BY-SA 4.0
    The priest will examine it to see if it appears deeper under the skin, and if the hair there has turned white. If so, then the priest must pronounce him unclean. It is an infectious disease, if it has developed in the place where the boil was.
  • unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
    And the priest shall see, and behold, the appearance deeper than the skin, and its hair has turned white. Then the priest shall pronounce him unclean. It an infection of skin disease; it has broken out in the boil.
  • Darby Bible Public Domain
    and the priest shall look on it, and behold, it looketh deeper than the skin, and the hair thereof is turned white; then the priest shall pronounce him unclean: it is the sore of leprosy broken out in the boil.
  • World Messianic Bible Public Domain
    The priest shall examine it. Behold, if its appearance is deeper than the skin, and its hair has turned white, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean. It is the plague of leprosy. It has broken out in the boil.
  • Webster's Bible Public Domain
    And if, when the priest seeth it, behold, it is in sight lower than the skin, and the hair of it is turned white; the priest shall pronounce him unclean: it is a plague of leprosy broken out of the boil.
  • Free Bible Version CC BY-SA 4.0
    The priest shall inspect it, and if it seems to be more than something on the surface, and if the hair there has turned white, the priest shall declare him unclean. It is a serious skin disease that has infected the boil.
  • Bible in Basic English Public Domain
    And after looking at it, if it seems to go deeper than the skin, and the hair on it is turned white, then the priest will say that the man is unclean: it is the leper's disease, it has come out in the bad place.
  • JPS Tanakh (1917) Public Domain
    And the priest shall look; and, behold, if the appearance thereof be lower than the skin, and the hair thereof be turned white, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean: it is the plague of leprosy, it hath broken out in the boil.

Literal Standard Version (2020), Covenant Press — licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API (eBible.org). Unlocked Literal Bible (unfoldingWord) — licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API (eBible.org). unfoldingWord Literal Text — © unfoldingWord, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Word-aligned USFM3 via Door43 (git.door43.org/unfoldingWord/en_ult). Free Bible Version, Dr. Jonathan Gallagher — licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API (eBible.org).

Word by word

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בַּשְּׁחִ֥ין
shᵉchîyn
H7822
“in/at the · boil”
Preposition, Determined + Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute
Part of Speech
Preposition + Noun
Type
Common
Gender
Masculine
Number
Singular
State
Absolute
Full BDB Definition

Origin: from an unused root probably meaning to burn

TWOT: 2364a

boil, inflamed spot, inflammation, eruption - of man, leprosy, of man and beast
  1. וְרָאָ֣ה râʼâh H7200 “and · to see” Conjunction + Verb, Qal, Sequential Perfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular
  2. הַכֹּהֵ֗ן kôhên H3548 “the · priest” Particle, Definite Article + Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute
  3. וְהִנֵּ֤ה hinnêh H2009 “and · behold” Conjunction + Particle, Demonstrative
  4. מַרְאֶ֨הָ֙ marʼeh H4758 “sight · her” Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct + Suffix, Personal, 3rd Person, Feminine, Singular
  5. שָׁפָ֣ל shâphâl H8217 “humble” Adjective, Adjective, Masculine, Singular, Absolute
  6. מִן min H4480 “from” Preposition
  7. הָע֔וֹר ʻôwr H5785 “the · skin” Particle, Definite Article + Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute
  8. וּשְׂעָרָ֖הּ sêʻâr H8181 “and · hair · her” Conjunction + Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct + Suffix, Personal, 3rd Person, Feminine, Singular
  9. הָפַ֣ךְ hâphak H2015 “to overturn” Verb, Qal, Perfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular
  10. לָבָ֑ן lâbân H3836 “white” Adjective, Adjective, Masculine, Singular, Absolute
  11. וְטִמְּא֧וֹ ṭâmêʼ H2930 “and · to be unclean · him” Conjunction + Verb, Piel, Sequential Perfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular + Suffix, Personal, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular
  12. הַכֹּהֵ֛ן kôhên H3548 “the · priest” Particle, Definite Article + Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute
  13. נֶֽגַע negaʻ H5061 “plague of” Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct
  14. צָרַ֥עַת tsâraʻath H6883 “leprosy” Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Absolute
  15. הִ֖וא hûwʼ H1931 “he” Pronoun, Personal, 3rd Person, Feminine, Singular
  16. פָּרָֽחָה pârach H6524 “to sprout” Verb, Qal, Perfect, 3rd Person, Feminine, Singular

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 →

17
words
16
distinct lemmas
Pentateuch
section

Notable vocabulary

The rarest word here is בַּשְּׁחִ֥ין boil H7822 — appearing just 13 times in the whole Hebrew Bible.

First appearance in Scripture

This word makes its first canonical appearance in the Hebrew Bible here:

  • שָׁפָ֣ל humble H8217

Shared distinctive vocabulary

בַּשְּׁחִ֥ין boil H7822 occurs in 12 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Grammatical profile

  • 4 verbs
  • 8 nouns
  • 2 adjectives
  • 1 pronoun
  • 1 preposition
  • 1 particle

Verb forms

  • וְרָאָ֣ה Qal · Sequential Perfect
  • הָפַ֣ךְ Qal · Perfect
  • וְטִמְּא֧וֹ Piel · Sequential Perfect
  • פָּרָֽחָה Qal · Perfect

Repetition

A word recurs within this verse — often emphatic in Hebrew:

  • הַכֹּהֵ֗ן priest H3548 ×2

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 46 words from the Hebrew and 40 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 17 Hebrew tokens and 29 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

4

Topical passages linked to Leviticus 13:20 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

  • Leviticus 13:3 and the priest shall examine the plague in the skin of the body: and if the hair in the plague has turned white, and the appearance of the plague is deeper than the body's skin, it is the plague of leprosy; and the priest shall examine him, and pronounce him unclean.
  • Matthew 12:45 Then he goes, and takes with himself seven other spirits more evil than he is, and they enter in and dwell there. The last state of that man becomes worse than the first. Even so will it be also to this evil generation."
  • John 5:14 Afterward Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, "Behold, you are made well. Sin no more, so that nothing worse happens to you."
  • 2 Peter 2:20 For if, after they have escaped the defilement of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein and overcome, the last state has become worse with them than the first.

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 13:20 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

וְרָאָ֣ה הַכֹּהֵ֗ן וְהִנֵּ֤ה מַרְאֶ֨הָ֙ שָׁפָ֣ל מִן הָע֔וֹר וּשְׂעָרָ֖הּ הָפַ֣ךְ לָבָ֑ן וְטִמְּא֧וֹ הַכֹּהֵ֛ן נֶֽגַע צָרַ֥עַת הִ֖וא בַּשְּׁחִ֥ין פָּרָֽחָה

and the priest shall examine it; and, behold, if the appearance of it is lower than the skin, and the hair of it has turned white, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean. It is the plague of leprosy. It has broken out in the boil.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Leviticus 13:20 Septuagint · lemma form

καί ὁράω ὁ ἱερεύς καί ἰδού ὁ ὄψις ταπεινός ὁ δέρμα καί ὁ θρίξ αὐτός μεταβάλλω εἰς λευκός καί μιαίνω αὐτός ὁ ἱερεύς λέπρα εἰμί ἐν ὁ ἕλκος ἐκἀνθέω

then the priest shall look, and, behold, if the appearance be beneath the skin, and its hair has changed to white, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean; because it is a leprosy, it has broken out in the ulcer.

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)

2

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.

  1. Targum Onkelos Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)
    וְיֶחֱזֵי כַהֲנָא וְהָא מֶחֱזָהָא מַכִּיךְ מִן מַשְׁכָּא וּשְׂעָרַהּ אִתְהַפִיךְ לְמֶחֱוָר וִיסָאֵבִינֵהּ כַּהֲנָא מַכְתַּשׁ סְגִירוּתָא הִיא בְּשִׁחַנָא סְגִיאַת

    (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.

  2. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)
    וְיֶחֱמֵי כַּהֲנָא וְהָא חֵיזְוָהָא מַכִּיךְ מִן מוֹשְׁכָא לְמֶחֱוַור וּשְעָרָהּ אִתְהַפִּיךְ לְמֶחֱוַור וְיַסְאִיבִינֵיהּ כַּהֲנָא מְטוּל דְמַכְתַּשׁ סְגִירוּתָא הוּא בְּשִׁיחֲנָא סַגִיאָת

    And the priest shall look; and, behold, if the appearance of it be deeper than the skin, and it becometh white, and the hair is turned white, the priest shall make him to be unclean; for it is a plague of leprosy which increaseth in the ulcer.

    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 13:20 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 →

Geneva Bible (1599)

Geneva Bible translators

None were exempted, but if the Priest pronounced him unclean, he was put out from among the people: as appeareth by Mary the prophetess, Num. 12:14, and by king Uzziah, 2 Chron. 26:20.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(20) Behold, it be in sight lower than the skin.—Better, Behold, its appearance is lower than the other skin. If upon examination the priest finds that the spot has assumed a deeper appearance than the rest of the skin, and the hair turned white—which were the two critical symptoms—he forthwith declared it leprosy.

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

And if, when the priest seeth it,.... And has thoroughly viewed it and considered it:

behold, it be in sight lower than the skin; having eaten into and taken root in the flesh under the skin:

and the hair thereof be turned white; which are the signs of leprosy before given, Lev 13:3,

the priest shall pronounce him unclean; not fit for company and conversation, but obliged to conform to the laws concerning leprosy:

it is a plague of leprosy broken out of the boil; which was there before: this is an emblem of apostates and apostasy, who having been seemingly healed and cleansed, return to their former course of life, and to all the impurity of it, like the dog to its vomit, and the swine to its wallowing in the mire, Pro 26:11; and so their last state is worse than the first, Mat 12:45, as in this case; at first it was a boil, and then thought to be cured, and afterwards arises out of it a plague of leprosy.

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

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Lower than the skin - Rather, reaching below the scarf skin.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

Ulcer, as before, ver. 3.

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).

Rashi

Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (Rashi)

מראה שפל IT BE IN SIGHT LOWER [THAN THE SKIN] — it itself is not deeper, but on account of its whiteness it appears lower and deeper ‎(מראה שפל), just as the colour of anything illuminated by the sun is deeper than the shadow (see Rashi v. 3).

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

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 17 words (16 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is shᵉchîyn (“boil”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

  1. What does “boil” (shᵉchîyn) contribute to the verse as a whole?
  2. The word “humble” first appears here in Scripture. What is being introduced at this debut?
  3. Exodus 9:9 shares the word «boil» with this verse. How do the two illuminate each other?
  4. “priest” occurs 2× in this one verse. What is the effect of the repetition?
  5. The translations on this page render this verse differently — a whole-verse word diff, not a word-by-word alignment. What might account for the different wordings?
  6. The verb «וְרָאָ֣ה» is Qal Sequential Perfect. How does its form color the action?
  7. Reading how Geneva Bible (1599) and Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers read this verse, where do the two commentators agree and where do they part?

Things to notice

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Old Testament edition

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English shown for the Greek Septuagint (in the Hebrew ↔ Greek comparison).

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