Leviticus 13:55

Lev 13:55. If it have not changed its colour — If washing doth not take away that vicious colour, and restore it to its own native colour.

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

But remain as it did before.

Or, whether it be in any bare place before, or behind.

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

(55) And the plague be not spread.—Better, though the plague hath not spread. If after the washing of the affected spot the priest finds that its appearance has not changed, it must nevertheless be burnt, since the retention of the suspicious colour indicates that it is leprosy.

It is fret inward, whether it be bare within or without.—Better, it is a corroding in the fore baldness thereof or in the back baldness thereof. (See Lev_13:42-43.) That is, though it has not spread in breadth, the distemper has eaten into the fabric, either on the upper side, which is compared to the forehead, or into the under side, which is compared to the hinder part of the head in human head-leprosy.

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

55. it is a fret, whether the bareness be within or without] The Heb. word for ‘fret’ occurs only here, and probably means a depression in the surface caused by the material being eaten away. The Heb. words which follow are those used for baldness in the back or front of the head in Lev_13:40-41. They are used here to denote the back or front of the garment, the inside or outside. The word ‘fret’ has nothing in common with ‘fretting’ in Lev_13:51.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And if it appear still in the garment, either in the warp, or in the woof, or in anything of skin,.... After the piece has been rent out, in another part of the garment, &c. where before it was not seen:

it is a spreading plague; or leprosy; a flourishing one, as the word signifies, a growing and increasing one:

thou shalt burn that wherein the plague is with fire; according to Aben Ezra, only that part in which the plague was; but Jarchi says the whole garment; with whom Ben Gersom seems to agree, who reads the words, thou shall burn it, with that in which the plague is; the whole garment, skin, warp, or woof, along with the part in which the leprosy is.

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

Returned, which it had before it was infected, and, consequently, as the Hebrew reads, "behold the plague has not changed its colour." (Haydock)

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).

If the plague have not changed his colour; if washing doth not take away that vicious colour, and restore it to its own native colour.

Bare within or without; in the outside of the garment, which is here called the forehead or foreside, as being most visible, or in the inside of it. Some of the Jewish doctors understood it thus, whether the garment was made threadbare by the leprosy, or by former wearing of it.

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

If it have not changed its colour - If washing doth not take away that vicious colour, and restore it to its own native colour.

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

הֻכַּבֵּס‎ ‎ ‎‎‎‏ אחרי AFTER IT IS WASHED — The verbal form is an expression of something done (a passive infinitive).

לא הפך הנגע את עינו THE PLAGUE HATH NOT CHANGED ITS COLOR — i. e. it has not become paler than its former colour.

והנגע לא פשה AND THE PLAGUE HATH NOT SPREAD — We understand from this that if it has not changed its color and has not spread it is unclean, (although the fact that it has not spread might lead us to suppose that it is clean;here, however, the color has not changed, and so it is unclean). It is, of course, not necessary to state that it is unclean if the colour has not changed but the plague has spread (for the spreading is an additional reason for declaring it unclean). If, however, it has changed its colour, but it has not spread, I would not know what one should do with it. Therefore it states, (v. 50) “And he shall shut up the plague” for a period and examine it again — shut it up whatever the circumstances of doubt may be. This is the opinion of Rabbi Jehuda. But other Sages say that in this case it is undoubtedly unclean as is stated in Torath Cohanim (Sifra, Tazria Parashat Nega'im, Chapter 15 7): and I make mention of this here (instead of doing so on v. 50), in order to explain that verse in its connection with this text.

פחתת היא — This is an expression denoting a pit (anything cut out) as in, (II Samuel 17:9) “in one of the pits (פחתים)”. It is as much as to say, it is low-lying — a plague the colour of which is sunk deep (Sifra, Tazria Parashat Nega'im, Chapter 15 8).

בגבחתו ‎‎‎ או‎ בקרחתו — Understand this as the Targum does: in its old state (lit., rubbed condition) or in its new state.

קרחתו is therefore שחקים (clothes rubbed by wear), old (and consequently,שחיקותיה is a proper contrast to חדתותיה in the Targum). These words, קרחת and גבחת, although not properly applicable to garments are used here to afford an opportunity for an Halachic derivation, for which there is required an argument deduced from the similarity of phrases: Whence do we know in regard to a plague spreading over the entire surface in the case of garments that it is c1ean? Because the, terms קרחת and גבחת are used in the case of a human being and the terms קרחת and גבחת are used in the case of garments. How is it in the former case? If it has spread over all his body, he is clean (v.13)! So here, also, if it has spread over all the garment it is clean (Niddah 19a). For this reason Scripture here purposely avails itself of the expressions קרחת and גבחת, to make the גז"ש possible. And in regard to its interpretation and its translation in the Targum the following is what it implies: קרחת is an expression denoting “old”, and גבחת is an expression denoting “new” (Sifra, Tazria Parashat Nega'im, Chapter 15 9); and the meaning is just the same as though it were written באחריתו או בקדמותו. at its end or at its beginning, — for קרחת has the meaning of the back- parts (i. e. the end), since גבחת has the meaning of face (front-side, i. e. beginning), as it is written, (v. 41) “And if from the corner towards his face [the hair of his head be fallen] … he is a גבח” — so that קרחת must be all that part which slopes downwards on the skull towards the back. Thus is it explained in Torath Cohanim (Sifra, Tazria Parashat Nega'im, Chapter 10 7).

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.