Verse-by-Verse Commentary
The Book of Leviticus
Chapter 13: The Law of Leprosy
Leviticus 13 is a long, careful law about leprosy, and it is more than medicine. Throughout Scripture leprosy is the great picture of sin: it starts small, goes deeper than the skin, spreads, defiles, and drives its victim outside the camp to cry 'Unclean, unclean.' No priest could cure it; he could only diagnose it. Yet hidden in the law is a strange gospel, that the one wholly covered, who owns his whole leprosy, is pronounced clean. It all waits for the One who would touch the leper and say, 'I will; be thou clean.'
About This Commentary
This is a verse-by-verse study of Leviticus chapter 13. For each section you will find the KJV text, the Hebrew words that sharpen the meaning, plain explanation, and a Gospel Focus. The chapter gives the priest's law for diagnosing leprosy in the skin and in garments. Leprosy is Scripture's vivid picture of sin, and the chapter's details, and its surprising paradox of grace, all point to Christ, who alone can cleanse. Every Scripture quotation is from the King James Version.
Setting the Stage
More Than Surface
The mark of true leprosy was that it lay "deeper than the skin" and spread. Sin, too, is never merely surface, and it grows.
Wholly Covered, Clean
If the leprosy covered the whole body, the man was pronounced clean; but a spot of raw flesh made him unclean.
Unclean, Unclean
The leper wore torn clothes, covered his lip, cried "Unclean," and dwelt alone. Sin isolates and separates.
Even Our Things
Leprosy could infect a garment, which was then burned. Sin reaches even into our works and possessions.
Deeper Than the Skin (Leviticus 13:1-8)
The priest examines the sore, and the marks of true leprosy are that it goes deeper than the skin and spreads; then he pronounces the person unclean.
The Priest Looks and Pronounces
"And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron, saying, When a man shall have in the skin of his flesh a rising, a scab, or bright spot, and it be in the skin of his flesh like the plague of leprosy; then he shall be brought unto Aaron the priest, or unto one of his sons the priests: And the priest shall look on the plague in the skin of the flesh: and when the hair in the plague is turned white, and the plague in sight be deeper than the skin of his flesh, it is a plague of leprosy: and the priest shall look on him, and pronounce him unclean. If the bright spot be white in the skin of his flesh, and in sight be not deeper than the skin, and the hair thereof be not turned white; then the priest shall shut up him that hath the plague seven days: And the priest shall look on him the seventh day: and, behold, if the plague in his sight be at a stay, and the plague spread not in the skin; then the priest shall shut him up seven days more: And the priest shall look on him again the seventh day: and, behold, if the plague be somewhat dark, and the plague spread not in the skin, the priest shall pronounce him clean: it is but a scab: and he shall wash his clothes, and be clean. But if the scab spread much abroad in the skin, after that he hath been seen of the priest for his cleansing, he shall be seen of the priest again: And if the priest see that, behold, the scab spreadeth in the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean: it is a leprosy. When the plague of leprosy is in a man, then he shall be brought unto the priest; And the priest shall see him: and, behold, if the rising be white in the skin, and it have turned the hair white, and there be quick raw flesh in the rising; It is an old leprosy in the skin of his flesh, and the priest shall pronounce him unclean, and shall not shut him up: for he is unclean. And if a leprosy break out abroad in the skin, and the leprosy cover all the skin of him that hath the plague from his head even to his foot, wheresoever the priest looketh;"
Hebrew Study
"leprosy," tsara'ath (צָרַעַת). A term covering leprosy and various spreading skin diseases that made a person ceremonially unclean. In Scripture it becomes the standing emblem of sin: a defiling, spreading corruption that a person cannot cure in himself and that shuts him out from the presence of God.
Explanation
When a suspicious mark appeared on the skin, the person was brought "unto Aaron the priest," and the priest examined it closely. Two signs told him it was true leprosy rather than a passing blemish: the hair in the spot "turned white," and the plague was "deeper than the skin of his flesh." If it was doubtful, the person was shut up for seven days and examined again to see whether it had spread. The priest could not heal; his task was only to look and to declare, to "pronounce him unclean" or clean. The whole procedure was patient and exact, because so much hung on the diagnosis. What lay deeper than the skin, and what was spreading, could not be ignored or covered over. It had to be named for what it was.
Gospel Focus
Leprosy is the Bible's great picture of sin, and the diagnosis teaches us its nature. True leprosy was "deeper than the skin"; sin, too, is never merely a surface fault to be smoothed over, but a corruption of the heart. And leprosy spread; sin left unchecked never stays where it began but grows and infects the whole life. The priest could only diagnose, not cure, just as the law can show us our sin but cannot remove it. This is why we must let God's word do its searching work and name our sin honestly, rather than covering the spot and pretending it is nothing. The first step toward cleansing is to be truthfully examined and to accept the verdict. As the law brought the leper to the priest to hear the truth about himself, so the word of God brings us to the light to see our sin as it really is, deeper than the skin, and spreading, so that we will seek the only One who can heal it.
Wholly Covered, and Clean (Leviticus 13:9-17)
In a startling reversal, when the leprosy covered the whole body the man was pronounced clean, but a single patch of raw flesh made him unclean.
All Turned White, He Is Clean
"Then the priest shall consider: and, behold, if the leprosy have covered all his flesh, he shall pronounce him clean that hath the plague: it is all turned white: he is clean. But when raw flesh appeareth in him, he shall be unclean. And the priest shall see the raw flesh, and pronounce him to be unclean: for the raw flesh is unclean: it is a leprosy. Or if the raw flesh turn again, and be changed unto white, he shall come unto the priest; And the priest shall see him: and, behold, if the plague be turned into white; then the priest shall pronounce him clean that hath the plague: he is clean. The flesh also, in which, even in the skin thereof, was a boil, and is healed, And in the place of the boil there be a white rising, or a bright spot, white, and somewhat reddish, and it be shewed to the priest; 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. But if the priest look on it, and, behold, there be no white hairs therein, and if it be not lower than the skin, but be somewhat dark; then the priest shall shut him up seven days: And if it spread much abroad in the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean: it is a plague. But if the bright spot stay in his place, and spread not, it is a burning boil; and the priest shall pronounce him clean. Or if there be any flesh, in the skin whereof there is a hot burning, and the quick flesh that burneth have a white bright spot, somewhat reddish, or white; Then the priest shall look upon it: and, behold, if the hair in the bright spot be turned white, and it be in sight deeper than the skin; it is a leprosy broken out of the burning: wherefore the priest shall pronounce him unclean: it is the plague of leprosy. But if the priest look on it, and, behold, there be no white hair in the bright spot, and it be no lower than the other skin, but be somewhat dark; then the priest shall shut him up seven days: And the priest shall look upon him the seventh day: and if it be spread much abroad in the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean: it is the plague of leprosy. And if the bright spot stay in his place, and spread not in the skin, but it be somewhat dark; it is a rising of the burning, and the priest shall pronounce him clean: for it is an inflammation of the burning. If a man or woman have a plague upon the head or the beard; Then the priest shall see the plague: and, behold, if it be in sight deeper than the skin; and there be in it a yellow thin hair; then the priest shall pronounce him unclean: it is a dry scall, even a leprosy upon the head or beard. And if the priest look on the plague of the scall, and, behold, it be not in sight deeper than the skin, and that there is no black hair in it; then the priest shall shut up him that hath the plague of the scall seven days: And in the seventh day the priest shall look on the plague: and, behold, if the scall spread not, and there be in it no yellow hair, and the scall be not in sight deeper than the skin; He shall be shaven, but the scall shall he not shave; and the priest shall shut up him that hath the scall seven days more: And in the seventh day the priest shall look on the scall: and, behold, if the scall be not spread in the skin, nor be in sight deeper than the skin; then the priest shall pronounce him clean: and he shall wash his clothes, and be clean. But if the scall spread much in the skin after his cleansing; Then the priest shall look on him: and, behold, if the scall be spread in the skin, the priest shall not seek for yellow hair; he is unclean. But if the scall be in his sight at a stay, and that there is black hair grown up therein; the scall is healed, he is clean: and the priest shall pronounce him clean. If a man also or a woman have in the skin of their flesh bright spots, even white bright spots; Then the priest shall look: and, behold, if the bright spots in the skin of their flesh be darkish white; it is a freckled spot that groweth in the skin; he is clean. And the man whose hair is fallen off his head, he is bald; yet is he clean. And he that hath his hair fallen off from the part of his head toward his face, he is forehead bald: yet is he clean. And if there be in the bald head, or bald forehead, a white reddish sore; it is a leprosy sprung up in his bald head, or his bald forehead. Then the priest shall look upon it: and, behold, if the rising of the sore be white reddish in his bald head, or in his bald forehead, as the leprosy appeareth in the skin of the flesh; He is a leprous man, he is unclean: the priest shall pronounce him utterly unclean; his plague is in his head."
Hebrew Study
"pronounce him clean," taher (טָהֵר). To declare clean, to purify. Notice it is the priest who declares the state; the word is a verdict spoken over the person. Cleanness before God is not something we achieve but something God pronounces, a declaration made by the one He appoints to judge the case.
Explanation
Here the law takes a surprising turn. If a spreading leprosy finally "cover all his flesh from his head even to his foot," the priest was to "pronounce him clean." Yet "when raw flesh appeareth in him, he shall be unclean." How can total leprosy be clean and a small patch of living flesh be unclean? The likely sense is medical: a condition that had run its full course and turned the whole surface white was no longer active and contagious, whereas the appearance of raw flesh meant the disease was still eating and alive. But beyond the medicine, the picture is striking. The man who was wholly covered, who had nothing left to hide and no soundness to boast of, was pronounced clean; the man who still had a patch of seemingly healthy flesh was declared unclean.
Gospel Focus
This paradox is one of the most beautiful shadows of the gospel in Leviticus. The one wholly covered, who confessed the leprosy over his entire body and claimed no soundness of his own, was pronounced clean; the one who still pointed to a bit of healthy flesh, some remaining goodness, was unclean. So it is with sinners before God. The person who admits he is wholly a sinner, with no righteousness of his own to plead, is the one God justifies; the person who clings to a patch of self-righteousness, some "raw flesh" he thinks is sound, is not. This is the very lesson of the two men in the temple. The Pharisee pointed to his good works; the publican could only say, "God be merciful to me a sinner," and it was he who "went down to his house justified" (Luke 18:13-14). Scripture warns, "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves," but promises that "if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us" (1 John 1:8-9). Confess the whole leprosy. It is not the sinner who owns his sin but the one who hides a patch of pride who leaves unclean.
He Shall Dwell Alone (Leviticus 13:44-46)
The confirmed leper wore the signs of mourning, cried "Unclean, unclean," and lived alone outside the camp, cut off from the fellowship of God's people.
Unclean, Unclean
"And the leper in whom the plague is, his clothes shall be rent, and his head bare, and he shall put a covering upon his upper lip, and shall cry, Unclean, unclean. All the days wherein the plague shall be in him he shall be defiled; he is unclean: he shall dwell alone; without the camp shall his habitation be. The garment also that the plague of leprosy is in, whether it be a woollen garment, or a linen garment; Whether it be in the warp, or woof; of linen, or of woollen; whether in a skin, or in any thing made of skin; And if the plague be greenish or reddish in the garment, or in the skin, either in the warp, or in the woof, or in any thing of skin; it is a plague of leprosy, and shall be shewed unto the priest: And the priest shall look upon the plague, and shut up it that hath the plague seven days: And he shall look on the plague on the seventh day: if the plague be spread in the garment, either in the warp, or in the woof, or in a skin, or in any work that is made of skin; the plague is a fretting leprosy; it is unclean."
Hebrew Study
"dwell alone," badad (בָּדָד). Solitary, isolated, set apart in loneliness. The leper's dwelling "alone, without the camp" was the loneliest place in Israel, cut off from family, worship, and community. The word captures the isolating power of the plague, and of the sin it pictures.
Explanation
Once the leprosy was confirmed, the man's whole life changed. He was to wear the signs of the grieving and the outcast: "his clothes shall be rent, and his head bare," and "a covering upon his upper lip." Wherever he went he had to cry out a warning, "Unclean, unclean," so that none would come near and be defiled. And "he shall dwell alone; without the camp shall his habitation be," banished from the community, from the tabernacle, from the ordinary life of God's people. It was a living death. The leper kept his life but lost everything that made life worth living: family, fellowship, worship, and home. Nothing in the law pictures the misery of sin more vividly than this lonely figure calling out his own uncleanness from beyond the edge of the camp.
Gospel Focus
The leper's isolation shows what sin ultimately does: it separates, from others and from God. "Your iniquities have separated between you and your God," said Isaiah, and the leper outside the camp, crying "Unclean," is the picture of it. But here the gospel breaks in with wonder. When a leper came to Jesus, the Lord did what no one else would dare: "moved with compassion, he put forth his hand, and touched him," and said, "I will; be thou clean" (Mark 1:41). By every rule of Leviticus, touching a leper made a person unclean, yet Christ's touch made the leper clean instead. The holy overcame the defiled. And the One who cleansed the outcast Himself became the outcast, for He "suffered without the gate," bearing our reproach outside the camp. The Saviour went to the lonely place of the unclean and there took our uncleanness upon Himself, that we might be brought back inside, into the fellowship of God's people and the presence of God. No sinner is too far outside the camp for the reach of His hand.
Leprosy in a Garment (Leviticus 13:47-59)
Leprosy could spread even into cloth and leather, and a garment in which the plague persisted had to be burned with fire.
Burned with Fire
"He shall therefore burn that garment, whether warp or woof, in woollen or in linen, or any thing of skin, wherein the plague is: for it is a fretting leprosy; it shall be burnt in the fire. And if the priest shall look, and, behold, the plague be not spread in the garment, either in the warp, or in the woof, or in any thing of skin; Then the priest shall command that they wash the thing wherein the plague is, and he shall shut it up seven days more: And the priest shall look on the plague, after that it is washed: and, behold, if the plague have not changed his colour, and the plague be not spread; it is unclean; thou shalt burn it in the fire; it is fret inward, whether it be bare within or without. And if the priest look, and, behold, the plague be somewhat dark after the washing of it; then he shall rend it out of the garment, or out of the skin, or out of the warp, or out of the woof: And if it appear still in the garment, either in the warp, or in the woof, or in any thing of skin; it is a spreading plague: thou shalt burn that wherein the plague is with fire. And the garment, either warp, or woof, or whatsoever thing of skin it be, which thou shalt wash, if the plague be departed from them, then it shall be washed the second time, and shall be clean. This is the law of the plague of leprosy in a garment of woollen or linen, either in the warp, or woof, or any thing of skins, to pronounce it clean, or to pronounce it unclean."
Hebrew Study
"fretting leprosy," tsara'ath mam'ereth (צָרַעַת מַמְאֶרֶת), a malignant, "fretting" (eating, spreading) plague — here not on skin but in a garment, in wool, linen, or leather. That defilement could infest cloth itself shows how the Bible pictures sin: not a surface stain but a spreading corruption that works inward and outward until the thing must be "burnt in the fire." What cannot be cleansed must be destroyed — a sober shadow of sin's reach and its end.
Explanation
The chapter ends by extending the law of leprosy beyond the body to clothing. A "plague of leprosy" could appear in "a woollen garment, or a linen garment," or in anything made of skin, likely a spreading mould or rot. The priest examined it as he did the skin, shut it up seven days, and watched whether the mark spread. If it did, it was "a fretting leprosy," a persistent, eating corruption, and the garment "shall be burnt in the fire." If washing removed it, the garment was clean; if the plague remained after washing, it too was burned. Even a person's possessions and coverings were not beyond the reach of the plague, and where it had taken deep hold, nothing could be done but to destroy the infected thing entirely.
Gospel Focus
That leprosy could infect even a garment teaches that sin reaches beyond the heart into everything connected to us, our works, our habits, the things we wear and use and touch. Nothing in a fallen life is automatically safe from it. Jude warns believers to keep themselves pure, "hating even the garment spotted by the flesh" (Jude 23), the same imagery of a defiled garment. And it exposes the futility of our own coverings: whatever righteousness we try to weave for ourselves is threaded through with the plague, for "all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags" (Isaiah 64:6). The leprous garment, past cleansing, had to be burned; our old self-made coverings cannot be patched but must be given up. Yet the gospel offers a new garment in their place. Christ clothes His people in "the robe of righteousness," a covering that no plague can touch, woven not by our works but by His grace. Cast off the leprous garment of your own righteousness, and put on the spotless robe He gives.
A Note on History
The "leprosy" of Leviticus (Hebrew tsara'at, rendered lepra in the Greek Septuagint) is not the same as the modern disease now called leprosy, or Hansen's disease, which was only identified in 1873. The biblical term covers a range of ceremonial skin conditions, and, remarkably, also mold or mildew in cloth and in the walls of houses, which no single medical illness would include. The concern of these chapters is ceremonial cleanness before a holy God, and the isolation of the afflicted outside the camp reflected both reverence and a practical wisdom about contagion long before the modern understanding of disease.
Chapter 13 in Review
Leviticus 13 gives the priest's careful law for diagnosing leprosy in the skin and in garments. The marks of true leprosy were that it lay "deeper than the skin" and spread; the priest could only examine and pronounce, not cure. In a startling paradox, a leprosy that covered the whole body was pronounced clean, while a patch of raw flesh was unclean. The confirmed leper wore the signs of mourning, cried "Unclean, unclean," and "dwelt alone, without the camp." And leprosy that took hold even in a garment meant the garment must be burned.
For the Apostolic reader, the whole chapter preaches sin and grace. Leprosy pictures sin: deeper than the surface, spreading, defiling, isolating, and beyond human cure. The great paradox is a shadow of the gospel, for the one who owns his whole leprosy, claiming no soundness of his own, is pronounced clean, while the one clinging to a patch of self-righteousness is not; the publican, not the Pharisee, went home justified. The leper's lonely cry is answered by the Saviour who touched the untouchable and made him clean, and who Himself went outside the camp to bear our uncleanness. And the leprous garment, fit only for the fire, sends us from our own filthy rags to the robe of righteousness that Christ alone can give.
- Leprosy pictures sin: deeper than the skin, spreading, defiling, and beyond human cure.
- The priest could only diagnose, as the law reveals sin but cannot remove it.
- The paradox is grace: the one who owns his whole leprosy is clean; the one hiding a patch of pride is unclean.
- Sin isolates, driving the leper outside the camp; Christ touched the outcast and became the outcast for us.
- Even a garment could be leprous; our self-made righteousness is filthy rags, to be exchanged for Christ's robe.
Questions for Reflection
- Are you letting God's word diagnose the sin that lies deeper than the surface, or covering the spot?
- Do you come owning your whole need, like the publican, or clinging to a patch of your own goodness?
- Have you cast off the leprous garment of your own righteousness for the robe Christ gives?
References & Sources
Scripture is quoted from the King James Version (KJV). The Hebrew terms are standard and can be checked in any Hebrew lexicon. Supporting passages are listed so every claim can be verified in its own setting. If anything here does not look right, a verse, a reference, or a wording, please tell us at info@FruitBearers.net. Thank you for helping us keep Bible Learning error free.
- The term tsara'at and its distinction from modern leprosy (Hansen's disease): standard Hebrew lexicons and medical-historical scholarship.
- Leprosy as a picture of sin, deeper than the skin: Leviticus 13:1-8.
- The paradox of grace, wholly covered and clean: Leviticus 13:9-17; Luke 18:13-14; 1 John 1:8-9.
- The leper's isolation, and Christ who touched him: Leviticus 13:44-46; Mark 1:41; Hebrews 13:12-13.
- The leprous garment and our filthy rags: Leviticus 13:47-59; Jude 23; Isaiah 64:6.