The Garment and the Leather
47 “The garment also that the plague of leprosy is in, whether it is a woolen garment, or a linen garment; 48 whether it is in warp or woof; of linen or of wool; whether in leather, or in anything made of leather; 49 if the plague is greenish or reddish in the garment, or in the leather, or in the warp, or in the woof, or in anything made of leather; it is the plague of leprosy, and shall be shown to the priest. 50 The priest shall examine the plague, and isolate the plague seven days. 51 He shall examine the plague on the seventh day. If the plague has spread in the garment, either in the warp, or in the woof, or in the skin, whatever use the skin is used for, the plague is a destructive mildew. It is unclean. 52 He shall burn the garment, whether the warp or the woof, in wool or in linen, or anything of leather, in which the plague is, for it is a destructive mildew. It shall be burned in the fire. 53 “If the priest examines it, and behold, the plague hasn’t spread in the garment, either in the warp, or in the woof, or in anything of skin; 54 then the priest shall command that they wash the thing that the plague is in, and he shall isolate it seven more days. 55 Then the priest shall examine it, after the plague is washed; and behold, if the plague hasn’t changed its color, and the plague hasn’t spread, it is unclean; you shall burn it in the fire. It is a mildewed spot, whether the bareness is inside or outside. 56 If the priest looks, and behold, the plague has faded after it is washed, then he shall tear it out of the garment, or out of the skin, or out of the warp, or out of the woof; 57 and if it appears again in the garment, either in the warp, or in the woof, or in anything of skin, it is spreading. You shall burn what the plague is in with fire. 58 The garment, either the warp, or the woof, or whatever thing of skin it is, which you shall wash, if the plague has departed from them, then it shall be washed the second time, and it will be clean.” 59 This is the law of the plague of mildew in a garment of wool or linen, either in the warp, or the woof, or in anything of skin, to pronounce it clean, or to pronounce it unclean.
The same procedure is applied to cloth, with the same waiting periods, and a garment that can be saved is washed rather than burned.
The chapter closes by extending the procedure to fabric — wool, linen, warp, weft, and anything made of leather Leviticus 13:47–48.
What is being described is spreading mold or rot, and the treatment mirrors the treatment of a person exactly. The garment is shown to the priest, shut up seven days Leviticus 13:50, examined again, and judged by whether the mark has spread.
That parallel is the point of including the section. The same category, the same waiting, the same examination, and the same vocabulary are applied to a coat as to a man — which tells a reader something about what the word translated leprosy is doing in this book. It is not a medical diagnosis. It is a designation for a spreading corruption in a surface, whether that surface is skin, cloth or, in the next chapter, a wall.
The outcomes are graded, and the grading is generous. If the mark has spread, the garment is burned Leviticus 13:52. If it has not, the article is washed and shut up another seven days Leviticus 13:54. If after washing the mark has faded but not gone, only the affected part is torn out Leviticus 13:56.
A garment is destroyed only when nothing else will do. Washing is tried, partial removal is tried, and a second quarantine is imposed before anyone reaches for the fire — and in a household where clothing was made by hand and owned in small numbers, that patience had real value.
The closing verse states what the whole chapter has been: a law to pronounce it clean, or to pronounce it unclean Leviticus 13:59.
Two verdicts, and the book has spent fifty-nine verses making sure the right one is reached. For all the severity of the sentence on a person put outside the camp, the machinery around that sentence is designed to slow it down.
settled What this mark means