Reina Valera (1995)

 1Habló Jehová a Moisés y a Aarón, y les dijo: 2"Cuando el hombre tenga en la piel de su cuerpo una hinchazón o una erupción o una mancha blanca, y haya en la piel de su cuerpo como una llaga de lepra, será llevado a Aarón, el sacerdote, o a uno de sus hijos, los sacerdotes. 3El sacerdote mirará la llaga en la piel del cuerpo; si el vello en la llaga se ha vuelto blanco y se ve la llaga más profunda que la piel de la carne, llaga de lepra es. El sacerdote lo reconocerá y lo declarará impuro. 4"Si en la piel de su cuerpo hay una mancha blanca, pero no se ve más profunda que la piel ni el vello se ha vuelto blanco, entonces el sacerdote encerrará al llagado durante siete días. 5Al séptimo día el sacerdote lo examinará, y si la llaga conserva el mismo aspecto y no se ha extendido en la piel, entonces el sacerdote lo volverá a encerrar por otros siete días. 6Al séptimo día el sacerdote lo reconocerá de nuevo; si ve que se ha oscurecido la llaga, y que no se ha extendido en la piel, entonces el sacerdote lo declarará limpio: era una erupción. Lavará sus vestidos y quedará limpio. 7"Pero si se extiende la erupción en la piel después que él se mostró al sacerdote para ser limpio, deberá mostrarse otra vez al sacerdote. 8El sacerdote lo reconocerá, y si ve que la erupción se ha extendido en la piel, lo declarará impuro: es lepra.^[1] 9"Cuando haya llaga de lepra en el hombre, será llevado al sacerdote. 10Si al examinarlo el sacerdote observa un tumor blanco en la piel, el cual ha hecho que el vello mude de color, y también se descubre la carne viva, 11es lepra crónica en la piel de su cuerpo. El sacerdote lo declarará impuro, aunque no lo encerrará, porque ya es impuro. 12"Pero si la lepra brota y se extiende por la piel, de modo que cubre toda la piel del llagado desde la cabeza hasta los pies, hasta donde pueda ver el sacerdote, 13entonces este lo reconocerá. Si la lepra ha cubierto todo su cuerpo, declarará limpio al llagado; toda ella se ha vuelto blanca, y él es limpio. 14Pero el día que aparezca en él la carne viva, quedará impuro. 15El sacerdote examinará la carne viva y lo declarará impuro, pues la carne viva es impura: es lepra. 16"Pero cuando la carne viva cambie y se vuelva blanca, entonces irá al sacerdote, 17y el sacerdote lo examinará. Si la llaga se ha vuelto blanca, el sacerdote declarará limpio al que tenía la llaga, y quedará limpio. 18"Cuando una persona tenga en su piel una llaga, que luego sana, 19pero en el lugar de la llaga aparece una hinchazón o una mancha blanca rojiza, será mostrado al sacerdote. 20El sacerdote lo examinará; si ve que está más profunda que la piel, y que su vello se ha vuelto blanco, el sacerdote lo declarará impuro: es lepra que brota de la llaga. 21Pero si el sacerdote la examina y no ve en ella vello blanco, ni que es más profunda que la piel, sino oscura, entonces el sacerdote lo encerrará por siete días. 22Si se ha extendido por la piel, entonces el sacerdote lo declarará impuro: es una llaga. 23Pero si la mancha blanca permanece en su lugar y no se ha extendido, es la cicatriz de la llaga, y el sacerdote lo declarará limpio. 24"Asimismo cuando haya en la piel del cuerpo una quemadura de fuego, y aparezca en la parte quemada una mancha blanquecina, rojiza o blanca, 25el sacerdote la examinará. Si el vello se ha vuelto blanco en la mancha, y esta es más profunda que la piel, es lepra que salió en la quemadura. El sacerdote lo declarará impuro por ser llaga de lepra. 26Pero si el sacerdote la examina y no hay en la mancha vello blanco, ni es más profunda que la piel, sino que es oscura, lo encerrará el sacerdote por siete días. 27Al séptimo día el sacerdote la reconocerá; y si se ha ido extendiendo por la piel, el sacerdote lo declarará impuro: es llaga de lepra. 28Pero si la mancha permanece en su lugar y no se ha extendido en la piel, sino que es oscura, se trata de la cicatriz de la quemadura. El sacerdote lo declarará limpio, porque señal de la quemadura es. 29"Cuando a un hombre o a una mujer le salga una llaga en la cabeza, o en la barba, 30el sacerdote examinará la llaga. Si ve que es más profunda que la piel y que el pelo en ella es amarillento y delgado, entonces el sacerdote lo declarará impuro: es tiña, lepra de la cabeza o de la barba. 31Pero si, al examinar la llaga de la tiña, el sacerdote ve que no es más profunda que la piel ni hay en ella pelo negro, encerrará por siete días al llagado de la tiña. 32Al séptimo día el sacerdote examinará la llaga, y si la tiña no se ha extendido ni hay en ella pelo amarillento, ni se ve la tiña más profunda que la piel, 33entonces hará que se rasure, salvo en el lugar afectado, y el sacerdote encerrará por otros siete días al que tiene la tiña. 34Al séptimo día el sacerdote examinará la tiña, y si la tiña no se ha extendido en la piel ni es más profunda que la piel, el sacerdote lo declarará limpio; lavará sus vestidos y quedará limpio. 35Pero si la tiña se ha ido extendiendo en la piel después de su purificación, 36entonces el sacerdote la examinará, y si la tiña se ha extendido en la piel, no busque el sacerdote el pelo amarillento: es impuro. 37Pero si le parece que la tiña está detenida y que ha salido en ella el pelo negro, la tiña está sanada; la persona está limpia, y limpia la declarará el sacerdote. 38"Asimismo cuando un hombre o una mujer tenga en la piel de su cuerpo manchas, manchas blancas, 39el sacerdote lo examinará, y si en la piel de su cuerpo aparecen manchas blancas algo oscurecidas, es una erupción que brotó en la piel: la persona está limpia. 40"Si a un hombre se le cae el cabello, se queda calvo, pero limpio. 41Si se le cae el cabello de la frente, se queda calvo por delante, pero es limpio. 42Pero cuando en la calva o en las entradas haya una llaga blanca rojiza, lepra es que brota en su calva o en sus entradas. 43Entonces el sacerdote lo examinará, y si la hinchazón de la llaga blanca rojiza en su calva o en sus entradas se parece a la de la lepra de la piel del cuerpo, 44leproso es, es impuro. El sacerdote lo declarará luego impuro; en su cabeza tiene la llaga. 45"El leproso que tenga llagas llevará vestidos rasgados y su cabeza descubierta, y con el rostro semicubierto gritará: "¡Impuro! ¡Impuro!" 46Todo el tiempo que tenga las llagas, será impuro. Estará impuro y habitará solo; fuera del campamento vivirá. 47"Cuando en un vestido aparezca una mancha de lepra, ya sea vestido de lana o de lino, 48o en urdimbre o en trama de lino o de lana, o en cuero, o en cualquier objeto de cuero, 49y si la mancha es verdosa o rojiza, en vestido o en cuero, en urdimbre o en trama, o en cualquier objeto de cuero, es mancha de lepra^[2] y se ha de mostrar al sacerdote. 50El sacerdote examinará la mancha, y encerrará la cosa manchada durante siete días. 51Al séptimo día examinará la mancha, y si se ha extendido en el vestido, en la urdimbre o en la trama, en el cuero o en cualquier objeto hecho de cuero, la mancha es lepra maligna: el objeto será inmundo. 52Será quemado el vestido, la urdimbre o trama de lana o de lino, o cualquier objeto de cuero en que haya tal mancha, porque lepra maligna es: al fuego será quemado. 53Pero si el sacerdote, al examinarlo, ve que la mancha no se ha extendido en el vestido, en la urdimbre o en la trama, o en cualquier objeto de cuero, 54entonces el sacerdote mandará que laven donde está la mancha, y lo encerrará otra vez por siete días. 55"Después que la mancha haya sido lavada, el sacerdote la examinará, y si ve que la mancha no ha cambiado de aspecto, aunque no se haya extendido, el objeto es inmundo y lo quemarás al fuego: es corrosión penetrante, esté lo raído en el derecho o en el revés de aquella cosa. 56Pero si el sacerdote la ve, y parece que la mancha se ha oscurecido después que fue lavada, la cortará del vestido, del cuero, de la urdimbre o de la trama. 57Si aparece de nuevo en el vestido, la urdimbre o la trama, o en cualquier cosa de cuero, extendiéndose en ellos, quemarás al fuego aquello en que esté la mancha. 58Pero el vestido, la urdimbre o la trama, o cualquier cosa de cuero que laves, y que se le quite la mancha, se lavará por segunda vez, y entonces quedará limpia". 59Esta es la ley para la mancha de la lepra en los vestidos de lana o de lino, de urdimbre o de trama, o de cualquier objeto de cuero, para que sean declarados limpios o inmundos.


Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary
 1   I. Concerning the plague of leprosy we may observe in general, 1. That it was rather an uncleanness than a disease; or, at least, so the law considered it, and therefore employed not the physicians but the priests about it. Christ is said to cleanse lepers, not to cure them. We do not read of any that died of the leprosy, but it rather buried them alive, by rendering them unfit for conversation with any but such as were infected like themselves. Yet there is a tradition that Pharaoh, who sought to kill Moses, was the first that ever was struck with this disease, and that he died of it. It is said to have begun first in Egypt, whence it spread into Syria. It was very well known to Moses, when he put his own hand into his bosom and took it out leprous. 2. That it was a plague inflicted immediately by the hand of God, and came not from natural causes, as other diseases; and therefore must be managed according to a divine law. Miriam's leprosy, and Gehazi's, and king Uzziah's, were all the punishments of particular sins: and, if generally it was so, no marvel there was so much care taken to distinguish it from a common distemper, that none might be looked upon as lying under this extraordinary token of divine displeasure but those that really were so. 3. That it is a plague not now known in the world; what is commonly called the leprosy is of a quite different nature. This seems to have been reserved as a particular scourge for the sinners of those times and places. The Jews retained the idolatrous customs they had learnt in Egypt, and therefore God justly caused this with some others of the diseases of Egypt to follow them. Yet we read of Naaman the Syrian, who was a leper, 2Kgs 5:1. 4. That there were other breakings-out in the body which did very much resemble the leprosy, but were not it, which might make a man sore and loathsome and yet not ceremonially unclean. Justly are our bodies called vile bodies, which have in them the seeds of so many diseases, by which the lives of so many are made bitter to them. 5. That the judgment of it was referred to the priests. Lepers were looked upon as stigmatized by the justice of God, and therefore it was left to his servants the priests, who might be presumed to know his mark best, to pronounce who were lepers and who were not. All the Jews say, Any priest, though disabled by a blemish to attend the sanctuary, might be a judge of the leprosy, provided the blemish were not in his eye. And he might (they say) take a common person to assist him in the search, but the priest only must pronounce the judgment. 6. That it was a figure of the moral pollution of men's minds by sin, which is the leprosy of the soul, defiling to the conscience, and from which Christ alone can cleanse us; for herein the power of his grace infinitely transcends that of the legal priesthood, that the priest could only convict the leper (for by the law is the knowledge of sin), but Christ can cure the leper, he can take away sin. Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean, which was more than the priests could do, Matt 8:2. Some think that the leprosy signified, not so much sin in general as a state of sin, by which men are separated from God (their spot not being the spot of God's children), and scandalous sin, for which men are to be shut out from the communion of the faithful. It is a work of great importance, but of great difficulty, to judge of our spiritual state: we have all cause to suspect ourselves, being conscious to ourselves of sores and spots, but whether clean or unclean is the question. A man might have a scab (Lev 13:6) and yet be clean: the best have their infirmities; but, as there were certain marks by which to know that it was a leprosy, so there are characters of such as are in the gall of bitterness, and the work of ministers is to declare the judgment of leprosy and to assist those that suspect themselves in the trial of their spiritual state, remitting or retaining sin. And hence the keys of the kingdom of heaven are said to be given to them, because they are to separate between the precious and the vile, and to judge who are fit as clean to partake of the holy things and who as unclean must be debarred from them.
II. Several rules are here laid down by which the judgment of the priest must be governed. 1. If the sore was but skin-deep, it was to be hoped it was not the leprosy, Lev 13:4. But, if it was deeper than the skin, the man must be pronounced unclean, Lev 13:3. The infirmities that consist with grace do not sink deep into the soul, but the mind still serves the law of God, and the inward man delights in it, Roma 7:22, Roma 7:25. But if the matter be really worse than it shows, and the inwards be infected, the case is dangerous. 2. If the sore be at a stay, and do not spread, it is no leprosy, Lev 13:4, Lev 13:5. But if it spread much abroad, and continue to do so after several inspections, the case is bad, Lev 13:7, Lev 13:8. If men do not grow worse, but a stop be put to the course of their sins and their corruptions be checked, it is to be hoped they will grow better; but if sin get ground, and they become worse every day, they are going downhill. 3. If there was proud raw flesh in the rising, the priest needed not to wait any longer, it was certainly a leprosy, Lev 13:10, Lev 13:11. Nor is there any surer indication of the badness of a man's spiritual state than the heart's rising in self-conceit, confidence in the flesh, and resistance of the reproofs of the word and strivings of the Spirit. 4. If the eruption, whatever it was, covered all the skin from head to foot, it was no leprosy (Lev 13:12, Lev 13:13); for it was an evidence that the vitals were sound and strong, and nature hereby helped itself, throwing out what was burdensome and pernicious. There is hope in the small-pox when they come out well: so if men freely confess their sins, and hide them not, there is no danger comparable to theirs that cover their sins. Some gather this from it, that there is more hope of the profane than of hypocrites. The publicans and harlots went into the kingdom of heaven before scribes and Pharisees. In one respect, the sudden breakings-out of passion, though bad enough, are not so dangerous as malice concealed. Others gather this, that, if we judge ourselves, we shall not be judged; if we see and own that there is no health in us, no soundness in our flesh, by reason of sin, we shall find grace in the eyes of the Lord. 5. The priest must take time in making his judgment, and not give it rashly. If the matter looked suspicious, he must shut up the patient seven days, and then seven days more, that his judgment might be according to truth. This teaches all, both ministers and people, not to be hasty in their censures, nor to judge any thing before the time. If some men's sins go before unto judgment, the sins of others follow after, and so men's good works; therefore let nothing be done suddenly, 1Tim 5:22, 1Tim 5:24, 1Tim 5:25. 6. If the person suspected was found to be clean, yet he must wash his clothes (Lev 13:6), because he had been under the suspicion, and there had been in him that which gave ground for the suspicion. Even the prisoner that is acquitted must go down on his knees. We have need to be washed in the blood of Christ from our spots, though they be not leprosy-spots; for who can say, I am pure from sin? though there are those who through grace are innocent from the great transgression.

 18   The priest is here instructed what judgment to make if there was any appearance of a leprosy, either, 1. In an old ulcer, or bile, that has been healed, Lev 13:18, etc. When old sores, that seemed to be cured, break out again, it is to be feared there is a leprosy in them; such is the danger of those who, having escaped the pollutions of the world, are again entangled therein and overcome. Or, 2. In a burn by accident, for this seems to be meant, Lev 13:24, etc. The burning of strife and contention often proves the occasion of the rising up and breaking out of that corruption which witnesses to men's faces that they are unclean. 3. In a scall-head. And in this commonly the judgment turned upon a very small matter. If the hair in the scall was black, it was a sign of soundness; if yellow, it was an indication of a leprosy, Lev 13:30-Lev 13:37. The other rules in these cases are the same with those mentioned before. In reading of these several sorts of ailments, it will be good for us, 1. To lament the calamitous state of human life, which lies exposed to so many grievances. What troops of diseases are we beset with on every side! and they all entered by sin. 2. To give thanks to God if he has never afflicted us with any of these sores: if the constitution is healthful, and the body lively and easy, we are bound to glorify God with our bodies.

 38   We have here,
I. Provisos that neither a freckled skin nor a bald head should be mistaken for a leprosy, Lev 13:38-Lev 13:41. Every deformity must not forthwith be made a ceremonial defilement. Elisha was jeered for his bald head (2Kgs 2:23); but it was the children of Bethel, that knew not the judgments of their God, who turned it to his reproach.
II. A particular brand set upon the leprosy if at any time it did appear in a bald head: The plague is in his head, he is utterly unclean, Lev 13:44. If the leprosy of sin have seized the head, if the judgment be corrupted, and wicked principles which countenance and support wicked practices, be embraced, it is an utter uncleanness, from which few are ever cleansed. Soundness in the faith keeps the leprosy from the head, and saves conscience from being shipwrecked.
III. Directions what must be done with the convicted leper. When the priest, upon mature deliberation, had solemnly pronounced him unclean,
1. He must pronounce himself so, Lev 13:45. He must put himself into the posture of a mourner and cry, Unclean, unclean. The leprosy was not itself a sin, but it was a sad token of God's displeasure and a sore affliction to him that was under it. It was a reproach to his name, put a full stop to his business in the world, cut him off from conversation with his friends and relations, condemned him to banishment till he was cleansed, shut him out from the sanctuary, and was, in effect, the ruin of all the comfort he could have in this world. Heman, it would seem, either was a leper or alludes to the melancholy condition of a leper, Pss 88:8, etc. He must therefore, (1.) Humble himself under the mighty hand of God, not insisting upon his cleanness when the priest had pronounced him unclean, but justifying God and accepting the punishment of his iniquity. He must signify this by rending his clothes, uncovering his head, and covering his upper lip, all tokens of shame and confusion of face, and very significant of that self-loathing and self-abasement which should fill the hearts of penitents, the language of which is self-judging. Thus must we take to ourselves the shame that belongs to us, and with broken hearts call ourselves by our own name, Unclean, unclean - heart unclean, life unclean, unclean by original corruption, unclean by actual transgression - unclean, and therefore worthy to be for ever excluded from communion with God, and all hope of happiness in him. We are all as an unclean thing (Isa 64:6) - unclean, and therefore undone, if infinite mercy do not interpose. (2.) He must give warning to others to take heed of coming near him. Wherever he went, he must cry to those he saw at a distance, I am unclean, unclean, take heed of touching me. Not that the leprosy was catching, but by the touch of a leper ceremonial uncleanness was contracted. Every one therefore was concerned to avoid it; and the leper himself must give notice of the danger. And this was all that the law could do, in that it was weak through the flesh; it taught the leper to cry, Unclean, unclean, but the gospel has put another cry into the lepers' mouths, Luke 17:12, Luke 17:13, where we find ten lepers crying with a loud voice, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. The law only shows us our disease; the gospel shows us our help in Christ.
2. He must then be shut out of the camp, and afterwards, when they came to Canaan, out of the city, town, or village, where he lived, and dwell alone (Lev 13:46), associating with none but those that were lepers like himself. When king Uzziah became a leper, he was banished from his palace, and dwelt in a separate house, 2Chr 26:21. And see 2Kgs 7:3. This typified the purity which ought to be preserved in the gospel church, by the solemn and authoritative exclusion of scandalous sinners, that hate to be reformed, from the communion of the faithful. Put away from among yourselves that wicked person, 1Cor 5:13.

 47   This is the law concerning the plague of leprosy in a garment, whether linen or woollen. A leprosy in a garment, with discernible indications of it, the colour changed by it, the garment fretted, the nap worn off, and this in some one particular part of the garment, and increasing when it was shut up, and not to be got out by washing is a thing which to us now is altogether unaccountable. The learned confess that it was a sign and a miracle in Israel, an extraordinary punishment inflicted by the divine power, as a token of great displeasure against a person or family. 1. The process was much the same with that concerning a leprous person. The garment suspected to be tainted was not to be burnt immediately, though, it may be, there would have been no great loss of it; for in no case must sentence be given merely upon a surmise, but it must be shown to the priest. If, upon search, it was found that there was a leprous spot (the Jews say no bigger than a bean), it must be burnt, or at least that part of the garment in which the spot was, Lev 13:52, Lev 13:57. If the cause of the suspicion was gone, it must be washed, and then might be used, Lev 13:58. 2. The signification also was much the same, to intimate the great malignity there is in sin: it not only defiles the sinner's conscience, but it brings a stain upon all his employments and enjoyments, all he has and all he does. To those that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure, Titus 1:15. And we are taught hereby to hate even the garments spotted with the flesh, Jude 1:23. Those that make their clothes servants to their pride and lust may see them thereby tainted with a leprosy, and doomed to the fire, Isa 3:18-Isa 3:24. But the ornament of the hidden man of the heart is incorruptible, 1Pet 3:4. The robes of righteousness never fret nor are moth-eaten.