Leviticus 14:8
And when the man hath washed his clothes, he shall shave all the hair of his body, and shall be washed with water: and being purified, he shall enter into the camp, yet so that he tarry without his own tent seven days:
Open Leviticus 14:8 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Cumque laverit homo vestimenta sua, radet omnes pilos corporis, et lavabitur aqua : purificatusque ingredietur castra, ita dumtaxat ut maneat extra tabernaculum suum septem diebus,
- Septuagint (Swete)
- καὶ πλυνεῖ ὁ καθαρισθεὶς τὰ ἱμάτια αὐτοῦ, καὶ ξυρηθήσεται αὐτοῦ πᾶσαν τὴν τρίχα, καὶ λούσεται ἐν ὕδατι, καὶ καθαρὸς ἔσται, καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα εἰσελεύσεται εἰς τὴν παρεμβολήν· καὶ διατρίψει ἔξω τοῦ οἴκου αὐτοῦ ἑπτὰ ἡμέρας.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- וְכִבֶּס֩ הַמִּטַּהֵ֨ר אֶת בְּגָדָ֜יו וְגִלַּ֣ח אֶת כָּל שְׂעָר֗וֹ וְרָחַ֤ץ בַּמַּ֨יִם֙ וְטָהֵ֔ר וְאַחַ֖ר יָב֣וֹא אֶל הַֽמַּחֲנֶ֑ה וְיָשַׁ֛ב מִח֥וּץ לְאָהֳל֖וֹ שִׁבְעַ֥ת יָמִֽים
Haydock's commentary
Body, even to the feet, Isaias vii. 20. (Haydock)
Probably with a pair of scissors. (Calmet)
The Egyptians priests did so every third day, that nothing impure might be concealed. (Herod., ii. 37.) The greatest caution was requisite to prevent the return of the leprosy; and therefore, after the first purification, (ver. 4,) the leper is not allowed to go home, till a sufficient time has elapsed to ascertain whether he be radically healed, and then he must offer a sacrifice, ver. 10. (Haydock)
But why so many prescriptions for a disease so involuntary, (Calmet) which must have already caused the unhappy sufferer so much pain? (Haydock)
The Rabbins assert, that the leprosy was sent to punish some secret transgression, particularly some pride or detraction; as they maintain, that every illness is in punishment of some offence. (Abarbanel.) (Grotius)
If [It?] was often the effect of intemperance or negligence; and the sacrifices were exacted, to make some reparation to God for remaining in the camp and near the tabernacle, at the commencement of the disorder. (Calmet)
This foul cutaneous disease was also very infectious, and the law was designed to impress people with a horror of it, and to teach them to prevent its ravages as much as possible. (Haydock)
A sparrow is slain, and the hair shaved, to indicate that all sinful affections must be cut off by the true penitent, while the sparrow, which is sent away into the desert, reminds him that he must live a stranger to pleasure, and perfectly mortified. (Du Hamel)
Days; without having any communication with his wife. (Lyranus)
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
St John Chrysostom The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom, Matthew VII. 28
But wherefore did He command him also to show himself to the priest, and to offer a gift? To fulfill the law here again. For neither did He in every instance set it aside, nor in every instance keep it, but sometimes He did the one, sometimes the other; by the one making way for the high ruleof life that was to come, by the other checking for a while the insolent speech of the Jews, and condescending to their infirmity. And why marvel, if just at the beginning He Himself did this, when even the very apostles, after they were commanded to depart unto the Gentiles, after the doors were opened for their teaching throughout the world, and the law shut up, and the commandments made new, and all the ancient things had ceased, are found sometimes observing the law, sometimes neglecting it?
St Gregory Nazianzen On Pentecost
IV. And if we must also look at ancient history, I perceive that Enoch, the seventh among our ancestors, was honoured by translation. I perceive also that the twenty-first, Abraham, was given the glory of the Patriarchate, by the addition of a greater mystery. For the Hebdomad thrice repeated brings out this number. And one who is very bold might venture even to come to the New Adam, my God and Lord Jesus Christ, Who is counted the Seventy-seventh from the old Adam who fell under sin, in the backward genealogy according to Luke. And I think of the seven trumpets of Jesus, the son of Nave, and the same number of circuits and days and priests, by which the walls of Jericho were shaken down. …
St John Damascene An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, Concerning Faith and Baptism
The first baptism was that of the flood for the eradication of sin. The second was through the sea and the cloud: for the cloud is the symbol of the Spirit and the sea of the water. The third baptism was that of the Law: for every impure person washed himself with water, and even washed his garments, and so entered into the camp. The fourth was that of John, being preliminary and leading those who were baptized to repentance, that they might believe in Christ: I, indeed , he said, baptize you with water; but He that cometh after me, He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and in fire . Thus John’s purification with water was preliminary to receiving the Spirit. The fifth was the baptism of our Lord, whereby He Himself was baptized. …
The Fathers are given as they wrote. Where a passage lays the Passion on the Jewish people, the Church teaches that it cannot be charged against all the Jews then living, nor against the Jews of today, and that all sinners were its authors (CCC 597, 598).