Hebrew word · H5424

נֶ֫תֶק

netek

scab

Used only in Leviticus 13–14 (about 14 times). A lesion in the hair of the head or beard. The priest judged it unclean if it looked deeper than the skin and had thin yellow hair (13:30), and observed it for 7-day periods, with shaving around it (13:33).

Appears 14 times in 9 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

scab, skin eruption, scall (of leprosy)

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Leviticus 14:54

Range of meaning

Used only in Leviticus 13–14 (about 14 times). A lesion in the hair of the head or beard. The priest judged it unclean if it looked deeper than the skin and had thin yellow hair (13:30), and observed it for 7-day periods, with shaving around it (13:33). From a root meaning 'to tear away, pull off, snap'.

Against the English

KJV/YLT 'scall' is accurate but archaic (an old word for a scaly scalp disease). WEB and ESV 'itch' suggest an itching sensation, which the text never mentions; it describes only how it looks. NASB 'scale' and BSB 'scaly outbreak' are closer to the description.

How it drifted

'Itch' seems to come from earlier efforts to identify the condition medically, probably as a fungal scalp disease, rather than from the Hebrew word.

Used elsewhere in the period

The Septuagint renders it thrausma, 'fragment, break', following the 'tear off' sense of the root. Later rabbinic discussion (Mishnah Negaʿim 10) treats netakim as a distinct class with its own signs. Modern guesses include favus or ringworm (tinea) of the scalp, but these are only guesses.

Where it appears

Leviticus · 14

  1. Leviticus 13:30 נֶ֣תֶק [is] a scall

    the priest shall examine the infection, and if it appears to be deeper than the skin and the hair in it is yellow and thin, the priest must pronounce him unclean; it is a scaly outbreak, an infectious disease of the head or chin.

  2. Leviticus 13:31 הַנֶּ֗תֶק הַנֶּ֖תֶק the scall

    But if the priest examines the scaly infection and it does not appear to be deeper than the skin, and there is no black hair in it, the priest shall isolate the infected person for seven days.

  3. Leviticus 13:32 הַנֶּ֔תֶק הַנֶּ֔תֶק the scall

    On the seventh day the priest is to reexamine the infection, and if the scaly outbreak has not spread and there is no yellow hair in it, and it does not appear to be deeper than the skin,

  4. Leviticus 13:33 הַנֶּ֖תֶק הַנֶּ֛תֶק the scall

    then the person must shave himself except for the scaly area. Then the priest shall isolate him for another seven days.

  5. Leviticus 13:34 הַנֶּ֜תֶק הַנֶּ֙תֶק֙ the scall

    On the seventh day the priest shall examine the scaly outbreak, and if it has not spread on the skin and does not appear to be deeper than the skin, the priest is to pronounce him clean. He must wash his clothes, and he will be clean.

  6. Leviticus 13:35 הַנֶּ֖תֶק the scall

    If, however, the scaly outbreak spreads further on the skin after his cleansing,

  7. Leviticus 13:36 הַנֶּ֖תֶק the scall

    the priest is to examine him, and if the scaly outbreak has spread on the skin, the priest need not look for yellow hair; the person is unclean.

  8. Leviticus 13:37 הַנֶּ֜תֶק הַנֶּ֖תֶק the scall

    If, however, in his sight the scaly outbreak is unchanged and black hair has grown in it, then it has healed. He is clean, and the priest is to pronounce him clean.

  9. Leviticus 14:54 וְלַנָּֽתֶק׃ and to <the> scall

    This is the law for any infectious skin disease, for a scaly outbreak,

    Here: The special form of tsara'at in the hair of the head or beard (Lev 13:29–37). Probably named from the root 'to pull away, tear out', from the hair loss or the way the scurf came away. Listed separately because it had its own test: thin yellow hair instead of whitened skin.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.