Hebrew word · H6879

צָרַע

metzora'

be leprous

Metsora' is a passive form, "struck with tsara'at". Sheleg means snow. Snow is a byword for whiteness (Isa 1:18; Ps 51:7; Dan 7:9), and it is also something that falls in flakes (Ps 147:16).

Appears 20 times in 18 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) to be diseased of skin, be leprous

1a) (Qal) to be a leper

1b) (Pual) to have 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 2 Kings 5:27

Range of meaning

Metsora' is a passive form, "struck with tsara'at". Sheleg means snow. Snow is a byword for whiteness (Isa 1:18; Ps 51:7; Dan 7:9), and it is also something that falls in flakes (Ps 147:16).

Against the English

BSB, KJV, WEB and many modern versions say "as white as snow". The Hebrew says only "like snow". YLT's "leprous as snow" is closest to the Hebrew.

How it drifted

Translators add "white" because whiteness is the usual point of comparing something to snow, and Lev 13 mentions white patches and white hair. Adding it removes the other possibility, flaking.

Used elsewhere in the period

The same phrase is used of Moses' hand in a sign before Pharaoh (Exod 4:6) and of Miriam, struck for speaking against Moses (Num 12:10). Aaron's plea that Miriam not be "like a dead one whose flesh is half eaten away" (Num 12:12) suggests peeling or wasting, not just colour.

From the study of 2 Kings 5:1

Range of meaning

The verb root ṣ-r-ʿ appears only in forms that mean 'to be afflicted with ṣāraʿat.' The noun ṣāraʿat (Lev 13–14) covers a range of visible surface conditions: scaly, flaking, discoloured or raw patches on human skin, and also mould or mildew on cloth, leather and house walls (Lev 13:47–59; 14:33–53). The signs listed are whiteness, scaliness, raw flesh and spreading. They are not the nerve damage, loss of feeling and deformity typical of Hansen's disease. The Bible's word is about how the skin looks and whether it counts as clean or unclean, not about a single medical diagnosis.

Against the English

KJV, BSB, ESV and WEB say 'a leper.' NIV and NLT say 'had leprosy.' Several modern versions add footnotes noting that the Hebrew word covered various skin diseases. For modern readers 'leprosy' means Hansen's disease, a specific bacterial infection, and 'leper' carries a heavy picture of disfigurement and lifelong banishment.

How it drifted

The Greek Septuagint translated ṣāraʿat as lepra, a Greek medical term for scaly skin conditions (from lepis, 'scale'). Only in the Middle Ages did 'leprosy' come to be firmly applied to Hansen's disease, and English kept the word. The ancient word and the modern disease drifted apart.

Used elsewhere in the period

Lev 13–14 (diagnosis and purification); Num 12:10 (Miriam 'like snow'); 2 Kgs 5:27 (Gehazi 'leprous, like snow,' which fits whitish scaling, not Hansen's); 2 Kgs 7:3 (four men with the disease outside Samaria's gate); 2 Kgs 15:5 and 2 Chr 26:19–21 (Uzziah). The Septuagint uses lepra and lepros throughout. Clear evidence for Hansen's disease in the Levant before the Hellenistic period (after about 300 BC) is very thin.

From the study of Exodus 4:6

Range of meaning

The verb צָרַע and the noun צָרַעַת (tsara'at) name a group of visible surface conditions. In people these are scaly, flaking or discoloured patches of skin, sometimes with whitened hair (Lev 13). The same word is used for mould or mildew on cloth and leather (Lev 13:47–59) and on house walls (Lev 14:33–53). It was mainly a ritual category, not a medical one. The priest judged whether the condition made a person unclean, and an unclean person lived outside the camp (Lev 13:46). It was associated with death: Miriam with tsara'at is compared to a stillborn child whose flesh is half eaten away (Num 12:12). It was also a typical punishment from God (Miriam, Num 12:10; Gehazi, 2 Kgs 5:27; Uzziah, 2 Chr 26:19–21).

Against the English

The KJV, ESV, NASB and BSB say 'leprous'. The NIV keeps 'leprous' but its footnote explains that the Hebrew word covered various skin diseases. The NLT says 'a severe skin disease'. To a modern reader 'leprosy' means Hansen's disease, a bacterial infection that damages nerves and causes numbness, ulcers and deformity, and does not turn skin snow-white.

How it drifted

The Septuagint translated tsara'at as Greek lepra, which in Greek medical writers meant a scaly skin condition (related to lepis, 'scale'). Later, medieval Latin and European usage applied 'lepra' to Hansen's disease, so the English 'leprosy' now names a different illness from the one the Greek translators had in mind.

Used elsewhere in the period

Leviticus 13–14 gives the technical rules. The exact phrase 'struck with tsara'at like snow' appears for only two other people: Miriam (Num 12:10) and Gehazi (2 Kgs 5:27). In both cases it is a sudden act of God. Josephus retells this sign (Antiquities 2.273) and elsewhere insists Moses himself was never leprous (Ant. 3.265–268), answering Egyptian stories, reported in Against Apion 1.229–250 (Manetho), that Moses led a band of expelled lepers. Medical studies (e.g. Hulse 1975) agree that the biblical descriptions do not match Hansen's disease.

Where it appears

Exodus · 1

  1. Exodus 4:6 מְצֹרַ֥עַת [was] leprous

    Furthermore, the LORD said to Moses, “Put your hand inside your cloak.” So he put his hand inside his cloak, and when he took it out, his hand was leprous, white as snow.

    Here: A passive form meaning 'struck with tsara'at', the scaly or discoloured skin condition that Leviticus 13 treats as making a person ritually unclean. The passive form suggests something done to him: the hand has been struck, not slowly infected.

Leviticus · 5

  1. Leviticus 13:44 צָר֥וּעַ [who] has a serious skin disease

    the man is diseased; he is unclean. The priest must pronounce him unclean because of the infection on his head.

  2. Leviticus 13:45 וְהַצָּר֜וּעַ <and> the [one who] has a serious skin disease

    A diseased person must wear torn clothes and let his hair hang loose, and he must cover his mouth and cry out, ‘Unclean, unclean!’

    Here: A passive participle: 'the one struck with tsara‘at', a scaly, flaking skin condition, not necessarily what we call leprosy. It stands at the head of the sentence as the topic: 'As for the afflicted person…'.

  3. Leviticus 14:2 הַמְּצֹרָ֔ע the [one who] has a serious skin disease

    “This is the law for the one afflicted with a skin disease on the day of his cleansing, when he is brought to the priest.

  4. Leviticus 14:3 הַצָּרֽוּעַ׃ the [one who] had a serious skin disease

    The priest is to go outside the camp to examine him, and if the skin disease of the afflicted person has healed,

    Here: A passive participle, 'the one struck with tsara'at'. Grammatically it names him by his condition, the label he has carried while living outside the camp.

  5. Leviticus 22:4 צָר֙וּעַ֙ [is] having a serious skin disease

    If a descendant of Aaron has a skin disease or a discharge, he may not eat the sacred offerings until he is clean. Whoever touches anything defiled by a corpse or by a man who has an emission of semen,

Numbers · 3

  1. Numbers 5:2 צָר֖וּעַ [one who] has a skin disease

    “Command the Israelites to send away from the camp anyone with a skin disease, anyone who has a bodily discharge, and anyone who is defiled by a dead body.

    Here: A passive participle: 'one struck with tsaraʿat'. This is the scaly or flaking skin condition a priest diagnoses in Leviticus 13. It is not specifically leprosy (Hansen's disease). Leviticus 13:45–46 already requires such a person to live outside the camp.

  2. Numbers 12:10 מְצֹרַ֣עַת מְצֹרָֽעַת׃ [was] leprous, leprous

    As the cloud lifted from above the Tent, suddenly Miriam became leprous, white as snow. Aaron turned toward her, saw that she was leprous,

    Here: A passive participle, 'one afflicted, made scaly'. It describes a state she has been put into, and the passive form points to God as the one who did it. This is the skin condition of Leviticus 13–14, which made a person ritually unclean. It is not the modern disease called leprosy.

2 Samuel · 1

  1. 2 Samuel 3:29 וּמְצֹרָ֞ע and [one who] has a skin disease

    May it whirl over the head of Joab and over the entire house of his father, and may the house of Joab never be without one having a discharge or skin disease, or one who leans on a staff or falls by the sword or lacks food.”

2 Kings · 6

  1. 2 Kings 5:1 מְצֹרָֽע׃ having a skin disease

    Now Naaman, the commander of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man in his master’s sight and highly regarded, for through him the LORD had given victory to Aram. And he was a mighty man of valor, but he was a leper.

    Here: A passive participle: 'skin-diseased,' 'struck with tsara'at.' It stands alone at the end with no 'but' in the Hebrew, a single blunt word that undercuts everything before it.

  2. 2 Kings 5:11 הַמְּצֹרָֽע׃ the [one] having a skin disease

    But Naaman went away angry, saying, “I thought that he would surely come out, stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, and wave his hand over the spot to cure my leprosy.

  3. 2 Kings 5:27 מְצֹרָ֥ע having a skin disease

    Therefore, the leprosy of Naaman will cling to you and your descendants forever!” And as Gehazi left his presence, he was leprous—as white as snow.

    Here: A passive form: "afflicted", "struck". The narrator does not name who struck him, but in this story the one striking is clearly God. The exact wording, metsora' kashaleg, appears elsewhere only of Moses' hand (Exod 4:6) and of Miriam (Num 12:10).

  4. 2 Kings 7:3 מְצֹרָעִ֖ים [people] having a skin disease

    Now there were four men with leprosy at the entrance of the city gate, and they said to one another, “Why just sit here until we die?

  5. 2 Kings 7:8 הַֽמְצֹרָעִ֨ים the [people] having a skin disease

    When the lepers reached the edge of the camp, they went into a tent to eat and drink. Then they carried off the silver, gold, and clothing, and went and hid them. On returning, they entered another tent, carried off some items from there, and hid them.

  6. 2 Kings 15:5 מְצֹרָע֙ having a skin disease

    And the LORD afflicted the king with leprosy until the day he died, so that he lived in a separate house while his son Jotham had charge of the palace and governed the people of the land.

2 Chronicles · 4

  1. 2 Chronicles 26:20 מְצֹרָע֙ [was] leprous

    When Azariah the chief priest and all the priests turned to him and saw his leprous forehead, they rushed him out. Indeed, he himself hurried to get out, because the LORD had afflicted him.

  2. 2 Chronicles 26:21 מְצֹרָ֣ע׀ מְצֹרָ֔ע leprous

    So King Uzziah was a leper until the day of his death. He lived in isolation, leprous and cut off from the house of the LORD, while his son Jotham had charge of the royal palace and governed the people of the land.

  3. 2 Chronicles 26:23 מְצוֹרָ֣ע [was] leprous

    And Uzziah rested with his fathers and was buried near them in a field of burial that belonged to the kings, for the people said, “He was a leper.” And his son Jotham reigned in his place.

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