| 44. Linguistic Exegesis The verse begins with uva {וּבָא֙ | ū-vā ʾ} ‘and he shall come’ followed by vera’ah {וְרָאָ֕ה | wə-rāʾ-āh} ‘and he shall see’, Qal perfect forms with waw-consecutive that advance the priestly procedure. Vehinneh {וְהִנֵּ֛ה | wə-ḥin-nēh} ‘and behold’ functions as an interjection of attention, introducing pasah {פָּשָׂ֥ה | pā-śāh} ‘it has spread’, the crucial diagnostic indicator. The noun phrase hanega {הַנֶּ֖גַע | ha-nə-‘a} ‘the affliction’ together with tsara‘at {צָרׇעַת | ṣā-rə-‘aṯ} ‘leprosy’ and the participle mamaneret {מַמְאֶ֥רֶת | mam-me-ʾe-ret} ‘malignant’ intensifies severity. The locative babbayit {בַּבַּ֖יִת | ba-bā-yit} ‘in the house’ frames the ritual context twice, emphasizing spatial boundaries. The pronouns hi {הִ֛וא | hīʾ} ‘it is’ and hu {הֽוּא | hûʾ} ‘it is’ mark agreement with the feminine noun tsara‘at and the masculine judgment respectively. The adjective tame {טָמֵ֥א | ṭā-mēʾ} ‘unclean’ delivers the legal verdict. Hebrew expresses the protasis without an explicit conjunction ‘if’, placing it within the sequential vav-consecutive narrative. In English, these forms are rendered with present and future verbs to preserve the sense of unfolding action. |