Leviticus 14:9

But it shall be... — Better, And it shall be. The second stage of purification, which restored the convalescent to the communion of the sanctuary, began on the seventh day, when, as a first act, he had again to shave off the hair of the whole of his body.

Also he shall wash his flesh. — Better, and he shall bathe himself, or his body. The expression “flesh” simply means self, or body, as the Authorised Version rightly translates it in Ecclesiastes 2:3; Isaiah 10:8; Ezekiel 10:12. Besides Numbers 19:7, the full phrase, “to wash the flesh in water,” occurs eight times, and always in Leviticus (Leviticus 14:9; Leviticus 15:13; Leviticus 15:16; Leviticus 16:4; Leviticus 16:24; Leviticus 16:26; Leviticus 16:28; Leviticus 22:6), and is rendered in three different ways in the Authorised Version: by (1) “wash his flesh in water” (Leviticus 14:9; Leviticus 15:16; Leviticus 16:4); by (2) “wash his flesh with water” (Leviticus 16:24); by (3) “bathe his flesh in water” (Leviticus 15:13; Leviticus 16:24; Leviticus 16:26; Leviticus 16:28; Numbers 19:7). When a peculiar ritual phrase designedly deviates in a single section in the original from another phrase which is used to express the same idea (comp, Leviticus 14:8; Leviticus 15:5; Leviticus 15:10; Leviticus 15:12; Leviticus 15:16; Leviticus 15:18; Leviticus 15:21; Leviticus 15:27; Leviticus 17:15), it is essential that it should be translated by the identical phrase in English. During the second Temple, restored lepers bathed in a chamber at the north-western corner of the Court of the Women, called the “chamber of the lepers.”