Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Matthew Anstey" <manstey AT portal.ca>]

Gday all,

How is nega` tsara`at in Lev 13.9 and other places best rendered, preferably
in a "X of Y" expression in English, although this is not essential. We are
naturally wanting to avoid "plague of leprosy" as both terms are inaccurate,
so we have a few questions:
        1. NJB and NIV have "contagious" and "infectious" but is the disease
necessarily contagious? Does nega` definitely imply this meaning, and/or is
it clear from the context?
        2. Is "skin-disease" appropriate for tsara`at? The translations 
software
that will contain this term will be used in hundreds of different cultures,
so nothing too specific will work, such as TWOT's "leucodermia and related
diseases"!
        3. Would something like "symptom of.a.skin-disease" be the best 
compromise
between accuracy and understandability? We prefer a word-for-word gloss
wherever possible, so just "skin-disease" for the whole expression is less
than ideal.

Similarly, tsara`at noshenet in Lev 13.11. Is noshenet "chronic," "dormant,"
or something else?

You can respond off-list if you wish.

With regards,
Matthew Anstey
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