I was reading through Leviticus/Wayyiqra 13 and 14 in my ISR Scriptures. I told my husband - this makes perfect sense as long as all of these words are not really "leprosy". I worked in public health for 8 years and quarantine, rest, and watching the way a skin legion progresses is the best way to stop large outbreaks. It also helps to see if something has become infected - but that doesn't mean a person with an infected burn has leprosy.
Well, knowing that YHWH is smart while man and his translations are dumb, I chose to trust YHWH being right and my English bible being wrong. Looking around online, here is what I found!
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Translations
The Septuagint, a translation of the Hebrew Bible originally used by Greek speaking Jews and Gentile proselytes, translates the term with Greek lepra (λέπρα), from which the cognate "leprosy" was traditionally used in English Bibles. The classical Greek term lepra is primarily used only of skin diseases and not rot and mildew.[4] The JPS Tanakh translates it as a "scaly affection" in Leviticus 13:2.
According to some the three subdivisions of skin tzaraath are best left transliterated, rather than translated, because there are no equivalent English terms and any attempt to translate them greatly diminishes the distinctiveness and focus of the Hebrew term. Though this is not the view of the Jewish Publication Society nor of the Bible Society. Additionally, a diagnosis of tzaraath is not to be performed by anyone but a kohen (member of the priestly caste). (this particular entry needed a citation, but I agree with them on this one)
from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tzaraath***************************************
So basically, again instead of transliterating the words that cannot be adequately, translators simply dumbed it down and went the path of least resistance. This makes YHWH and the Torah look out of step with reality because not every skin condition is leprosy. However, most skin conditions that are such things as leprosy as well as those they can/do become infected - the treatments described in the Torah (especially in terms of quarantine) would be a big help to controlling outbreaks. Also, cleaning garments, food containers, bedding, and disinfecting (purifying) homes would also go extremely far in cutting down the length of the infection and keeping it from spreading. Yes, Torah is AWESOME!!
