And: a more vivid transition may be necessary in many languages. In addition to Good News Translation‘s “After that…,” New English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, and New American Bible each have “then.”

Cause … to be scraped: the causative form of the verb indicates that the priest is responsible to see that the job is done, but he does not actually do it himself. The passive of “scrape” must be made active in many languages: “he shall cause that they [indefinite] scrape….”

Round about: if translated literally into the receptor language, this term may be too vague. The idea is that “all the interior walls” were to be scraped in order to remove every trace of the mildew. Another way of saying this is “the inside of the house must be thoroughly scraped on all sides.”

Plaster: New International Version “material”; New American Bible, An American Translation, and Moffatt “mortar”; New English Bible “daub”; New Jerusalem Bible “coating.” But the word may also be translated “dry earth” or “dried mud.” This would be an accurate description of the material used in Palestine and a quite natural translation in many languages of the world.

An unclean place: since this almost certainly was the same place mentioned in verse 40, some languages may require that this be indicated, either by using a definite article in this case, or by some other means such as “that place” or “the place outside the city.” One should avoid giving the impression that there were two different places of this kind.

Quoted with permission from Péter-Contesse, René and Ellington, John. A Handbook on Leviticus. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1990. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .