plague
ne.ga denotes an affliction or marked condition, especially one inspected by priests on persons, garments, or houses.
The term most often identifies a visible or diagnosable condition subject to priestly examination, isolation, and decisions of cleanness or uncleanness; it can occur on a person, garment, or house. Elsewhere it denotes broader affliction in national calamity, personal suffering, judicial disputes, and disciplinary blows.
Senses in use
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Inspectable condition on persons or property · dominant
In Leviticus 13:3, repeated singular forms identify the condition in the skin whose appearance and hair the priest examines before declaring the person unclean. The same term marks a condition in a garment that may spread and be burned in Leviticus 13:51, and a condition found in a house for priestly inspection in Leviticus 14:36.
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Affliction among wider calamities or personal pain · common
In 1 Kings 8:37, the singular noun stands among famine, pestilence, blight, and siege; the APB renders the clause "whatever plague, whatever sickness." In 1 Kings 8:38 and 2 Chronicles 6:29, each person knows his own condition or pain while offering prayer.
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Matter requiring judgment or priestly instruction · occasional
In Deuteronomy 17:8, two singular occurrences appear in the contrast "between plague and plague" among difficult matters for judgment. Deuteronomy 21:5 likewise places every dispute and every such matter under the priests' pronouncement, while Deuteronomy 24:8 concerns careful observance in a case of leprous disease.
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Inflicted striking or blows · rare
In 2 Samuel 7:14, the plural construct form occurs with "the rod of men" and "the stripes of the sons of men," presenting disciplinary blows. In Isaiah 53:8, the singular occurs in the statement that someone was "stricken for the transgression of my people"; the precise English correspondence remains uncertain.
In the Anselm Project Bible: The APB commonly presents the term as "plague," often in phrases such as "plague of leprosy" in the priestly inspection passages. It also uses "plagues," "stripes," and "stricken" in other contexts; These renderings indicate the clauses' presentation rather than fixed English equivalents.