In warp or woof: this is the meaning that the words of the text have taken in modern Hebrew. But in the text of Leviticus, such a meaning is unlikely. People familiar with weaving will be aware that this expression is used to speak of the threads of yarn that go in different directions. But it is hardly possible that this is the meaning here. It is difficult to see how the threads going in one direction could be affected by the mildew without affecting those running at right angles to them. Nor would the requirement that the affected part be torn out make sense (verse 56), because the whole garment would be destroyed. While the interpretation is far from certain, the meaning of these words is probably “any woven or knitted material,” as in An American Translation, New American Bible, and New International Version, as well as Traduction oecuménique de la Bible in French. Good News Translation has reduced this to “any piece,” but such reduction should probably be avoided in the receptor language, if possible.

Linen: see 6.10.

Wool: the soft wavy undercoat of hairy animals such as sheep is used in the Middle East to weave a fabric from which clothing is made. In some languages one may have to translate linen or wool as “cloth made from the fibers of a plant or from the hair of a sheep.”

A skin … made of skin: some languages will have a special word for “leather” and “leather materials,” but many will use the same word as for “the skin of an animal.”

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 .