He that owneth the house. — As in the case of the suspicious symptoms in human beings, the suspected house is forthwith to be examined by the priest.
Saying, It seemeth to me... — According to the authorities in the time of Christ, this prescribes the formula which the owner of the house is to use when he communicates the fact to the priest. Hence they enacted that though he be himself an expert in these matters, and know certainly that it is leprosy, he is not to say positively to the priest, “The plague has appeared in my house,” but “It seemeth to me... as it were,” &c, because it was the office of the priest to pronounce a positive sentence on the subject.