And he that owneth the house shall come, and tell the priest,.... As soon as he observes any sign of leprosy in it, or which gives him a suspicion of it:
saying, it seemeth unto me [there is] as it were a plague in the house; he must not say expressly there is one, how certain soever he may be of it, because the matter must be determined by a priest: so runs the Jewish canon i, he whose the house is comes and declares to the priest, saying, there appears to me as a plague in the house; and though he is a wise man, and knows that there is a plague certainly, he may not determine, and say, there appears to me a plague in the house, but there appears to me as it were a plague in the house; it looks like one, there is some reason to suspect it.
i Misn. Negaim, c. 12. sect. 5. Jarchi in loc.