If it covered him completely all at once — [if it was] from [a state of] taharah, he is tamei; — [if it was] from [a state of] tumah, he is tahor. One who becomes tahor from a status of confinement is absolved from letting his hair grow, from rending his garments, from shaving, and from the birds. [One who becomes tahor] from a state of confirmation is obligated to [do] all of them. Both cause tumah upon entering [a house].

One who comes completely white but has a patch of living skin the size of a lentil [whose nega] covered him completely and then the extremities reverted, R’ Yishmael says: It is like the reverting of the extremities of a large baheres. R’ Elazar ben Azaryah says: It is like the reverting of the extremities of a small baheres.

One can show his nega to a Kohen and gain, and one can show his nega to a Kohen and lose. How so? Someone was confirmed tamei and the symptoms disappeared, [but] he did not succeed in showing it to the Kohen before it covered him completely, is tahor, whereas had he shown it to the Kohen, he would be tamei. [On the other hand, someone who had] a baheres with nothing in it, [but] he did not succeed in showing it to the Kohen until it covered him completely is tamei, whereas had he shown it to the Kohen, he would be tahor.

A boil or a burn is tamei for [no more than] one week [unless it has one of these] two symptoms: white hair or expansion. What is considered a boil? [If] he was injured by wood, or by stone, or by olive peat, or by the waters of Tiberias, [or by] any heat not caused by fire, this is a boil. What is considered a burn? [If] he was burnt by coal, or by ash — any heat caused by fire — this is a burn.

Boil-nega and burn-nega do not combine together; nor do they spread from one to the other; nor do they spread onto skin; nor does [a nega of] the skin spread onto them. If the negaim are on raw flesh [lit., if they are rebellious], they are tahor. [If] they formed a membrane [the thickness of a] garlic peel, this is the ‘‘partially-healed boil’’ mentioned in the Torah. [If] they healed [lit., they reverted] and became normal, even though a scar remains, they are judged as regular skin.

R’ Eliezer was asked: ‘‘[What is the law if] a baheres the size of a sela grows on the inside of someone’s hand, and it is on a partially-healed boil?’’ He said to them: ‘‘[The Kohen] should confine [him].’’ They said to him: ‘‘Why? [The baheres] cannot grow [white] hair, nor can it expand, not does it become tamei if it contains a michyah.’’ He said to them: ‘‘Maybe [the baheres] will contract and [subsequently] expand.’’ They said to him: ‘‘But [what if the partially healed boil] is the size of a gris?’’ He said to them: ‘‘I was not taught.’’ R’ Yehudah ben Beseira said to [R’ Eliezer]: ‘‘I can expound on this [subject].’’ He [R’ Eliezer] said to him [R’ Yehudah ben Beseira]: ‘‘If it is to uphold the words of the Sages, you may.’’ He said to him: ‘‘Perhaps another boil will develop next to it into which [the nega] will spread.’’ He said to him: ‘‘You are a great sage, for you have upheld the words of the Sages.’’

Nesakim can become [confined] tamei for two weeks, [and are confirmed tamei] with two symptoms: with deficient blond hair or with expansion. Deficient blond hair [means] damaged [by being] short, these are the words of R’ Akiva. R’ Yochanan ben Nuri says: Even long. Said R’ Yochanan ben Nuri: What do people mean when they say, ‘‘This stick is ‘dak’ ’’ [or] ‘‘This reed is ‘dak’ ’’? [Don’t they mean] it is very thin, disregarding whether it is short or long? R’ Akiva said to him: Before we learn from a reed, we should learn from hair. [When people say] ‘‘So-and-so’s hair is ‘dak,’  ’’ [they use] ‘‘dak’’ [to mean] very short, not long [and very thin].

Deficient blond hair renders [the nesek] tamei whether together or scattered; surrounded or not surrounded; changed [by the nega] or not changed, these are the words of R’ Yehudah. R’ Shimon says: It only renders tamei if changed [by the nega]. Said R’ Shimon: It is a logical argument. If white hair, whose tumah is not curtailed by other hair, renders [a nega] tamei only if it was changed [by the preexisting nega], should not deficient blond hair, which is curtailed by other hair, render tamei only when changed? R’ Yehudah says: Wherever the [Torah] needs to say ‘‘changed,’’ it says ‘‘changed.’’ However, a nesek, about which it says ‘‘it had no blond hair within it,’’ renders [the nesek] tamei whether changed or not changed.

‘‘New growth’’ saves from blond hair and from expansion, [whether] together or scattered, surrounded or not surrounded. ‘‘Remaining hair’’ saves from blond hair and from expansion, [whether] together or scattered, [but only] surrounded; [when it is] on the side it does not save unless it is two hair-spaces distant from where the hair grows normally. One blond [hair] and one black [hair], [or] one blond [hair] and one white [hair] do not save.

‘‘New growth’’ saves from blond hair and from expansion, [whether] together or scattered, surrounded or not surrounded. ‘‘Remaining hair’’ saves from blond hair and from expansion, [whether] together or scattered, [but only] surrounded; [when it is] on the side it does not save unless it is two hair-spaces distant from where the hair grows normally. One blond [hair] and one black [hair], [or] one blond [hair] and one white [hair] do not save.

How do we shave a nesek? He shaves around it, leaving two hairs immediately adjacent to it, so that spreading will be noticeable. [If the Kohen] confirmed [the nesek] with blond hair, which disappeared and reappeared, or there was an expansion — either initially, at the end of the first week, at the end of the second week, [or] after having been declared tahor — [the nesek] maintains its previous status. [If the Kohen] confirmed [the nesek] with expansion, which disappeared and returned, and the same with blond hair — at the end of the first week, at the end of the second week, [or] after having been declared tahor — it remains as it was.