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BOIL
Inflamed localized swelling on the skin. In modern medicine the term “boil” is restricted to a pus-filled swelling caused by infectious germs, usually staphylococci. The pus is a mixture of germs and white blood cells, which are the body’s defense against germs. Although painful, boils usually heal naturally after rupturing or being lanced. A more severe boil with several openings is called a carbuncle. If the infection goes deeper and injures internal organs or tissues, it is called an abscess and can even be fatal.
In the Bible the word translated “boil” probably referred to a variety of skin diseases. The sixth plague that God inflicted on Egypt through Moses and Aaron was a plague of boils (Ex 9:9-11; Dt 28:27, 35) or blisters. Boils or skin eruptions of a certain type were described in the Mosaic health and sanitation code as one indication of leprosy (Lv 13:1-8, 18-23). Job’s “terrible case of boils from head to foot” (Jb 2:7-8, 12, NLT) were probably too extensive to be boils in the modern sense; he may have had smallpox, psoriasis, tubercular leprosy, or some other disease accompanied by severe itching. King Hezekiah’s boil was probably a carbuncle (2 Kgs 20:1-7; Is 38:21). See Medicine and Medical Practice; Disease; Plagues upon Egypt.