“... These sources are highly relevant for understanding biblical notions of disease and defilement, with “touch” figuring prominently. First of all, like the usage of the Akkadian verb lapātu, the Bible employs the verbal root n-g-ʿ (whose basic sense is literally “to touch”) to describe disease. The derivatives of this verb include the piel (causative) verbal form used to describe God afflicting people and lands with disease (e.g., Genesis 12:17; 2 Kgs 15:5) and the nominal form negaʿ, used to describe illnesses, especially the skin disease ṣaraʿat.54 Second, like the Mesopotamian sources, the Bible refers to mass afflictions as manifestations of the “hand” of God.55 It is important to stress that these semantic parallels, as opposed to etymological ones, do not imply intercultural contact or influence, but rather the independent emergence of similar conceptions in both cultures.56 ...” “... 55 E.g., Exodus 9:3; 1 Sam 5:6, 9; 2 Sam 24:14–15. A comparable idiom (yd ʾilm) is also attested in Ugaritic texts (e.g., CAT 2.10 11–13). ...”