19:14 “‘This is the law: When a man dies 1 in a tent, anyone who comes into the tent and all who are in the tent will be ceremonially unclean seven days. 19:15 And every open container that has no covering fastened on it is unclean. 19:16 And whoever touches the body of someone killed with a sword in the open fields, 2 or the body of someone who died of natural causes, 3 or a human bone, or a grave, will be unclean seven days. 4
1 tn The word order gives the classification and then the condition: “a man, when he dies….”
2 tn The expression for “in the open field” is literally “upon the face of the field” (עַל־פְּנֵי הַשָּׂדֶה, ’al pÿne hassadeh). This ruling is in contrast now to what was contacted in the tent.
3 tn Heb “a dead body”; but in contrast to the person killed with a sword, this must refer to someone who died of natural causes.
4 sn See Matt 23:27 and Acts 23:3 for application of this by the time of Jesus.