Discovery BoxLeviticus 15:2-33
Context15:2 “Speak to the Israelites and tell them, ‘When any man 1 has a discharge 2 from his body, 3 his discharge is unclean. 15:3 Now this is his uncleanness in regard to his discharge 4 – whether his body secretes his discharge or blocks his discharge, he is unclean. All the days that his body has a discharge or his body blocks his discharge, 5 this is his uncleanness. 6
15:4 “‘Any bed the man with a discharge lies on will be unclean, 7 and any furniture he sits on will be unclean. 8 15:5 Anyone who touches his bed 9 must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. 10 15:6 The one who sits on the furniture the man with a discharge sits on must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. 15:7 The one who touches the body 11 of the man with a discharge must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. 15:8 If the man with a discharge spits on a person who is ceremonially clean, 12 that person must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. 15:9 Any means of riding 13 the man with a discharge rides on will be unclean. 15:10 Anyone who touches anything that was under him 14 will be unclean until evening, and the one who carries those items 15 must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. 15:11 Anyone whom the man with the discharge touches without having rinsed his hands in water 16 must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. 15:12 A clay vessel 17 which the man with the discharge touches must be broken, and any wooden utensil must be rinsed in water.
15:13 “‘When the man with the discharge becomes clean from his discharge he is to count off for himself seven days for his purification, and he must wash his clothes, bathe in fresh water, 18 and be clean. 15:14 Then on the eighth day he is to take for himself two turtledoves or two young pigeons, 19 and he is to present himself 20 before the Lord at the entrance of the Meeting Tent and give them to the priest, 15:15 and the priest is to make one of them a sin offering 21 and the other a burnt offering. 22 So the priest 23 is to make atonement for him before the Lord for 24 his discharge.
15:16 “‘When a man has a seminal emission, 25 he must bathe his whole body in water 26 and be unclean until evening, 15:17 and he must wash in water any clothing or leather that has semen on it, and it will be unclean until evening. 15:18 When a man has sexual intercourse with a woman and there is a seminal emission, 27 they must bathe in water and be unclean until evening.
15:19 “‘When a woman has a discharge 28 and her discharge is blood from her body, 29 she is to be in her menstruation 30 seven days, and anyone who touches her will be unclean until evening. 15:20 Anything she lies on during her menstruation will be unclean, and anything she sits on will be unclean. 15:21 Anyone who touches her bed must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. 15:22 Anyone who touches any furniture she sits on must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. 15:23 If there is something on the bed or on the furniture she sits on, 31 when he touches it 32 he will be unclean until evening, 15:24 and if a man actually has sexual intercourse with her so that her menstrual impurity touches him, 33 then he will be unclean seven days and any bed he lies on will be unclean.
15:25 “‘When a woman’s discharge of blood flows 34 many days not at the time of her menstruation, or if it flows beyond the time of her menstruation, 35 all the days of her discharge of impurity will be like the days of her menstruation – she is unclean. 15:26 Any bed she lies on all the days of her discharge will be to her like the bed of her menstruation, any furniture she sits on will be unclean like the impurity of her menstruation, 15:27 and anyone who touches them will be unclean, and he must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. 36
15:28 “‘If 37 she becomes clean from her discharge, then she is to count off for herself seven days, and afterward she will be clean. 15:29 Then on the eighth day she must take for herself two turtledoves or two young pigeons 38 and she must bring them to the priest at the entrance of the Meeting Tent, 15:30 and the priest is to make one a sin offering and the other a burnt offering. 39 So the priest 40 is to make atonement for her before the Lord from her discharge of impurity.
15:31 “‘Thus you 41 are to set the Israelites apart from their impurity so that they 42 do not die in their impurity by defiling my tabernacle which is in their midst. 15:32 This is the law of the one with a discharge: the one who has a seminal emission 43 and becomes unclean by it, 44 15:33 the one who is sick in her menstruation, the one with a discharge, whether male or female, 45 and a man 46 who has sexual intercourse with an unclean woman.’”
Numbers 19:9-22
Context19:9 “‘Then a man who is ceremonially clean must gather up the ashes of the red heifer and put them in a ceremonially clean place outside the camp. They must be kept 47 for the community of the Israelites for use in the water of purification 48 – it is a purification for sin. 49 19:10 The one who gathers the ashes of the heifer must wash his clothes and be ceremonially unclean until evening. This will be a permanent ordinance both for the Israelites and the resident foreigner who lives among them.
19:11 “‘Whoever touches 50 the corpse 51 of any person 52 will be ceremonially unclean 53 seven days. 19:12 He must purify himself 54 with water on the third day and on the seventh day, and so will be clean. But if he does not purify himself on the third day and the seventh day, then he will not be clean. 19:13 Anyone who touches the corpse of any dead person and does not purify himself defiles the tabernacle of the Lord. And that person must be cut off from Israel, 55 because the water of purification was not sprinkled on him. He will be unclean; his uncleanness remains on him.
19:14 “‘This is the law: When a man dies 56 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, 57 or the body of someone who died of natural causes, 58 or a human bone, or a grave, will be unclean seven days. 59
19:17 “‘For a ceremonially unclean person you must take 60 some of the ashes of the heifer 61 burnt for purification from sin and pour 62 fresh running 63 water over them in a vessel. 19:18 Then a ceremonially clean person must take hyssop, dip it in the water, and sprinkle it on the tent, on all its furnishings, and on the people who were there, or on the one who touched a bone, or one killed, or one who died, or a grave. 19:19 And the clean person must sprinkle the unclean on the third day and on the seventh day; and on the seventh day he must purify him, 64 and then he must wash his clothes, and bathe in water, and he will be clean in the evening. 19:20 But the man who is unclean and does not purify himself, that person must be cut off from among the community, because he has polluted the sanctuary of the Lord; the water of purification was not sprinkled on him, so he is unclean.
19:21 “‘So this will be a perpetual ordinance for them: The one who sprinkles 65 the water of purification must wash his clothes, and the one who touches the water of purification will be unclean until evening. 66 19:22 And whatever the unclean person touches will be unclean, and the person who touches it will be unclean until evening.’”
Ezekiel 36:17
Context36:17 “Son of man, when the house of Israel was living on their own land, they defiled it by their behavior 67 and their deeds. In my sight their behavior was like the uncleanness of a woman having her monthly period.
Ezekiel 36:29
Context36:29 I will save you from all your uncleanness. I will call for the grain and multiply it; I will not bring a famine on you.
[15:2] 1 tn Heb “Man man.” The reduplication is a way of saying “any man” (cf. Lev 17:3; 22:18, etc.; see the distributive repetition of the noun in GKC 395-96 §123.c).
[15:2] 2 tn The term “discharge” actually means “to flow,” whether referring to a full flow as at a spring of water (Ps 78:20 and parallels) or in reference to the promised land as “a land flowing with milk and honey” (Exod 3:8 and parallels).
[15:2] 3 tn Heb “man, man when there is a discharge from his flesh.” The repetition of the word “man” is distributive, meaning “any [or “every”] man” (GKC 395-96 §123.c). It is well-recognized that the term “flesh” (i.e., “body”) in this chapter refers regularly and euphemistically to the male and female genital members or areas of the body (HALOT 164 s.v. בָּשָׂר 5.b; see also, e.g., B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 93). The euphemism has been retained in this translation since it is, in fact, intended in the Hebrew text. Some English versions partially remove the euphemism (e.g., NAB “from his private parts”; NRSV “from his member”) while some remove it completely (e.g., NLT “a genital discharge”; TEV “from his penis”; CEV “with an infected penis”).
[15:3] 4 tn The LXX has “this the law of his uncleanness…” (cf. v. 32 and compare, e.g., 13:59; 14:2, 56).
[15:3] 5 tc Smr, LXX, and the Paleo-Hebrew Leviticus Scroll from Qumran (11QpaleoLev; Fragment G contains Lev 14:52-15:5 and 16:2-4, and agrees with the LXX of Lev 15:3b) are in essential (although not complete) agreement against the MT in Lev 15:3b and are to be preferred in this case. The shorter MT text has probably arisen due to a lengthy haplography. See K. A. Mathews, “The Leviticus Scroll (11QpaleoLev) and the Text of the Hebrew Bible,” CBQ 48 (1986): 177-78, 198; D. N. Freedman, “Variant Readings in the Leviticus Scroll from Qumran Cave 11,” CBQ 36 (1974): 528-29; D. N. Freedman and K. A. Mathews, The Paleo-Hebrew Leviticus Scroll, 32. The MT of Lev 15:3 reads: “Now this is his uncleanness in [regard to] his discharge – whether his body secretes his discharge or blocks his discharge, this is his uncleanness.” Smr adds after MT’s “blocks his discharge” the following: “he is unclean; all the days that his body has a discharge or his body blocks his discharge, this is his uncleanness.” Thus, the MT appears to skip from Smr טמא הוא “he is unclean” in the middle of the verse to יא/טמאתו הו “this is his uncleanness” at the end of the verse, leaving out “he is unclean; all the days that his body has a discharge or his body blocks his discharge” (cf. the BHS footnote). 11Q1 (paleoLeva frag. G) is indeed fragmentary, but it does have ימי ז בו כל “…in him, all the days of the fl[ow],” supporting Smr and LXX tradition. The LXX adds after MT “blocks his discharge” the following: “all the days of the flow of his body, by which his body is affected by the flow,” followed by “it is his uncleanness” (i.e., the last two words of the MT).
[15:3] 6 tn Heb “it is his uncleanness,” but the last clause recapitulates the effect of the first clause in this verse, both of which introduce the regulations for such uncleanness in the following verses. In other words, whether his discharge flows from his penis or is blocked in it, he is still unclean and must proceed according to the following regulations (vv. 4ff).
[15:4] 7 tn Heb “All the bed which the man with a discharge sits on it shall be unclean”; cf. NLT “Any bedding.”
[15:4] 8 tn Heb “and all the vessel which he sits on it shall be unclean”; NASB “everything on which he sits.”
[15:5] 9 tn Heb “And a man who touches in his bed”; NLT “touch the man’s bedding.”
[15:5] 10 tn Heb “he shall wash his clothes and bathe in water and be unclean until the evening” (cf. also vv. 6-8, 10-11, etc.).
[15:7] 11 tn Heb “And the one who touches in the flesh.” In this instance, “flesh” (or “body”) probably refers literally to any part of the body, not the genitals specifically (see the discussion in J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:914).
[15:8] 12 tn Heb “And if the man with a discharge spits in the clean one.”
[15:9] 13 tn The Hebrew term for “means of riding” is a cognate noun from the verb “ride” later in this verse. It refers to anything on which one may ride without the feet touching the ground including, for example, a saddle, a (saddle) blanket, or a seat on a chariot (see, e.g., J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:916).
[15:10] 14 tn Heb “which shall be under him.” The verb is perhaps a future perfect, “which shall have been.”
[15:10] 15 tn Heb “them”; the referent (the previously mentioned items which were under the unclean person) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[15:11] 16 tn Heb “And all who the man with the discharge touches in him and his hands he has not rinsed in water.”
[15:12] 17 tn The Hebrew term כְּלִי (kÿli) can mean “vessel” (v. 12a) or “utensil, implement, article” (v. 12b). An article of clay would refer to a vessel or container of some sort, while one made of wood would refer to some kind of tool or instrument.
[15:13] 18 tn For the expression “fresh water” see the note on Lev 14:5 above.
[15:14] 19 tn Heb “from the sons of the pigeon,” referring either to “young pigeons” or “various species of pigeon” (contrast J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:168 with J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 14; cf. Lev 1:14 and esp. 5:7-10).
[15:14] 20 tc The MT has the Qal form of the verb בּוֹא (bo’) “to come” here, but the LXX (followed generally by the Syriac and Tg. Ps.-J.) reflects the Hiphil form of the same verb, “to bring” as in v. 29 below. In v. 29, however, there is no additional clause “and give them to the priest,” so the Hiphil is necessary in that context while it is not necessary here in v. 14.
[15:15] 21 sn See the note on Lev 4:3 regarding the term “sin offering.”
[15:15] 22 tn Heb “and the priest shall make them one a sin offering and the one a burnt offering.” See the note on Lev 1:3 regarding the “burnt offering.”
[15:15] 23 tn Heb “And the priest.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) can be considered to have resultative force here.
[15:15] 24 tn Heb “from”; see the note on 4:26.
[15:16] 25 tn Heb “And a man when a lying of seed goes out from him”; KJV, ASV “any man’s seed of copulation”; NIV, NRSV, TEV, NLT “an emission of semen.”
[15:16] 26 tn Heb “and he shall bathe all his flesh in water.”
[15:18] 27 tn Heb “And a woman who a man lies with her a lying of seed.”
[15:19] 28 tn See the note on Lev 15:2 above.
[15:19] 29 tn Heb “blood shall be her discharge in her flesh.” The term “flesh” here refers euphemistically to the female sexual area (cf. the note on v. 2 above).
[15:19] 30 tn See the note on Lev 12:2 and R. E. Averbeck, NIDOTTE 1:925-27.
[15:23] 31 tn Heb “and if on the bed it (הוּא, hu’) is or on the vessel which she sits on it, when he touches it….” The translation and meaning of this verse is a subject of much debate in the commentaries (see the summary in J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:938-40). It is difficult to determine what הוּא refers to, whether it means “he” referring to the one who does the touching, “it” for the furniture or the seat in v. 22, “she” referring to the woman herself (see Smr היא rather than הוא), or perhaps anything that was lying on the furniture or the bed of vv. 21-22. The latter view is taken here (cf. J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 202).
[15:23] 32 tn The MT accent suggest that “when he touches it” goes with the preceding line, but it seems to be better to take it as an introduction to what follows (see J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 202).
[15:24] 33 tn Heb “and if a man indeed lies with her and her menstrual impurity is on him.”
[15:25] 34 tn Heb “And a woman when the flow of her blood flows.”
[15:25] 35 tn Heb “in not the time of her menstruation or when it flows on her menstruation.”
[15:27] 36 tn See the note on v. 5 above.
[15:28] 37 tn Heb “And if…” Although this clause is parallel to v. 13 above, it begins with וְאִם (vÿ’im, “and if”) here rather than וְכִי (vÿkhi, “and when/if”) there.
[15:29] 38 tn Heb “from the sons of the pigeon,” referring either to “young pigeons” or “various species of pigeon” (contrast J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:168 with J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 14; cf. Lev 1:14 and esp. 5:7-10).
[15:30] 39 tn Heb “And the priest shall make the one a sin offering and the one a burnt offering.”
[15:30] 40 tn Heb “And the priest.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) can be considered to have resultative force here.
[15:31] 41 tn Heb “And you shall.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) can be considered to have resultative force here (cf. KJV, ASV, NASB, NCV, NRSV).
[15:31] 42 tn Heb “and they.” Here the Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) indicates a negative purpose (“lest,” so NAB, NASB).
[15:32] 43 tn Heb “and who a lying of seed goes out from him.”
[15:32] 44 tn Heb “to become unclean in it.”
[15:33] 45 tn Heb “and the one with a discharge, his discharge to the male and the female.”
[15:33] 46 tn Heb “and for a man.”
[19:9] 47 tn Heb “it will be.”
[19:9] 48 tn The expression לְמֵי נִדָּה (lÿme niddah) is “for waters of impurity.” The genitive must designate the purpose of the waters – they are for cases of impurity, and so serve for cleansing or purifying, thus “water of purification.” The word “impurity” can also mean “abhorrent” because it refers to so many kinds of impurities. It is also called a purification offering; Milgrom notes that this is fitting because the sacrificial ritual involved transfers impurity from the purified to the purifier (pp. 62-72).
[19:9] 49 sn The ashes were to be stored somewhere outside the camp to be used in a water portion for cleansing someone who was defiled. This is a ritual that was enacted in the wilderness; it is something of a restoring rite for people alienated from community.
[19:11] 50 tn The form is the participle with the article functioning as a substantive: “the one who touches.”
[19:11] 52 tn The expression is full: לְכָל־נֶפֶשׁ אָדָם (lÿkhol-nefesh ’adam) – of any life of a man, i.e., of any person.
[19:11] 53 tn The verb is a perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive; it follows only the participle used as the subject, but since the case is hypothetical and therefore future, this picks up the future time. The adjective “ceremonially” is supplied in the translation as a clarification.
[19:12] 54 tn The verb is the Hitpael of חָטָא (khata’), a verb that normally means “to sin.” But the Piel idea in many places is “to cleanse; to purify.” This may be explained as a privative use (“to un-sin” someone, meaning cleanse) or denominative (“make a sin offering for someone”). It is surely connected to the purification offering, and so a sense of purify is what is wanted here.
[19:13] 55 sn It is in passages like this that the view that being “cut off” meant the death penalty is the hardest to support. Would the Law prescribe death for someone who touches a corpse and fails to follow the ritual? Besides, the statement in this section that his uncleanness remains with him suggests that he still lives on.
[19:14] 56 tn The word order gives the classification and then the condition: “a man, when he dies….”
[19:16] 57 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.
[19:16] 58 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.
[19:16] 59 sn See Matt 23:27 and Acts 23:3 for application of this by the time of Jesus.
[19:17] 60 tn The verb is the perfect tense, third masculine plural, with a vav (ו) consecutive. The verb may be worded as a passive, “ashes must be taken,” but that may be too awkward for this sentence. It may be best to render it with a generic “you” to fit the instruction of the text.
[19:17] 61 tn The word “heifer” is not in the Hebrew text, but it is implied.
[19:17] 62 tn Here too the verb is the perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive; rather than make this passive, it is here left as a direct instruction to follow the preceding one. For the use of the verb נָתַן (natan) in the sense of “pour,” see S. C. Reif, “A Note on a Neglected Connotation of ntn,” VT 20 (1970): 114-16.
[19:17] 63 tn The expression is literally “living water.” Living water is the fresh, flowing spring water that is clear, life-giving, and not the collected pools of stagnant or dirty water.
[19:19] 64 tn The construction uses a simple Piel of חָטָא (khata’, “to purify”) with a pronominal suffix – “he shall purify him.” Some commentators take this to mean that after he sprinkles the unclean then he must purify himself. But that would not be the most natural way to read this form.
[19:21] 65 tn The form has the conjunction with it: וּמַזֵּה (umazzeh). The conjunction subordinates the following as the special law. It could literally be translated “and this shall be…that the one who sprinkles.”
[19:21] 66 sn This gives the indication of the weight of the matter, for “until the evening” is the shortest period of ritual uncleanness in the Law. The problem of contamination had to be taken seriously, but this was a relatively simple matter to deal with – if one were willing to obey the Law.
