Leviticus 11:24-25

Carcass Uncleanness

11:24 “‘By these ¹  you defile yourselves; anyone who touches their carcass will be unclean until the evening, 11:25 and anyone who carries their carcass must wash his clothes and will be unclean until the evening.

Leviticus 11:28

11:28 and the one who carries their carcass must wash his clothes and be unclean until the evening; they are unclean to you.

Leviticus 15:5-8

15:5 Anyone who touches his bed ²  must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. ³  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 ⁴  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, ⁵  that person must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening.

Leviticus 15:10

15:10 Anyone who touches anything that was under him ⁶  will be unclean until evening, and the one who carries those items ⁷  must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening.

Leviticus 17:15

Regulations for Eating Carcasses

17:15 “‘Any person ⁸  who eats an animal that has died of natural causes ⁹  or an animal torn by beasts, whether a native citizen or a foreigner, ¹⁰  must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening; then he becomes clean.

Leviticus 22:6

22:6 the person who touches any of these ¹¹  will be unclean until evening and must not eat from the holy offerings unless he has bathed his body in water.

Numbers 19:7-10

19:7 Then the priest must wash ¹²  his clothes and bathe himself ¹³  in water, and afterward he may come ¹⁴  into the camp, but the priest will be ceremonially unclean until evening. 19:8 The one who burns it ¹⁵  must wash his clothes in water and bathe himself in water. He will be ceremonially unclean until evening.

19:9 “‘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 ¹⁶  for the community of the Israelites for use in the water of purification ¹⁷  – it is a purification for sin. ¹⁸  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.

Numbers 19:21-22

19:21 “‘So this will be a perpetual ordinance for them: The one who sprinkles ¹⁹  the water of purification must wash his clothes, and the one who touches the water of purification will be unclean until evening. ²⁰  19:22 And whatever the unclean person touches will be unclean, and the person who touches it will be unclean until evening.’”

[11:24]  ¹ tn Heb “and to these.”

[15:5]  ² tn Heb “And a man who touches in his bed”; NLT “touch the man’s bedding.”

[15:5]  ³ 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]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ tn Heb “And if the man with a discharge spits in the clean one.”

[15:10]  ⁶ tn Heb “which shall be under him.” The verb is perhaps a future perfect, “which shall have been.”

[15:10]  ⁷ tn Heb “them”; the referent (the previously mentioned items which were under the unclean person) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[17:15]  ⁸ tn Heb “And any soul” (נֶפֶשׁ, nefesh).

[17:15]  ⁹ tn Heb “carcass,” referring to the carcass of an animal that has died on its own, not the carcass of an animal slaughtered for sacrifice or killed by wild beasts. This has been clarified in the translation by supplying the phrase “of natural causes”; cf. NAB “that died of itself”; TEV “that has died a natural death.”

[17:15]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “in the native or in the sojourner.”

[22:6]  ¹¹ sn The phrase “any of these” refers back to the unclean things touched in vv. 4b-5.

[19:7]  ¹² tn The sequence continues with the perfect tense and vav (ו) consecutive.

[19:7]  ¹³ tn Heb “his flesh.”

[19:7]  ¹⁴ tn This is the imperfect of permission.

[19:8]  ¹⁵ sn Here the text makes clear that he had at least one assistant.

[19:9]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “it will be.”

[19:9]  ¹⁷ 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]  ¹⁸ 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.

[19:21]  ¹⁹ 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]  ²⁰ 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.