Leviticus 15:1-18

Cleansing Unhealthiness

1 The LORD also spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,

2 "Speak to the sons of Israel, and say to them, '¹When any man has a discharge from his body, his discharge is unclean.

3 'This, moreover, shall be his uncleanness in his discharge: it is his uncleanness whether his body allows its discharge to flow or whether his body obstructs its discharge.

4 'Every bed on which the person with the discharge lies becomes unclean, and everything * on which he sits becomes unclean.

5 'Anyone, moreover, who touches his bed shall wash his clothes and bathe in water and be unclean until evening;

6 and whoever sits on the thing on which the man with the discharge has been sitting, shall wash his clothes and bathe in water and be unclean until evening.

7 'Also whoever touches the person with the discharge shall wash his clothes and bathe in water and be unclean until evening.

8 'Or if the man with the discharge spits on one who is clean, he too shall wash his clothes and bathe in water and be unclean until evening.

9 'Every saddle on which the person with the discharge rides becomes unclean.

10 'Whoever then touches any of the things which were under him shall be unclean until evening, and he who carries them shall wash his clothes and bathe in water and be unclean until evening.

11 'Likewise, whomever * the one with the discharge touches without having rinsed his hands in water shall wash his clothes and bathe in water and be unclean until evening.

12 'However, an ²earthenware vessel which the person with the discharge touches shall be broken, and every wooden vessel shall be rinsed in water.

13 'Now when the man with the discharge becomes cleansed from his discharge, then he ³shall count off for himself seven days for his cleansing; he shall then wash his clothes and bathe his body in running water and will become clean.

14 'Then on the eighth day he shall take for himself ⁴two turtledoves or two young pigeons, and come before the LORD to the doorway of the tent of meeting and give them to the priest;

15 and the priest shall offer them, ⁵one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering. So ⁶the priest shall make atonement on his behalf before the LORD because of his discharge.

16 '⁷Now if a man has a seminal emission, he shall bathe all his body in water and be unclean until evening.

17 'As for any garment or any leather on which there is seminal emission, it shall be washed with water and be unclean until evening.

18 'If a man lies with a woman so that there is a seminal emission, they shall both bathe in water and be ⁸unclean until evening.

Leviticus 15:1-18 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO LEVITICUS 15

This chapter treats of uncleanness by issues in men and women; in men, a running issue, Le 15:1-3, which defiles him, and everything he touches, or that touches him or them, Le 15:4-12; the cleansing from which is directed to, Le 15:13-15; and seed flowing from him, Le 15:16-18; in women, their ordinary courses, Le 15:19-24; or extraordinary ones, Le 15:25-27; and the law for the cleansing of them, Le 15:28-31; and a recapitulation of the whole, Le 15:32,33.

Cross References

• 1. Leviticus 22:4; Numbers 5:2; 2 Samuel 3:29
• 2. Leviticus 6:28; Leviticus 11:33
• 3. Leviticus 8:33; Leviticus 14:8
• 4. Leviticus 14:22, 23
• 5. Leviticus 5:7; Leviticus 14:31
• 6. Leviticus 14:19, 31
• 7. Leviticus 22:4; Deuteronomy 23:10, 11
• 8. 1 Samuel 21:4

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit "flesh," and so throughout the ch
• [b]. Or "by his discharge, he is unclean"
• [c]. Lit "flesh"
• [d]. Lit "living"
• [e]. Lit "man's...goes out from him"