Leviticus 15:3

3 This is uncleanness of his discharge: Whether his body secretes the discharge or retains it, he is unclean. All the days that his body secretes or retains anything because of his discharge,^[a] he is unclean.^[b]

Leviticus 15:3 Meaning and Commentary

Leviticus 15:3

And this shall be his uncleanness in his issue
Or the sign of it, by which it may be judged whether he is unclean by it or no:

whether his flesh run with his issue;
or salivates, or emits a flow of matter like a saliva, or in the manner of spittle:

or his flesh be stopped from his issue;
with it, or because of it; because it is gross, as Jarchi says, it cannot come forth freely:

it [is] his uncleanness;
whether it be one or the other, he is reckoned on account of it an unclean person. This was an emblem of the corruption and vitiosity of nature, and of all evil things that are in or flow out of the evil heart of man, which are defiling to him; see ( Matthew 15:18 Matthew 15:19 ) .

Leviticus 15:3 In-Context

1 The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron:

2 "Speak to the Israelites and tell them: When any man has a discharge from his body, he is unclean.

3 This is uncleanness of his discharge: Whether his body secretes the discharge or retains it, he is unclean. All the days that his body secretes or retains anything because of his discharge, he is unclean.

4 Any bed the man with the discharge lies on will be unclean, and any furniture he sits on will be unclean.

5 Anyone who touches his bed is to wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will remain unclean until evening.

Footnotes

• [a]. DSS, Sam, LXX; MT omits he is unclean. All the days that his body secretes or retains anything because of his discharge
• [b]. A urinary tract infection