Deuteronomy 23:12

12 "You shall have a place outside the camp, and you shall go out to it.

Deuteronomy 23:12 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 23:12

Thou shalt have also a place without the camp
A place prepared, as the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan, provided on purpose for the use hereafter suggested; so Ben Melech:

whither thou shalt go forth abroad;
to do the necessities of nature, which they were to do without the camp, not in any place they thought fit and most convenient, but what was appointed for that purpose.

Deuteronomy 23:12 In-Context

10 "If any man among you becomes unclean because of a nocturnal emission, then he shall go outside the camp. He shall not come inside the camp,

11 but when evening comes, he shall bathe himself in water, and as the sun sets, he may come inside the camp.

12 "You shall have a place outside the camp, and you shall go out to it.

13 And you shall have a trowel with your tools, and when you sit down outside, you shall dig a hole with it and turn back and cover up your excrement.

14 Because the LORD your God walks in the midst of your camp, to deliver you and to give up your enemies before you, therefore your camp must be holy, so that he may not see anything indecent among you and turn away from you