Leviticus 10:10

10 so that you can distinguish between the holy and the common, between the unclean and the clean,

Leviticus 10:10 in Other Translations

10 And that ye may put difference between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean;

10 You are to distinguish between the holy and the common, and between the unclean and the clean,

10 You must distinguish between what is sacred and what is common, between what is ceremonially unclean and what is clean.

10 Distinguish between the holy and the common, between the ritually clean and unclean.

10 You must distinguish between the holy and the common, and the clean and the unclean,

Leviticus 10:10 Meaning and Commentary

Leviticus 10:10

And that ye may put difference between holy and unholy,
&c.] That being sober they might be able to distinguish between the one and the other; which a drunken man, having his mind and senses disturbed, is not capable of; as between holy and unholy persons, and between holy and unholy things; particularly, as Aben Ezra interprets it, between a sacred place and one that is common, and between a holy day and a common week day; the knowledge and memory of which may be lost through intemperance; and so that may be done in a place and on a day which ought not to be done, or that omitted on a day and in a place which ought to be done:

and between unclean and clean;
between unclean men and women, beasts and fowls, and clean ones; and between unclean things in a ceremonial sense, and those that are clean, which a man in liquor may be no judge of: hence, as the above writer observes, after this section follow laws concerning fowls clean and unclean, the purification of a woman after childbirth, the leprosy in men, garments and houses, and concerning profluvious and menstruous persons; all which the priests were to be judges of, and therefore ought to be sober.

Leviticus 10:10 In-Context

8 Then the LORD said to Aaron,

9 “You and your sons are not to drink wine or other fermented drink whenever you go into the tent of meeting, or you will die. This is a lasting ordinance for the generations to come,

10 so that you can distinguish between the holy and the common, between the unclean and the clean,

11 and so you can teach the Israelites all the decrees the LORD has given them through Moses.”

12 Moses said to Aaron and his remaining sons, Eleazar and Ithamar, “Take the grain offering left over from the food offerings prepared without yeast and presented to the LORD and eat it beside the altar, for it is most holy.

Cross References

• 1. S Genesis 7:2; S Leviticus 6:27; Leviticus 14:57; Leviticus 11:47; Leviticus 20:25; Ezekiel 22:26