Numbers 5:2

2 “Command the Israelites to send away from the camp anyone who has a defiling skin disease^[a] or a discharge of any kind, or who is ceremonially unclean because of a dead body.

Numbers 5:2 in Other Translations

2 Command the children of Israel, that they put out of the camp every leper, and every one that hath an issue, and whosoever is defiled by the dead:

2 "Command the people of Israel that they put out of the camp everyone who is leprous or has a discharge and everyone who is unclean through contact with the dead.

2 “Command the people of Israel to remove from the camp anyone who has a skin disease or a discharge, or who has become ceremonially unclean by touching a dead person.

2 "Command the People of Israel to ban from the camp anyone who has an infectious skin disease, anyone who has a discharge, and anyone who is ritually unclean from contact with a dead body.

2 "Command the Israelites to send away anyone from the camp who is afflicted with a skin disease, anyone who has a [bodily] discharge, or anyone who is defiled because of a corpse.

Numbers 5:2 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 5:2

Command the children of Israel
Not as from himself, but from the Lord; deliver out the following as a command of his, to which obedience was required of all the children of Israel:

that they put out of the camp every leper;
there were three camps, Jarchi says, in the time of their encampment; between the curtains was the camp of the Shechinah, or the divine Majesty; the encampment of the Levites round about; and from thence to the end was the camp of the standards, to the four winds, which was the camp of Israel; and the leper was to be put out of them all; so Ben Gersom; see ( Leviticus 13:46 ) ;

and everyone that hath an issue;
a gonorrhoea, man or woman, see ( Leviticus 15:2 Leviticus 15:19 ) ; according Jarchi, such an one might be in the camp of Israel, but was to be put out of the other two camps:

and whosoever is defiled by the dead;
by attending the funerals of the dead, or touching them, see ( Leviticus 21:1 ) ( 22:4 ) ; such an one might go into the camp of the Levites, according to Jarchi and Ben Gersom; and was to be put of none but the camp of the Shechinah, or the tabernacle; but the camp of Israel seems to be meant of them all, out of which they were to be put, as an emblem of the rejection of all impure persons out of the church of God.

Numbers 5:2 In-Context

1 The LORD said to Moses,

2 “Command the Israelites to send away from the camp anyone who has a defiling skin disease or a discharge of any kind, or who is ceremonially unclean because of a dead body.

3 Send away male and female alike; send them outside the camp so they will not defile their camp, where I dwell among them.”

4 The Israelites did so; they sent them outside the camp. They did just as the LORD had instructed Moses.

5 The LORD said to Moses,

Cross References

• 1. S Leviticus 13:2; Leviticus 13:46
• 2. S Leviticus 15:2; Matthew 9:20
• 3. Leviticus 13:3; Numbers 9:6-10
• 4. S Leviticus 21:11

Footnotes

• [a]. The Hebrew word for "defiling skin disease" , traditionally translated “leprosy,” was used for various diseases affecting the skin.