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Instructions About Bodily Discharges

15 Then[a] Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, “Speak to the Israelites,[b] and you shall say to them, ‘Any man[c] when a fluid discharge occurs[d] from his body, his fluid discharge is unclean. And this becomes his uncleanness in his fluid discharge: whether his body secretes his fluid discharge or his body blocks his fluid discharge, it is his uncleanness. Any bed upon which the person who discharges lies down becomes unclean, and any object upon which he sits becomes unclean. And anyone who touches his bed must wash his garments and shall wash[e] himself[f] with water, and he shall be unclean until evening. And the person who sits on the object upon which the person who discharges has sat must wash his garments, and he shall wash[g] himself[h] with water, and he shall be unclean until the evening. And the person who touches the body of the person who discharges must wash his garments, and he shall wash[i] himself[j] with water, and he shall be unclean until the evening. And if the person who discharges spits on one who is[k] clean, then[l] that one[m] shall wash is garments, and he shall wash himself[n] with water, and he shall be unclean until the evening. And any saddle upon which the person who discharges rides becomes unclean. 10 And any person who touches anything that happened to be under him becomes unclean until the evening, and the person who carries them must wash his garments, and he shall wash himself[o] with water, and he shall be unclean until the evening. 11 And anyone whom the person who discharges might touch without[p] rinsing off his hands with water shall wash his garments, and he shall wash himself[q] with water, and he shall be unclean until the evening. 12 But[r] a clay vessel that the person who discharges touches must be broken, and any wood object[s] must be rinsed with water.

13 “‘And when the person who discharges becomes clean from his body fluid discharge, he shall count[t] for himself seven days for his cleansing; then[u] he shall wash his garments, and he shall wash his body with fresh[v] water, and he shall be clean. 14 Then[w] on the eighth day he shall take for himself two turtledoves or two young doves,[x] and he shall come before[y] Yahweh at the tent of assembly’s entrance, and he shall give them to the priest. 15 And the priest shall sacrifice[z] one as a sin offering and the other[aa] as a burnt offering, and so the priest shall make atonement for him before[ab] Yahweh from his body fluid discharge.

16 “‘And if an emission of semen goes out from anyone, then[ac] he shall wash all of his body with water, and he shall be unclean until the evening. 17 And any garment and anything leather on which is an emission of semen shall be washed with water, and it shall be unclean until the evening. 18 If[ad] there is a woman with whom a man lies down and there is an emission of semen, then[ae] they shall wash themselves[af] with water, and they shall be unclean until the evening.

19 “‘And when a woman is menstruating,[ag] her body fluid discharge occurs in[ah] her body; for seven days she shall be in her menstruation, and any person who touches her shall become unclean until the evening. 20 And anything upon which she lies down during her menstruation shall become unclean, and anything upon which she sits shall become unclean. 21 And any person who touches her bed must wash his garments, and he shall wash himself[ai] with water, and he shall be unclean until the evening. 22 And any person who touches any object on which she sat must wash his garments, and he shall wash himself[aj] with water, and he shall be unclean until the evening. 23 And if it is on the bed or on the object on which she sits, at his touching it he becomes unclean until the evening. 24 And if a man indeed lies with her and her menstruation occurs on him, then[ak] he shall be unclean for seven days, and any bed on which he lies down becomes unclean.

25 “‘And when a woman discharges a body fluid consisting of her blood for many days, but not at the time of her menstruation, or when she discharges in addition to[al] her menstruation, all the days of her unclean body fluid discharge she shall become unclean as in the days of her menstruation. 26 Any bed on which she lies during all the days of her body fluid discharge shall become for her as her bed of menstruation, and any object on which she sits becomes unclean as her menstruation’s uncleanness. 27 And any person who touches them becomes unclean, and he shall wash his garments, and he shall wash himself[am] with water, and he shall be unclean until the evening.

28 “‘And if she is clean from her body fluid discharge, then[an] she shall count for herself seven days, and afterward she becomes clean. 29 And on the eighth day she shall take for herself two turtledoves or two young doves,[ao] and she shall bring them to the priest at the tent of assembly’s entrance. 30 And the priest shall sacrifice[ap] the one as a sin offering and the other[aq] as a burnt offering, and so the priest shall make atonement for her before[ar] Yahweh from her unclean body fluid discharge.’

31 “And you shall keep the Israelites[as] separate from their uncleanness so that they might not die because of[at] their uncleanness by their making my tabernacle, which is in their midst, unclean.

32 “This is the regulation of the one with the body fluid discharge and the one from whom an emission of semen goes out so that he becomes unclean by it 33 and concerning[au] the menstruating woman in her bleeding[av] and the person who discharges his body fluid, for the male and for the female and for a man who lies with an unclean woman.”

Footnotes

  1. Leviticus 15:1 Or “And”
  2. Leviticus 15:2 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
  3. Leviticus 15:2 Literally “a man a man”
  4. Leviticus 15:2 Or “becomes” or “shall be”
  5. Leviticus 15:5 Or “bathe”
  6. Leviticus 15:5 The direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
  7. Leviticus 15:6 Or “bathe”
  8. Leviticus 15:6 The direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
  9. Leviticus 15:7 Or “bathe”
  10. Leviticus 15:7 The direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
  11. Leviticus 15:8 The generic article designating a class of persons or things
  12. Leviticus 15:8 Or “and”
  13. Leviticus 15:8 Hebrew “he”
  14. Leviticus 15:8 The direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
  15. Leviticus 15:10 The direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
  16. Leviticus 15:11 Literally “and not”
  17. Leviticus 15:11 The direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
  18. Leviticus 15:12 Or “And”
  19. Leviticus 15:12 Literally “object of wood”
  20. Leviticus 15:13 Literally “and he shall count”
  21. Leviticus 15:13 Or “and”
  22. Leviticus 15:13 Or “running”; literally “living”
  23. Leviticus 15:14 Or “And”
  24. Leviticus 15:14 Literally “sons of dove”
  25. Leviticus 15:14 Literally “to the faces of”
  26. Leviticus 15:15 Literally “do” or “make”
  27. Leviticus 15:15 Literally “the one”
  28. Leviticus 15:15 Literally “to the faces of”
  29. Leviticus 15:16 Or “and”
  30. Leviticus 15:18 Or “And”
  31. Leviticus 15:18 Or “and”
  32. Leviticus 15:18 The direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
  33. Leviticus 15:19 Literally “is discharging blood”
  34. Leviticus 15:19 Or “from”
  35. Leviticus 15:21 The direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
  36. Leviticus 15:22 The direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
  37. Leviticus 15:24 Or “and”
  38. Leviticus 15:25 Or “beyond”
  39. Leviticus 15:27 The direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
  40. Leviticus 15:28 Or “and”
  41. Leviticus 15:29 Literally “sons of dove”
  42. Leviticus 15:30 Literally “do” or “make”
  43. Leviticus 15:30 Literally “one”
  44. Leviticus 15:30 Literally “the the faces of”
  45. Leviticus 15:31 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
  46. Leviticus 15:31 Or “by” or “in”
  47. Leviticus 15:33 Literally “of”
  48. Leviticus 15:33 See similar idiom at 12:2

Discharges Causing Uncleanness

15 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘When any man has an unusual bodily discharge,(A) such a discharge is unclean. Whether it continues flowing from his body or is blocked, it will make him unclean. This is how his discharge will bring about uncleanness:

“‘Any bed the man with a discharge lies on will be unclean, and anything he sits on will be unclean. Anyone who touches his bed must wash their clothes(B) and bathe with water,(C) and they will be unclean till evening.(D) Whoever sits on anything that the man with a discharge sat on must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening.

“‘Whoever touches the man(E) who has a discharge(F) must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening.

“‘If the man with the discharge spits(G) on anyone who is clean, they must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening.

“‘Everything the man sits on when riding will be unclean, 10 and whoever touches any of the things that were under him will be unclean till evening; whoever picks up those things(H) must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening.

11 “‘Anyone the man with a discharge touches without rinsing his hands with water must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening.

12 “‘A clay pot(I) that the man touches must be broken, and any wooden article(J) is to be rinsed with water.

13 “‘When a man is cleansed from his discharge, he is to count off seven days(K) for his ceremonial cleansing; he must wash his clothes and bathe himself with fresh water, and he will be clean.(L) 14 On the eighth day he must take two doves or two young pigeons(M) and come before the Lord to the entrance to the tent of meeting and give them to the priest. 15 The priest is to sacrifice them, the one for a sin offering[a](N) and the other for a burnt offering.(O) In this way he will make atonement before the Lord for the man because of his discharge.(P)

16 “‘When a man has an emission of semen,(Q) he must bathe his whole body with water, and he will be unclean till evening.(R) 17 Any clothing or leather that has semen on it must be washed with water, and it will be unclean till evening. 18 When a man has sexual relations with a woman and there is an emission of semen,(S) both of them must bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening.

19 “‘When a woman has her regular flow of blood, the impurity of her monthly period(T) will last seven days, and anyone who touches her will be unclean till evening.

20 “‘Anything she lies on during her period will be unclean, and anything she sits on will be unclean. 21 Anyone who touches her bed will be unclean; they must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening.(U) 22 Anyone who touches anything she sits on will be unclean; they must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening. 23 Whether it is the bed or anything she was sitting on, when anyone touches it, they will be unclean till evening.

24 “‘If a man has sexual relations with her and her monthly flow(V) touches him, he will be unclean for seven days; any bed he lies on will be unclean.

25 “‘When a woman has a discharge of blood for many days at a time other than her monthly period(W) or has a discharge that continues beyond her period, she will be unclean as long as she has the discharge, just as in the days of her period. 26 Any bed she lies on while her discharge continues will be unclean, as is her bed during her monthly period, and anything she sits on will be unclean, as during her period. 27 Anyone who touches them will be unclean; they must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening.

28 “‘When she is cleansed from her discharge, she must count off seven days, and after that she will be ceremonially clean. 29 On the eighth day she must take two doves or two young pigeons(X) and bring them to the priest at the entrance to the tent of meeting. 30 The priest is to sacrifice one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering. In this way he will make atonement for her before the Lord for the uncleanness of her discharge.(Y)

31 “‘You must keep the Israelites separate from things that make them unclean, so they will not die in their uncleanness for defiling my dwelling place,[b](Z) which is among them.’”

32 These are the regulations for a man with a discharge, for anyone made unclean by an emission of semen,(AA) 33 for a woman in her monthly period, for a man or a woman with a discharge, and for a man who has sexual relations with a woman who is ceremonially unclean.(AB)

Footnotes

  1. Leviticus 15:15 Or purification offering; also in verse 30
  2. Leviticus 15:31 Or my tabernacle