Leviticus 15

Cleansing Unhealthiness

1The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, ‘When any man has a bodily discharge, his discharge is unclean. This shall be [the law concerning] his uncleanness in his discharge: whether his body allows its discharge to flow or obstructs its flow; it is uncleanness in him. Every bed on which the one who has the discharge lies becomes unclean, and everything on which he sits becomes unclean. Whoever touches his bed shall wash his clothes, and bathe in water, and be unclean until evening; and whoever sits on anything on which the man with the discharge has been sitting shall wash his clothes and bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. Also whoever touches the man with the discharge shall wash his clothes and bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. And if he who has the discharge spits on one who is clean, then he shall wash his clothes and bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. Any saddle on which the man with the discharge rides becomes unclean. 10 Whoever touches anything that has been under him shall be unclean until evening; and whoever carries those things shall wash his clothes and bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. 11 Whomever the one with the discharge touches without rinsing his hands in water shall wash his clothes and bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. 12 An earthenware container that the one with the discharge touches shall be broken, and every wooden container shall be rinsed in water.

13 ‘When the man with the discharge becomes cleansed from his discharge, he shall count off seven days for his purification; he shall then wash his clothes and bathe his body in running water and will become clean. 14 On the eighth day he shall take two turtledoves or two young pigeons and come before the Lord to the doorway of the Tent of Meeting, and give them to the priest; 15 and the priest shall offer them, one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering. So the priest shall make atonement for the man before the Lord because of his discharge.

16 ‘Now if any man has a seminal emission, he shall wash all his body in water, and be unclean until evening. 17 Every garment and every leather on which there is semen shall be washed with water, and shall be unclean until evening. 18 If a man lies with a woman so that there is a seminal emission, they shall both bathe in water and be unclean until evening.

19 ‘When a woman has a discharge, if her bodily discharge is blood, she shall continue in her menstrual impurity for seven days; and whoever touches her shall be unclean until evening. 20 Everything on which she lies during her menstrual impurity shall be unclean; and everything on which she sits shall be unclean. 21 Anyone who touches her bed shall wash his clothes and bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. 22 Whoever touches anything on which she sits shall wash his clothes and bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. 23 And if it is on her bed or on the thing on which she is sitting, when he touches it, he shall be unclean until evening. 24 If a man actually lies with her so that her menstrual impurity is on him, he shall be unclean for seven days; and every bed on which he lies shall be unclean.

25 ‘Now if a woman has a flow of blood for many days, not during the time of her menstruation, or if she has a discharge beyond that period, as long as the impure discharge continues she shall be as she is in the days of her [normal] menstrual impurity; she is unclean. 26 Every bed on which she lies during the time of her discharge shall be to her like the bed of her menstrual impurity, and whatever she sits on shall be unclean, like the uncleanness of her monthly period. 27 And whoever touches those things shall be unclean, and shall wash his clothes and bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. 28 When she is cleansed from her discharge, then she shall count off for herself seven days, and after that she will be clean. 29 Then on the eighth day she shall take for herself two turtledoves or two young pigeons and bring them to the priest at the doorway of the Tent of Meeting; 30 and the priest shall offer one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering; and he shall make atonement for her before the Lord for her unclean discharge.’

31 “Thus you shall [a]separate the Israelites from their uncleanness, so that they do not die in their uncleanness by their defiling My tabernacle that is among them.” 32 This is the law for the one who has a discharge and for the one who has a seminal emission, so that he is unclean by it; 33 and for the woman who is ill because of her monthly period, and for the one who has a discharge, whether man or woman, or for a man who lies with a woman who is [ceremonially] unclean.

Footnotes

  1. Leviticus 15:31 The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain; another possibility is caution...about their.