19 And if a woman have an issue, and her issue in her flesh be blood, she shall be put apart seven days: and whosoever toucheth her shall be unclean until the even.
20 And every thing that she lieth upon in her separation shall be unclean: every thing also that she sitteth upon shall be unclean.
21 And whosoever toucheth her bed shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even.
22 And whosoever toucheth any thing that she sat upon shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even.
23 And if it be on her bed, or on any thing whereon she sitteth, when he toucheth it, he shall be unclean until the even.
24 And if any man lie with her at all, and her flowers be upon him, he shall be unclean seven days; and all the bed whereon he lieth shall be unclean.
25 And if a woman have an issue of her blood many days out of the time of her separation, or if it run beyond the time of her separation; all the days of the issue of her uncleanness shall be as the days of her separation: she shall be unclean.
26 Every bed whereon she lieth all the days of her issue shall be unto her as the bed of her separation: and whatsoever she sitteth upon shall be unclean, as the uncleanness of her separation.
27 And whosoever toucheth those things shall be unclean, and shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even.
19 And if a woman H802 have an issue, H2100 and her issue H2101 in her flesh H1320 be blood, H1818 she shall be put apart H5079 seven H7651 days: H3117 and whosoever toucheth H5060 her shall be unclean H2930 until the even. H6153
20 And every thing that she lieth H7901 upon in her separation H5079 shall be unclean: H2930 every thing also that she sitteth H3427 upon shall be unclean. H2930
21 And whosoever toucheth H5060 her bed H4904 shall wash H3526 his clothes, H899 and bathe H7364 himself in water, H4325 and be unclean H2930 until the even. H6153
22 And whosoever toucheth H5060 any thing H3627 that she sat H3427 upon shall wash H3526 his clothes, H899 and bathe H7364 himself in water, H4325 and be unclean H2930 until the even. H6153
23 And if it be on her bed, H4904 or on any thing H3627 whereon she sitteth, H3427 when he toucheth H5060 it, he shall be unclean H2930 until the even. H6153
24 And if any man H376 lie H7901 with her at all, H7901 and her flowers H5079 be upon him, he shall be unclean H2930 seven H7651 days; H3117 and all the bed H4904 whereon he lieth H7901 shall be unclean. H2930
25 And if a woman H802 have H2100 an issue H2101 of her blood H1818 many H7227 days H3117 out H3808 of the time H6256 of her separation, H5079 or if it run H2100 beyond the time H5921 of her separation; H5079 all the days H3117 of the issue H2101 of her uncleanness H2932 shall be as the days H3117 of her separation: H5079 she shall be unclean. H2931
26 Every bed H4904 whereon she lieth H7901 all the days H3117 of her issue H2101 shall be unto her as the bed H4904 of her separation: H5079 and whatsoever H3627 she sitteth H3427 upon shall be unclean, H2931 as the uncleanness H2932 of her separation. H5079
27 And whosoever toucheth H5060 those things shall be unclean, H2930 and shall wash H3526 his clothes, H899 and bathe H7364 himself in water, H4325 and be unclean H2930 until the even. H6153
19 And if a woman have an issue, `and' her issue in her flesh be blood, she shall be in her impurity seven days: and whosoever toucheth her shall be unclean until the even.
20 And everything that she lieth upon in her impurity shall be unclean: everything also that she sitteth upon shall be unclean.
21 And whosoever toucheth her bed shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even.
22 And whosoever toucheth anything that she sitteth upon shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even.
23 And if it be on the bed, or on anything whereon she sitteth, when he toucheth it, he shall be unclean until the even.
24 And if any man lie with her, and her impurity be upon him, he shall be unclean seven days; and every bed whereon he lieth shall be unclean.
25 And if a woman have an issue of her blood many days not in the time of her impurity, or if she have an issue beyond the time of her impurity; all the days of the issue of her uncleanness she shall be as in the days of her impurity: she is unclean.
26 Every bed whereon she lieth all the days of her issue shall be unto her as the bed of her impurity: and everything whereon she sitteth shall be unclean, as the uncleanness of her impurity.
27 And whosoever toucheth those things shall be unclean, and shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even.
19 `And when a woman hath an issue -- blood is her issue in her flesh -- seven days she is in her separation, and any one who is coming against her is unclean till the evening.
20 `And anything on which she lieth in her separation is unclean, and anything on which she sitteth is unclean;
21 and any one who is coming against her bed doth wash his garments, and hath bathed with water, and been unclean till the evening.
22 `And any one who is coming against any vessel on which she sitteth doth wash his garments, and hath washed with water, and been unclean till the evening.
23 `And if it `is' on the bed, or on the vessel on which she is sitting, in his coming against it, he is unclean till the evening.
24 `And if a man really lie with her, and her separation is on him, then he hath been unclean seven days, and all the bed on which he lieth is unclean.
25 `And when a woman's issue of blood floweth many days within the time of her separation, or when it floweth over her separation -- all the days of the issue of her uncleanness are as the days of her separation; she `is' unclean.
26 `All the bed on which she lieth all the days of her issue is as the bed of her separation to her, and all the vessel on which she sitteth is unclean as the uncleanness of her separation;
27 and any one who is coming against them is unclean, and hath washed his garments, and hath bathed with water, and been unclean till the evening.
19 And if a woman have a flux, and her flux in her flesh be blood, she shall be seven days in her separation, and whoever toucheth her shall be unclean until the even.
20 And everything that she lieth upon in her separation shall be unclean; and everything that she sitteth upon shall be unclean.
21 And whoever toucheth her bed shall wash his garments, and bathe in water, and be unclean until the even.
22 And whoever toucheth any object that she sat upon shall wash his garments, and bathe in water, and be unclean until the even.
23 And if it be on the bed, or on anything whereon she sitteth, when he toucheth it, he shall be unclean until the even.
24 And if a man lie with her at all, and the uncleanness of her separation come upon him, he shall be unclean seven days; and every bed whereon he lieth shall be unclean.
25 And if a woman have her flux of blood many days out of the time of her separation, or if she have the flux beyond the time of her separation, all the days of the flux of her uncleanness shall she be as [in] the days of her separation: she is unclean.
26 Every bed whereon she lieth all the days of her flux shall be unto her as the bed of her separation; and every object on which she sitteth shall be unclean, according to the uncleanness of her separation.
27 And whoever toucheth them shall be unclean, and shall wash his clothes, and bathe in water, and be unclean until the even.
19 "'If a woman has a discharge, and her discharge in her flesh is blood, she shall be in her impurity seven days: and whoever touches her shall be unclean until the evening.
20 "'Everything that she lies on in her impurity shall be unclean. Everything also that she sits on shall be unclean.
21 Whoever touches her bed shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening.
22 Whoever touches anything that she sits on shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening.
23 If it is on the bed, or on anything whereon she sits, when he touches it, he shall be unclean until the evening.
24 "'If any man lies with her, and her monthly flow is on him, he shall be unclean seven days; and every bed whereon he lies shall be unclean.
25 "'If a woman has a discharge of her blood many days not in the time of her period, or if she has a discharge beyond the time of her period; all the days of the discharge of her uncleanness shall be as in the days of her period: she is unclean.
26 Every bed whereon she lies all the days of her discharge shall be to her as the bed of her period: and everything whereon she sits shall be unclean, as the uncleanness of her period.
27 Whoever touches these things shall be unclean, and shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening.
19 And if a woman has a flow of blood from her body, she will have to be kept separate for seven days, and anyone touching her will be unclean till evening.
20 And everything on which she has been resting, while she is kept separate, will be unclean, and everything on which she has been seated will be unclean.
21 And anyone touching her bed will have to have his clothing washed and his body bathed in water and be unclean till evening.
22 And anyone touching anything on which she has been seated will have to have his clothing washed and his body bathed in water and be unclean till evening.
23 Anyone touching anything on the bed or on the thing on which she has been seated, will be unclean till evening.
24 And if any man has sex relations with her so that her blood comes on him, he will be unclean for seven days and every bed on which he has been resting will be unclean.
25 And if a woman has a flow of blood for a long time, not at the time when she generally has it, or if the flow goes on longer than the normal time, she will be unclean while the flow of blood goes on, as she is at other normal times.
26 Every bed on which she has been resting will be unclean, as at the times when she normally has a flow of blood, and everything on which she has been seated will be unclean, in the same way.
27 And anyone touching these things will be unclean, and his clothing will have to be washed and his body bathed in water and he will be unclean till evening.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Keil & Delitzsch Commentary » Commentary on Leviticus 15
Commentary on Leviticus 15 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
The Uncleanness of Secretions. - These include (1) a running issue from a man (Leviticus 15:2-15); (2) involuntary emission of seed (Leviticus 15:16, Leviticus 15:17), and the emission of seed in sexual intercourse (Leviticus 15:18); (3) the monthly period of a woman (Leviticus 15:19-24); (4) a diseased issue of blood from a woman (Leviticus 15:25-30). They consist, therefore, of two diseased and two natural secretions from the organs of generation.
The running issue from a man is not described with sufficient clearness for us to be able to determine with certainty what disease is referred to: “if a man becomes flowing out of his flesh, he is unclean in his flux.” That even here the term flesh is not a euphemism for the organ of generation, as is frequently assumed, is evident from Leviticus 15:13, “he shall wash his clothes and bathe his flesh in water,” when compared with Leviticus 16:23-24, Leviticus 16:28, etc., where flesh cannot possibly have any such meaning. The “flesh” is the body as in Leviticus 15:7, “whoever touches the flesh of him that hath the issue,” as compared with Leviticus 15:19, “whosoever toucheth her.” At the same time, the agreement between the law relating to the man with an issue and that concerning the woman with an issue (Leviticus 15:19, “her issue in her flesh”) points unmistakeably to a secretion from the sexual organs. Only the seat of the disease is not more closely defined. The issue of the man is not a hemorrhoidal disease, for nothing is said about a flow of blood; still less is it a syphilitic suppuration ( gonorrhaea virulenta ), for the occurrence of this at all in antiquity is very questionable; but it is either a diseased flow of semen ( gonorrhaea ), i.e., an involuntary flow drop by drop arising from weakness of the organ, as Jerome and the Rabbins assume, or more probably, simply blenorrhaea urethrae , a discharge of mucus arising from a catarrhal affection of the mucous membrane of the urethra ( urethritis ). The participle זב יהיה is expressive of continued duration. In Leviticus 15:3 the uncleanness is still more closely defined: “whether his flesh run with his issue, or his flesh closes before his issue,” i.e., whether the member lets the matter flow out or by closing retains it, “it is his uncleanness,” i.e., in the latter case as well as the former it is uncleanness to him, he is unclean. For the “closing” is only a temporary obstruction, brought about by some particular circumstance.
Every bed upon which he lay, and everything upon which he sat, was defiled in consequence; also every one who touched his bed (Leviticus 15:5), or sat upon it (Leviticus 15:6), or touched his flesh, i.e., his body (Leviticus 15:7), was unclean, and had to bathe himself and wash his clothes in consequence.
The conveyance in which such a man rode was also unclean, as well as everything under him; and whoever touched them was defiled till the evening, and the person who carried them was to wash his clothes and bathe himself.
This also applied to every one whom the man with an issue might touch, without first rinsing his hands in water.
Vessels that he had touched were to be broken to pieces if they were of earthenware, and rinsed with water if they were of wood, for the reasons explained in Leviticus 11:33 and Leviticus 6:21.
When he was cleansed, i.e., recovered from his issue, he was to wait seven days with regard to his purification, and then wash his clothes and bathe his body in fresh water, and be clean. On the eighth day he was to bring two turtle-doves or young pigeons, in order that the priest might prepare one as a sin-offering and the other as a burnt-offering, and make an atonement for him before the Lord for his issue.
Involuntary emission of seed . - This defiled for the whole of the day, not only the man himself, but any garment or skin upon which any of it had come, and required for purification that the whole body should be bathed, and the polluted things washed.
Sexual connection . “If a man lie with a woman with the emission of seed, both shall be unclean till the evening, and bathe themselves in water.” Consequently it was not the concubitus as such which defiled, as many erroneously suppose, but the emission of seed in the coitus . This explains the law and custom, of abstaining from conjugal intercourse during the preparation for acts of divine worship, or the performance of the same (Exodus 19:5; 1 Samuel 21:5-6; 2 Samuel 11:4), in which many other nations resembled the Israelites. (For proofs see Leyrer's article in Herzog's Cyclopaedia, and Knobel in loco , though the latter is wrong in supposing that conjugal intercourse itself defiled.)
The menses of a woman . - “If a woman have an issue, (if) blood is her issue in her flesh, she shall be seven days in her uncleanness.” As the discharge does not last as a rule more than four or five days, the period of seven days was fixed on account of the significance of the number seven. In this condition she rendered every one who touched her unclean (Leviticus 15:19), everything upon which she lay or sat (Leviticus 15:20), every one who touched her bed or whatever she sat upon (Leviticus 15:21, Leviticus 15:22), also any one who touched the blood upon her bed or seat (Leviticus 15:23, where הוּא and בּו are to be referred to דּם ); and they remained unclean till the evening, when they had to wash their clothes and bathe themselves.
If a man lay with her and her uncleanness came upon him, he became unclean for seven days, and the bed upon which he lay became unclean as well. The meaning cannot be merely if he lie upon the same bed with her, but if he have conjugal intercourse, as is evident from Leviticus 20:18 and Numbers 5:13 (cf. Genesis 26:10; Genesis 34:2; Genesis 35:22; 1 Samuel 2:22). It cannot be adduced as an objection to this explanation, which is the only admissible one, that according to Leviticus 18:19 and Leviticus 20:18 intercourse with a woman during her menses was an accursed crime, to be punished by extermination. For the law in Leviticus 20:18 refers partly to conjugal intercourse during the hemorrhage of a woman after child-birth, as the similarity of the words in Leviticus 20:18 and Leviticus 12:7 ( דּמיה מקור ) clearly proves, and to the case of a man attempting cohabitation with a woman during her menstruation. The verse before us, on the contrary, refers simply to the possibility of menstruation commencing during the act of conjugal intercourse, when the man would be involuntarily defiled through the unexpected uncleanness of the woman.
Diseased issue from a woman . - If an issue of blood in a woman flowed many days away from (not in) the time of her monthly uncleanness, or if it flowed beyond her monthly uncleanness, she was to be unclean as long as her unclean issue continued, just as in the days of her monthly uncleanness, and she defiled her couch as well as everything upon which she sat, as in the other case, also every one who touched either her or these things.
After the issue had ceased, she was to purify herself like the man with an issue, as described in Leviticus 15:13-15. - Obedience to these commands is urged in Leviticus 15:31 : “Cause that the children of Israel free themselves from their uncleanness, that they die not through their uncleanness, by defiling My dwelling in the midst of them.” הזּיר , Hiphil , to cause that a person keeps aloof from anything, or loosens himself from it, from נזר , Niphal to separate one's self, signifies here deliverance from the state of uncleanness, purification from it. Continuance in it was followed by death, not merely in the particular instance in which an unclean man ventured to enter the sanctuary, but as a general fact, because uncleanness as irreconcilable with the calling of Israel to be a holy nation, in the midst of which Jehovah the Holy One had His dwelling-place (Leviticus 11:44), and continuance in uncleanness without the prescribed purification was a disregard of the holiness of Jehovah, and involved rebellion against Him and His ordinances of grace.
Concluding formula . The words, “ him that lieth with her that is unclean, ” are more general than the expression, “lie with her,” in Leviticus 15:24, and involve not only intercourse with an unclean woman, but lying by her side upon one and the same bed.