Discovery BoxLeviticus 15:5-33 
Context15:5 Anyone who touches his bed 1 must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. 2 15:6 The one who sits on the furniture the man with a discharge sits on must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. 15:7 The one who touches the body 3 of the man with a discharge must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. 15:8 If the man with a discharge spits on a person who is ceremonially clean, 4 that person must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. 15:9 Any means of riding 5 the man with a discharge rides on will be unclean. 15:10 Anyone who touches anything that was under him 6 will be unclean until evening, and the one who carries those items 7 must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. 15:11 Anyone whom the man with the discharge touches without having rinsed his hands in water 8 must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. 15:12 A clay vessel 9 which the man with the discharge touches must be broken, and any wooden utensil must be rinsed in water.
15:13 “‘When the man with the discharge becomes clean from his discharge he is to count off for himself seven days for his purification, and he must wash his clothes, bathe in fresh water, 10 and be clean. 15:14 Then on the eighth day he is to take for himself two turtledoves or two young pigeons, 11 and he is to present himself 12 before the Lord at the entrance of the Meeting Tent and give them to the priest, 15:15 and the priest is to make one of them a sin offering 13 and the other a burnt offering. 14 So the priest 15 is to make atonement for him before the Lord for 16 his discharge.
15:16 “‘When a man has a seminal emission, 17 he must bathe his whole body in water 18 and be unclean until evening, 15:17 and he must wash in water any clothing or leather that has semen on it, and it will be unclean until evening. 15:18 When a man has sexual intercourse with a woman and there is a seminal emission, 19 they must bathe in water and be unclean until evening.
15:19 “‘When a woman has a discharge 20 and her discharge is blood from her body, 21 she is to be in her menstruation 22 seven days, and anyone who touches her will be unclean until evening. 15:20 Anything she lies on during her menstruation will be unclean, and anything she sits on will be unclean. 15:21 Anyone who touches her bed must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. 15:22 Anyone who touches any furniture she sits on must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. 15:23 If there is something on the bed or on the furniture she sits on, 23 when he touches it 24 he will be unclean until evening, 15:24 and if a man actually has sexual intercourse with her so that her menstrual impurity touches him, 25 then he will be unclean seven days and any bed he lies on will be unclean.
15:25 “‘When a woman’s discharge of blood flows 26 many days not at the time of her menstruation, or if it flows beyond the time of her menstruation, 27 all the days of her discharge of impurity will be like the days of her menstruation – she is unclean. 15:26 Any bed she lies on all the days of her discharge will be to her like the bed of her menstruation, any furniture she sits on will be unclean like the impurity of her menstruation, 15:27 and anyone who touches them will be unclean, and he must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. 28
15:28 “‘If 29 she becomes clean from her discharge, then she is to count off for herself seven days, and afterward she will be clean. 15:29 Then on the eighth day she must take for herself two turtledoves or two young pigeons 30 and she must bring them to the priest at the entrance of the Meeting Tent, 15:30 and the priest is to make one a sin offering and the other a burnt offering. 31 So the priest 32 is to make atonement for her before the Lord from her discharge of impurity.
15:31 “‘Thus you 33 are to set the Israelites apart from their impurity so that they 34 do not die in their impurity by defiling my tabernacle which is in their midst. 15:32 This is the law of the one with a discharge: the one who has a seminal emission 35 and becomes unclean by it, 36 15:33 the one who is sick in her menstruation, the one with a discharge, whether male or female, 37 and a man 38 who has sexual intercourse with an unclean woman.’”
1 tn Heb “And a man who touches in his bed”; NLT “touch the man’s bedding.”
2 tn Heb “he shall wash his clothes and bathe in water and be unclean until the evening” (cf. also vv. 6-8, 10-11, etc.).
3 tn Heb “And the one who touches in the flesh.” In this instance, “flesh” (or “body”) probably refers literally to any part of the body, not the genitals specifically (see the discussion in J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:914).
4 tn Heb “And if the man with a discharge spits in the clean one.”
5 tn The Hebrew term for “means of riding” is a cognate noun from the verb “ride” later in this verse. It refers to anything on which one may ride without the feet touching the ground including, for example, a saddle, a (saddle) blanket, or a seat on a chariot (see, e.g., J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:916).
6 tn Heb “which shall be under him.” The verb is perhaps a future perfect, “which shall have been.”
7 tn Heb “them”; the referent (the previously mentioned items which were under the unclean person) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
8 tn Heb “And all who the man with the discharge touches in him and his hands he has not rinsed in water.”
9 tn The Hebrew term כְּלִי (kÿli) can mean “vessel” (v. 12a) or “utensil, implement, article” (v. 12b). An article of clay would refer to a vessel or container of some sort, while one made of wood would refer to some kind of tool or instrument.
10 tn For the expression “fresh water” see the note on Lev 14:5 above.
11 tn Heb “from the sons of the pigeon,” referring either to “young pigeons” or “various species of pigeon” (contrast J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:168 with J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 14; cf. Lev 1:14 and esp. 5:7-10).
12 tc The MT has the Qal form of the verb בּוֹא (bo’) “to come” here, but the LXX (followed generally by the Syriac and Tg. Ps.-J.) reflects the Hiphil form of the same verb, “to bring” as in v. 29 below. In v. 29, however, there is no additional clause “and give them to the priest,” so the Hiphil is necessary in that context while it is not necessary here in v. 14.
13 sn See the note on Lev 4:3 regarding the term “sin offering.”
14 tn Heb “and the priest shall make them one a sin offering and the one a burnt offering.” See the note on Lev 1:3 regarding the “burnt offering.”
15 tn Heb “And the priest.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) can be considered to have resultative force here.
16 tn Heb “from”; see the note on 4:26.
17 tn Heb “And a man when a lying of seed goes out from him”; KJV, ASV “any man’s seed of copulation”; NIV, NRSV, TEV, NLT “an emission of semen.”
18 tn Heb “and he shall bathe all his flesh in water.”
19 tn Heb “And a woman who a man lies with her a lying of seed.”
20 tn See the note on Lev 15:2 above.
21 tn Heb “blood shall be her discharge in her flesh.” The term “flesh” here refers euphemistically to the female sexual area (cf. the note on v. 2 above).
22 tn See the note on Lev 12:2 and R. E. Averbeck, NIDOTTE 1:925-27.
23 tn Heb “and if on the bed it (הוּא, hu’) is or on the vessel which she sits on it, when he touches it….” The translation and meaning of this verse is a subject of much debate in the commentaries (see the summary in J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:938-40). It is difficult to determine what הוּא refers to, whether it means “he” referring to the one who does the touching, “it” for the furniture or the seat in v. 22, “she” referring to the woman herself (see Smr היא rather than הוא), or perhaps anything that was lying on the furniture or the bed of vv. 21-22. The latter view is taken here (cf. J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 202).
24 tn The MT accent suggest that “when he touches it” goes with the preceding line, but it seems to be better to take it as an introduction to what follows (see J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 202).
25 tn Heb “and if a man indeed lies with her and her menstrual impurity is on him.”
26 tn Heb “And a woman when the flow of her blood flows.”
27 tn Heb “in not the time of her menstruation or when it flows on her menstruation.”
28 tn See the note on v. 5 above.
29 tn Heb “And if…” Although this clause is parallel to v. 13 above, it begins with וְאִם (vÿ’im, “and if”) here rather than וְכִי (vÿkhi, “and when/if”) there.
30 tn Heb “from the sons of the pigeon,” referring either to “young pigeons” or “various species of pigeon” (contrast J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:168 with J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 14; cf. Lev 1:14 and esp. 5:7-10).
31 tn Heb “And the priest shall make the one a sin offering and the one a burnt offering.”
32 tn Heb “And the priest.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) can be considered to have resultative force here.
33 tn Heb “And you shall.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) can be considered to have resultative force here (cf. KJV, ASV, NASB, NCV, NRSV).
34 tn Heb “and they.” Here the Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) indicates a negative purpose (“lest,” so NAB, NASB).
35 tn Heb “and who a lying of seed goes out from him.”
36 tn Heb “to become unclean in it.”
37 tn Heb “and the one with a discharge, his discharge to the male and the female.”
38 tn Heb “and for a man.”
