Leviticus 15: What the Passage Says

The Chapter in a Sentence

The LORD tells Moses and Aaron to give Israel rules about bodily discharges. The chapter covers a man with a long-lasting discharge, an emission of semen, a woman's monthly period, and a woman with a flow of blood outside her normal time. For each case it names what and who becomes unclean, how long, what washing is required, and, for the long-lasting discharges, the seven-day count and the offering of two birds on the eighth day. It closes by saying Israel must be kept separate from their uncleanness so they do not die by defiling the LORD's dwelling place among them.

Claim by Claim

1. 15:1
   • The LORD spoke to Moses and to Aaron.
   • The LORD told them to say the following.
2. 15:2
   • Moses and Aaron were told to speak to the children of Israel.
   • When any man has a discharge from his flesh, that discharge is unclean.
   • Because of his discharge the man is unclean.
3. 15:3
   • His uncleanness in his discharge is defined as follows.
   • Whether his flesh runs with the discharge, it is his uncleanness.
   • Whether his flesh is stopped up from the discharge, it is his uncleanness.
4. 15:4
   • Every bed on which the man with the discharge lies becomes unclean.
   • Every object on which he sits becomes unclean.
5. 15:5
   • Anyone who touches his bed must wash his clothes.
   • Anyone who touches his bed must bathe in water.
   • Anyone who touches his bed is unclean until evening.
6. 15:6
   • Whoever sits on an object the man with the discharge sat on must wash his clothes.
   • Whoever sits on such an object must bathe in water.
   • Whoever sits on such an object is unclean until evening.
7. 15:7
   • Whoever touches the flesh of the man with the discharge must wash his clothes.
   • Whoever touches his flesh must bathe in water.
   • Whoever touches his flesh is unclean until evening.
8. 15:8
   • If the man with the discharge spits on someone who is clean, that person must wash his clothes.
   • That person must bathe in water.
   • That person is unclean until evening.
9. 15:9
   • Every saddle on which the man with the discharge rides becomes unclean.
10. 15:10
    • Whoever touches anything that was under him is unclean until evening.
    • Whoever carries such things must wash his clothes.
    • Whoever carries such things must bathe in water.
    • Whoever carries such things is unclean until evening.
11. 15:11
    • If the man with the discharge touches someone without having rinsed his hands in water, the one touched must wash his clothes.
    • The one touched must bathe in water.
    • The one touched is unclean until evening.
12. 15:12
    • An earthen vessel that the man with the discharge touches must be broken.
    • Every wooden vessel he touches must be rinsed in water.
13. 15:13
    • When the man with the discharge is cleansed of his discharge, he must count seven days for his cleansing.
    • He must wash his clothes.
    • He must bathe his flesh in living water.
    • Then he shall be clean.
14. 15:14
    • On the eighth day he shall take two turtledoves or two young pigeons.
    • He shall come before the LORD at the entrance of the tent of meeting.
    • He shall give them to the priest.
15. 15:15
    • The priest shall offer them, one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering.
    • The priest shall make atonement for him before the LORD for his discharge.
16. 15:16
    • If a man has an emission of semen, he must wash all his flesh in water.
    • He is unclean until evening.
17. 15:17
    • Every garment and every skin on which there is semen must be washed with water.
    • It is unclean until evening.
18. 15:18
    • When a man lies with a woman with emission of semen, both of them must bathe in water.
    • Both of them are unclean until evening.
19. 15:19
    • When a woman has a discharge and her discharge in her flesh is blood, she shall be in her menstrual separation seven days.
    • Whoever touches her is unclean until evening.
20. 15:20
    • Everything she lies on during her separation becomes unclean.
    • Everything she sits on becomes unclean.
21. 15:21
    • Whoever touches her bed must wash his clothes.
    • Whoever touches her bed must bathe in water.
    • Whoever touches her bed is unclean until evening.
22. 15:22
    • Whoever touches any object she sat on must wash his clothes.
    • Whoever touches such an object must bathe in water.
    • Whoever touches such an object is unclean until evening.
23. 15:23
    • If the thing touched is on the bed or on the object she sits on, the one who touches it is unclean until evening.
24. 15:24
    • If a man lies with her and her menstrual impurity comes upon him, he is unclean seven days.
    • Every bed on which he lies becomes unclean.
25. 15:25
    • If a woman has a discharge of blood for many days outside the time of her menstrual separation, or if her discharge continues beyond her separation, all the days of her unclean discharge shall be like the days of her separation.
    • During that time she is unclean.
26. 15:26
    • Every bed she lies on during all the days of her discharge shall be to her like the bed of her separation.
    • Every object she sits on shall be unclean, like the uncleanness of her separation.
27. 15:27
    • Whoever touches those things becomes unclean.
    • Such a person must wash his clothes.
    • Such a person must bathe in water.
    • Such a person is unclean until evening.
28. 15:28
    • If she is cleansed of her discharge, she must count seven days for herself.
    • After that she shall be clean.
29. 15:29
    • On the eighth day she shall take two turtledoves or two young pigeons.
    • She shall bring them to the priest at the entrance of the tent of meeting.
30. 15:30
    • The priest shall offer one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering.
    • The priest shall make atonement for her before the LORD for the discharge of her uncleanness.
31. 15:31
    • The Israelites are to be kept separate from their uncleanness.
    • This is so they do not die in their uncleanness.
    • They would die by defiling the LORD's tabernacle, which is among them.
32. 15:32
    • This is the law of the man who has a discharge.
    • This is the law of the man from whom semen goes out, making him unclean by it.
33. 15:33
    • This is the law of the woman who is sick in her menstrual separation.
    • This is the law of anyone who has a discharge, whether male or female.
    • This is the law of a man who lies with an unclean woman.

Words Worth Explaining

Every language note in this chapter, gathered. These explain what a word meant, never what it means for the reader.

15:1

"The LORD" in small capitals stands in for the personal name of Israel's God, written in Hebrew with four consonants (YHWH); Jewish readers traditionally do not pronounce it and say "the Lord" instead. Aaron is Moses' brother and the chief priest, so these rules are addressed to the men who will have to administer them.

15:2

"Unclean" translates a Hebrew term for ritual status, not dirtiness and not sin. An unclean person is temporarily barred from the sanctuary and from holy food, and can pass the status on to other people and objects by contact. It is a condition to be waited out and washed off, not a wrong to be repented of. "Body" here is literally "flesh," a standard Hebrew euphemism for the genitals. The discharge in view is an abnormal, ongoing one; a normal emission of semen is dealt with separately in verse 16. The text never names a disease, and no ancient or modern diagnosis is certain.

15:3

The Hebrew of this verse is difficult, and translators divide over it. The sense is that the man counts as unclean whether the discharge is flowing freely or his body is blocked and it is not visibly running, the condition itself, not the flow at a given moment, is what matters.

15:4

Beds and seats are singled out throughout this chapter because they take the weight of the body over time; they are treated as the main carriers of the condition to other people.

15:5

The Israelite day ran from sunset to sunset, so "until evening" means the status ended at nightfall of the same day. Washing and waiting both had to happen: the water alone did not end it.

15:8

Saliva counts as a carrier in the same way the discharge itself does.

15:9

"Saddle" covers any seat, pad or frame a rider sits in on a donkey, mule or camel, horses were rare in ordinary Israelite life. The point is the same as with beds and chairs: the rider's weight rests on it.

15:10

Notice the grading. Simply touching something that was under him costs a wait until evening. Picking it up and carrying it also costs a full laundering and bath, because the contact is heavier.

15:11

This is the one measure in the chapter that the affected man himself can take. Rinsing his hands beforehand prevents his touch from passing the condition on, otherwise ordinary contact does.

15:12

Unfired or lightly fired clay is porous: liquid soaks into the wall of the pot and cannot be scoured out, so the vessel is destroyed. Wood is dense enough to be rinsed clean and kept. Clay pots were cheap, everyday household items; breaking one was a small loss.

15:13

The seven days are counted after the discharge has stopped, as a waiting period before the cleansing is completed. "Fresh running water" is literally "living water" in Hebrew, water from a spring, stream or flowing well, as opposed to standing water or water drawn and stored in a jar.

15:14

Turtledoves and pigeons were the cheapest sacrificial animals allowed, and elsewhere in Leviticus they are named as the option for people who cannot afford a sheep. The tent of meeting was the portable tent-sanctuary Israel carried and set up in the middle of the camp; its entrance was as far as a person who was not a priest could go.

15:15

The Hebrew term rendered "sin offering" is built on a verb meaning to cleanse or de-contaminate, and many scholars translate it "purification offering"; here it removes ritual impurity, and no wrongdoing on the man's part is implied. A "burnt offering" is an animal burned up entirely on the altar rather than shared as food. "Make atonement" translates a verb whose basic sense is to wipe off or purge, what is being purged is the contamination.

15:16

This covers a normal emission, including one during sleep. Note how much lighter the requirement is than for the chronic discharge of verses 2–15: a wash and a wait until nightfall, with no offering and no waiting period.

15:17

"Leather" is literally "skin", tanned animal hide, used for clothing, bedding, straps and containers, and a normal household material.

15:18

Ordinary sex between a husband and wife leaves both of them unclean until nightfall. This is one of the clearest signs that "unclean" in this system carries no suggestion of wrongdoing: the law elsewhere commands marriage and children.

15:19

The Hebrew word for a woman in this state is *niddah*, which came to be the standard term for menstruation. The seven days run from the start of the period, whatever its actual length. "Set apart" translates the same root: she is kept from contact rather than sent away from the household, though later Jewish practice varied in how strictly this was applied.

15:23

Verses 21 and 22 require washing clothes and bathing, while this verse asks only for waiting until evening. The Hebrew here is compressed and its exact force is debated; it may distinguish direct handling from brushing against the object.

15:24

Where the plain rendering has "monthly flow," the King James has "her flowers", "flowers" was ordinary seventeenth-century English for menstrual flow, unrelated to the modern sense. The man in this case takes on the woman's full seven-day status rather than the usual until-evening one. Note that Leviticus 18:19 and 20:18 forbid intercourse during menstruation outright and attach a severe penalty, while this verse states only that impurity results; the two rules stand side by side in the book without being reconciled.

15:25

This paragraph covers prolonged or irregular bleeding outside the normal cycle. Unlike a period, which ends on a fixed schedule, this condition leaves the woman unclean for as long as it lasts, however many months or years that may be, the female counterpart of the man's chronic discharge in verses 2–15.

15:28

As with the man in verse 13, the seven days begin only after the discharge has stopped. This differs from a normal period, where the seven days are counted from the onset.

15:29

"Two turtles" in the KJV means two turtledoves. "Turtle" was the ordinary English name for the bird in 1611, and the reptile was called a tortoise.

15:31

The tabernacle was the tent-sanctuary understood as God's dwelling in the middle of the camp. The logic assumed here is that impurity is contagious and travels: if people in an unclean state carry on as normal, the contamination reaches the sanctuary itself, and the text states that the consequence is death without explaining the mechanism.

15:32

"This is the law of..." is a standard closing formula in Leviticus, marking the end of a block of instruction and summarizing the cases it covered.

15:33

"Sick of her flowers" is 1611 English for being ill with her monthly bleeding; "sick of" means ill with, not tired of. Verses 32 and 33 are a summary list, a standard way of closing off a section of law in Leviticus.