Leviticus 15: Discharges from the body

In plain English: Yahweh spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying,

In plain English: "Speak to the Israelites and tell them: 'When any man has a discharge (a flow) from his body, the discharge makes him unclean.

The Hebrew words: "Discharge" is zov, a flow. "Body" is basar, "flesh". The dictionary gives basar as "flesh" or "body", and also as a polite word for a man's private parts.

How it is translated: This Bible says "discharge" in all 10 verses that use zov. For basar it says "flesh" in 139 of its 241 verses and "body" in 26.

Good to know: The text describes the flow but does not name an illness. Readers differ on what is meant. Verse 16 gives a separate rule for semen.

In plain English: This is what makes him unclean in his discharge: whether his body runs with it or is blocked by it, it makes him unclean.

In plain English: "'Every bed the man with the discharge lies on will be unclean, and everything he sits on will be unclean.

In plain English: Anyone who touches his bed is to wash his clothes and bathe in water, and he will be unclean until evening.

In plain English: Anyone who sits on something the man with the discharge sat on is to wash his clothes and bathe in water, and he will be unclean until evening.

In plain English: "'Anyone who touches the body of the man with the discharge is to wash his clothes and bathe in water, and he will be unclean until evening.

In plain English: "'If the man with the discharge spits on someone who is clean, that person is to wash his clothes and bathe in water, and he will be unclean until evening.

In plain English: "'Any saddle the man with the discharge rides on will be unclean.

In plain English: Anyone who touches anything that was under him will be unclean until evening. Anyone who carries those things is to wash his clothes and bathe in water, and he will be unclean until evening.

In plain English: "'If the man with the discharge touches someone without first rinsing his hands in water, that person is to wash his clothes and bathe in water, and he will be unclean until evening.

In plain English: "'A clay pot that the man with the discharge touches is to be broken, and every wooden vessel (or: wooden thing) is to be rinsed in water.

In plain English: "'When the man with the discharge is made clean of it, he is to count seven days for his cleansing. He is to wash his clothes and bathe his body in running water (literally: living water), and he will be clean.

Good to know: Only this discharge, and a woman's flow outside her period (verse 29), end with offerings on the eighth day. For semen and for a woman's period, the text gives washing and waiting, and no offering.

In plain English: "'On the eighth day he is to take two turtledoves or two young pigeons, come before Yahweh to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, and give them to the priest.

In plain English: The priest is to offer them, one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering. So the priest makes atonement for him before Yahweh because of his discharge.

In plain English: "'If a man has an emission of semen, he is to bathe his whole body in water, and he will be unclean until evening.

In plain English: Any clothing or leather with semen on it is to be washed with water, and it will be unclean until evening.

In plain English: If a man lies with a woman and there is an emission of semen, they are both to bathe in water, and they will be unclean until evening.

In plain English: "'When a woman has a discharge, and the discharge from her body is blood, she is to be in her time of impurity (her period) for seven days. Anyone who touches her will be unclean until evening.

The Hebrew word: "Impurity" here is niddah. The dictionary gives it as "properly, rejection", and "impurity, especially personal (menstruation)".

How it is translated: In Leviticus this Bible says "period" in 5 of the 10 verses that use niddah, and "impurity" in 3.

In plain English: "'Everything she lies on during her period will be unclean, and everything she sits on will be unclean.

In plain English: Anyone who touches her bed is to wash his clothes and bathe in water, and he will be unclean until evening.

In plain English: Anyone who touches anything she sits on is to wash his clothes and bathe in water, and he will be unclean until evening.

In plain English: Whether it is on the bed or on anything she sits on, whoever touches it will be unclean until evening.

In plain English: "'If any man lies with her and her monthly flow is on him, he will be unclean for seven days, and every bed he lies on will be unclean.

In plain English: "'If a woman has a flow of blood for many days, not at the time of her period, or if it goes on past the time of her period, she is unclean for all the days of the flow, just as in the days of her period.

In plain English: Every bed she lies on during the days of her flow will be to her like the bed of her period, and everything she sits on will be unclean, as in her period.

In plain English: Anyone who touches these things will be unclean. He is to wash his clothes and bathe in water, and he will be unclean until evening.

In plain English: "'When she is made clean of her flow, she is to count seven days, and after that she will be clean.

In plain English: On the eighth day she is to take two turtledoves or two young pigeons and bring them to the priest, at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting.

In plain English: The priest is to offer one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering. So the priest makes atonement for her before Yahweh because of the uncleanness of her flow.

In plain English: "'This is how you are to keep the Israelites separate from their uncleanness, so that they do not die in their uncleanness by making my tabernacle (my dwelling place), which is among them, unclean.'"

The Hebrew word: "Tabernacle" is mishkan, a dwelling place. This Bible says "tabernacle" in 99 of its 129 verses.

Good to know: This verse is the reason the text itself gives for the rules in this chapter: so that the people do not make Yahweh's dwelling place unclean and die.

In plain English: This is the law for the man who has a discharge, and for the man who has an emission of semen that makes him unclean,

In plain English: and for the woman in her period, for anyone, man or woman, who has a discharge, and for the man who lies with a woman who is unclean.