The Fallible · Synthetic · Study Bible
The Uncleanness of Men
Leviticus 15:1–12 — The Uncleanness of Men. Each verse below carries the full apparatus: the Berean Standard Bible, the vocalized original (tap any word), and a parsed breakdown of every term transcribed from the interlinear. Synthesized commentary, canonical threads, and the reading of Christ gather at the end, over the whole unit.
1And the LORD said to Moses and Aaron,
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
Yah·weh way·ḏab·bêr ’el- mō·šeh wə·’el- ’a·hă·rōn lê·mōr
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-spoke Yahweh unto Moses and-unto Aaron, saying:
Where the English smooths the original
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 ).
Aaron is spoken to as well Moses, because some of these purifications, after mentioned, depended on the priest, as the affair of profluvious men and women, as Gersom observesGill's spelling "Gersom" = Gersonides (Levi ben Gershon); the substring is preserved verbatim.
The laws in this chapter, although, in the main, aiming at the same end with the foregoing cases, namely, to teach the necessity of moral purity, and preserve the reverence due to the worship of God, yet were also particularly intended as a restraint upon immoderate indulgences of the flesh.
We are not to look for a moral basis for the regulation on account of any vicious habit connected with such issues. They are foul and repulsive, and simply for that reason they are causes of ceremonial uncleanness to those who suffer from themSet deliberately against Benson and JFB: the sources disagree at the root over whether this law has a moral basis (a curb on licentiousness) or a purely ceremonial one (foulness as such). The disagreement is recorded, not resolved.
These laws remind us that God sees all things, even those which escape the notice of men.
This chapter would seem to take its place more naturally before Leviticus 12:1-8 , with the subject of which it is inmediately connected. Compare especially Leviticus 12:2 with Leviticus 15:19 ."inmediately" is Barnes' (or the transcription's) spelling, kept verbatim.
2“Say to the Israelites, ‘When any man has a bodily discharge, the discharge is unclean.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
dab·bə·rū ’el- bə·nê yiś·rā·’êl wa·’ă·mar·tem ’ă·lê·hem kî ’îš ’îš yih·yeh mib·bə·śā·rōw zāḇ zō·w·ḇōw hū ṭā·mê
Literal — word-for-word from the original
Speak unto the-sons-of Israel and-say unto-them: When a-man, a-man, becomes flowing from-his-flesh, his-flow — unclean it-is.
Where the English smooths the original
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.
Flesh, as is frequently the case, euphemistically denotes private parts. (See Genesis 6:10 ; Genesis 7:13 ; Leviticus 6:3 ; Leviticus 16:4 ; Ezekiel 16:26 ; Ezekiel 23:20 , &c.) Because of his issue he is unclean. —Better, his issue is unclean.Set deliberately against Keil above: the two PD authorities disagree on בָּשָׂר, and the disagreement is the point.
in the Hebrew text it is, "a man, a man", which the Targum of Jonathan paraphrases, a young man, and an old man
the very stringent rules here prescribed, both for the separation of the person diseased and for avoiding contamination from anything connected with him, were well calculated not only to prevent contagion, but to discourage the excesses of licentious indulgence.
“If it proceeded merely from innocent, accidental causes,” says Maimonides, “as a strain in the back, carrying too great a burden, or violent leaping, the man was not defiled with it, nor concerned in this law.”Benson relaying Maimonides: the discharge from a mere strain or exertion fell outside the law — a real qualification that complicates JFB's flat reading of the issue as the fruit of licentiousness.
It appears to be identical with the disease called by physicians gonorrhea, or, perhaps, blenorrhea (cf. chapter Leviticus 22:4; Numbers 5:2 ).The clinical identification is a modern inference (the Hebrew names a symptom, not a diagnosis); Keil, below, judges blenorrhaea "more probably" than gonorrhaea — neither is certain.
3This uncleanness is from his discharge, whether his body allows the discharge to flow or blocks it. So his discharge will bring about uncleanness.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
wə·zōṯ ṭum·’ā·ṯōw tih·yeh bə·zō·w·ḇōw bə·śā·rōw ’eṯ- rār zō·w·ḇōw ’ōw- heḥ·tîm bə·śā·rōw miz·zō·w·ḇōw hî ṭum·’ā·ṯōw
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-this shall-be his-uncleanness in-his-flow: whether his-flesh runs with-his-flow, or his-flesh has-sealed-itself from-his-flow — his-uncleanness it-is.
Where the English smooths the original
This was an emblem of the corruption and vitiosity of nature, and of all evil things that are in or flow out of the evil heart of man, which are defiling to him; see Matthew 15:18 .
Or if it have run, and been stopped in great measure, either by the grossness of the humour, or by some obstruction in parts that it cannot run freely, as it did, but only droppeth.
This verse defines more minutely the statement in the preceding verse.
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.
4Any bed on which the man with the discharge lies will be unclean, and any furniture on which he sits will be unclean.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
kāl- ham·miš·kāḇ ‘ā·lāw ’ă·šer haz·zāḇ yiš·kaḇ yiṭ·mā wə·ḵāl hak·kə·lî ‘ā·lāw ’ă·šer- yê·šêḇ yiṭ·mā
Literal — word-for-word from the original
Every bed on-which lies the-flowing-one shall-be-unclean, and-every vessel on-which he-sits shall-be-unclean.
Where the English smooths the original
they interpreted the defilement communicated to the bed, and hence also to his seat and saddle, by the patient in five different ways: by standing, sitting, lying, hanging, or leaning on it. The patient’s polluting power is so great that even if the bed, seat, or saddle is under a stone, he defiles it through the stone by any of these actions.
Every thing, Heb. vessel , by which the Hebrews understand all sorts of household stuff.
Thus, such persons were cut off from all communications with mankind, and were shunned and avoided by every one, as an abomination. And this could not but tend to render them all extremely careful not to bring upon themselves so loathsome a disease.
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.
5Anyone who touches his bed must wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will be unclean until evening.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
wə·’îš ’ă·šer yig·ga‘ bə·miš·kā·ḇōw yə·ḵab·bês bə·ḡā·ḏāw wə·rā·ḥaṣ bam·ma·yim wə·ṭā·mê ‘aḏ- hā·‘ā·reḇ
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-a-man who touches his-bed shall-wash his-clothes and-shall-bathe in-the-water, and-shall-be-unclean until the-evening.
Where the English smooths the original
shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water; in forty seahs of water, as the Targum of Jonathan: and be unclean until the even; be unfit for conversation with other men till the even, though both his body and clothes are washed.
The person thus polluted had to remain in this condition, debarred from the privileges of the sanctuary, till sundown, when he had to wash his garments, and immerse his whole body in water.
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.
6Whoever sits on furniture on which the man with the discharge was sitting must wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will be unclean until evening.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
wə·hay·yō·šêḇ ‘al- hak·kə·lî ‘ā·lāw ’ă·šer- haz·zāḇ yê·šêḇ yə·ḵab·bês bə·ḡā·ḏāw wə·rā·ḥaṣ bam·ma·yim wə·ṭā·mê ‘aḏ- hā·‘ā·reḇ
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-the-one-sitting on the-vessel on-which sits the-flowing-one shall-wash his-clothes and-bathe in-the-water, and-be-unclean until the-evening.
Where the English smooths the original
And he that sitteth on any thing whereon he sat that hath the issue,.... Shall be unclean, even though he does not touch it. Jarchi says, though there should be, as he adds, ten things or vessels one upon another, they all defile because of sitting, and so by lying
This chapter describes other forms of uncleanness, the nature of which is sufficiently intelligible in the text without any explanatory comment.
Every bed upon which he lay, and everything upon which he sat, was defiled in consequence
7Whoever touches the body of the man with a discharge must wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will be unclean until evening.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
wə·han·nō·ḡê·a‘ biḇ·śar haz·zāḇ yə·ḵab·bês bə·ḡā·ḏāw wə·rā·ḥaṣ bam·ma·yim wə·ṭā·mê ‘aḏ- hā·‘ā·reḇ
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-the-one-touching the-flesh of-the-flowing-one shall-wash his-clothes and-bathe in-the-water, and-be-unclean until the-evening.
Where the English smooths the original
With such intense loathing was the person regarded who had contracted this infirmity, that even the medical man who had professionally to examine him became defiled for the rest of the day.
He that toucheth the flesh, that is, any part of his body; the word flesh being taken otherwise here than Leviticus 15:2 ; as the same word is frequently used in Scripture in differing significations in the same chapter
or touched his flesh, i.e., his body ( Leviticus 15:7 ), was unclean, and had to bathe himself and wash his clothes in consequence.Keil here glosses 'flesh' as 'his body' — the reading he defends at length on vv. 2–3; quoted verbatim from his note on this verse.
8If the man with the discharge spits on one who is clean, that person must wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will be unclean until evening.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
wə·ḵî- haz·zāḇ yā·rōq baṭ·ṭā·hō·wr wə·ḵib·bes bə·ḡā·ḏāw wə·rā·ḥaṣ bam·ma·yim wə·ṭā·mê ‘aḏ- hā·‘ā·reḇ
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-when spits the-flowing-one on-the-clean-one, then-he-shall-wash his-clothes and-bathe in-the-water, and-be-unclean until the-evening.
Where the English smooths the original
Spitting in the face of a person was, and still is, commonly resorted to among Oriental nations as an expression of insult and contempt ( Numbers 12:14 ; Deuteronomy 25:9 ; Isaiah 1:6 ; Job 30:10 ; Matthew 26:67 , &c.).
and this may denote all corrupt communication which proceeds out of the mouth of evil men, whether immoral or heretical, which not only defiles the man himself, but those he converses with; for evil communication corrupts good manners
then {c} he shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even. (c) Of whom the unclean man did spit.
9Any saddle on which the man with the discharge rides will be unclean.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
wə·ḵāl ham·mer·kāḇ ‘ā·lāw ’ă·šer haz·zāḇ yir·kaḇ yiṭ·mā
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-every riding-seat on-which rides the-flowing-one shall-be-unclean.
Where the English smooths the original
The word here translated “saddle” only occurs twice more: viz., 1Kings 5:6 in Hebrew, or Leviticus 4:26 in English, where it is rendered “chariot” in the Authorised Version, and in Song of Solomon 3:10 , where it is translated “covering” but where it manifestly denotes the seat inside the palanquin.Ellicott's verse-citations follow older versification; the lemma he discusses is מֶרְכָּב (H4817), confirmed by the Verifier as a 3-verse word.
saddle ] any seat in a carriage or other kind of conveyance is included.
(d) The word signifies every thing on which a man rides.
10Whoever touches anything that was under him will be unclean until evening, and whoever carries such things must wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will be unclean until evening.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
wə·ḵāl han·nō·ḡê·a‘ bə·ḵōl ’ă·šer yih·yeh ṯaḥ·tāw yiṭ·mā ‘aḏ- hā·‘ā·reḇ wə·han·nō·w·śê ’ō·w·ṯām yə·ḵab·bês bə·ḡā·ḏāw wə·rā·ḥaṣ bam·ma·yim wə·ṭā·mê ‘aḏ- hā·‘ā·reḇ
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-everyone touching anything that was under-him shall-be-unclean until the-evening; and-the-one-carrying them shall-wash his-clothes and-bathe in-the-water, and-be-unclean until the-evening.
Where the English smooths the original
And he that beareth any of those things. —Better, And he that beareth them. That is, whoso carries the palanquin, with the patient in it, from one place to another, contracts defilement. (See Leviticus 11:28 ; Leviticus 11:40 .)
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.
and he that beareth any of those things; that carries any of the above things from place to place, as his bed, his seat, his saddle, or anything on which he has lain, sat, or rode.
11If the man with the discharge touches anyone without first rinsing his hands with water, the one who was touched must wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will be unclean until evening.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
haz·zāḇ yig·ga‘- bōw wə·ḵōl ’ă·šer lō- šā·ṭap̄ wə·yā·ḏāw bam·mā·yim wə·ḵib·bes bə·ḡā·ḏāw wə·rā·ḥaṣ bam·ma·yim wə·ṭā·mê ‘aḏ- hā·‘ā·reḇ
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-the-flowing-one whom he-touches — and-his-hands he-has- not -rinsed in-the-water — then-the-one-touched shall-wash his-clothes and-bathe in-the-water, and-be-unclean until the-evening.
Where the English smooths the original
This is the only case mentioned in the law where a person who is unclean can, by washing his hands, avoid communicating uncleanness to another.
This may be understood, either, 1. Of the person touching, if he that hath an issue toucheth another with unwashen hands. Thus most take it. But why then should it be limited to his hands? for if he had touched him by any other part, as suppose by kissing him, he had defiled him, though his hands had been washed. Or rather, 2. Of the person touched, to whom the washing of his hands is prescribed as an easier way of cleansing himself
This is the only instance where the touch of the hand as imparting defilement is expressly mentioned, and where the washing of the hands alone is ordered in the Mosaic-Law to prevent the communication of pollution.
12Any clay pot that the man with the discharge touches must be broken, and any wooden utensil must be rinsed with water.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
ḥe·reś ū·ḵə·lî- ’ă·šer- haz·zāḇ yig·ga‘- bōw yiš·šā·ḇêr wə·ḵāl ‘êṣ kə·lî- yiš·šā·ṭêp̄ bam·mā·yim
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-a-vessel-of-clay that touches it the-flowing-one shall-be-broken, and-every vessel-of-wood shall-be-rinsed in-the-water.
Where the English smooths the original
It is thought that the pottery of the Israelites, like the earthenware jars in which the Egyptians kept their water, was unglazed and consequently porous, and that it was its porousness which, rendering it extremely liable to imbibe small particles of impure matter, was the reason why the vessel touched by an unclean person was ordered to be broken.
according to Ainsworth, the one may signify the destruction of reprobate persons, the other the cleansing of penitent sinners.
It is to this law that Christ refers when He says, “And many other things there be, which they have received to hold, as the washing [literally, the baptism ] of cups, and pots, brazen vessels, and of tables,” or, as the Margin has it more correctly, “beds,” or couches ( Mark 7:4 ).
The rabbis inferred from this verse that metal vessels should be washed. The Jew who purchased a brasen pot was bound to wash it, for it might have been handled by one who was ritually unclean. These ‘washings of cups, and pots, and brasen vessels,’ are referred to in Mark 7:4 .
The verse-by-verse work is done. What follows gathers the whole unit. All three layers below are machine-generated (⚙). Weigh them; they have no authority.
AI synthesis — woven from the public-domain voices above and the original text; generated and fallible.
The statute opens with the full legislative formula — וַיְדַבֵּר יְהוָה, "and Yahweh spoke" (H1696 in the juridical Piel) — and, unusually, addresses Aaron alongside Moses. Gill, following Gersonides, gives the reason: "some of these purifications, after mentioned, depended on the priest." Purity is not private hygiene but sanctuary business. The case itself — אִישׁ אִישׁ, "a man, a man," i.e. any man whatsoever, with a זוֹב (H2101, a word of just ten occurrences) flowing מִבְּשָׂרוֹ, "from his flesh" — turns at once on a word the commentators cannot agree on. Ellicott reads "flesh" as euphemism for the genitals ("as is frequently the case"); Keil & Delitzsch reply that "the term flesh is not a euphemism for the organ of generation, as is frequently assumed," but "the body." The ⚙ layer does not adjudicate; it records that the parse ("flesh," H1320) is fixed while the referent is genuinely disputed among the sources.
Verses 3–10 build a careful arithmetic of defilement, and the Hebrew verbs do the counting. The discharge defiles whether the flesh רָר (H7325, a rare verb, "slavers/runs") or חָתַם (H2856, "seals itself shut"); either way, Keil notes, "it is uncleanness to him." From the man the impurity travels — to the מִשְׁכָּב he lies on, the כְּלִי (any "vessel," which Poole says the Hebrews took for "all sorts of household stuff") he sits on, the מֶרְכָּב (H4817, a three-verse word) he rides. Ellicott preserves the rabbinic geometry: the man defiles a bed five ways, and the bed defiles a person seven. The cleansing is graded by contact: the mere toucher waits till הָעֶרֶב (evening); the bearer (H5375 נָשָׂא) must also כָּבַס (tread-wash) his clothes and רָחַץ (lave) his body — what Gill reports the rabbis measured at "forty seahs of water," full immersion. Benson reads the social effect plainly: "such persons were cut off from all communications with mankind… as an abomination."
Three verses sharpen the logic to a point. In v. 8 the flowing man יָרֹק (H7556, "spits") upon הַטָּהוֹר (H2889) — the unclean upon the clean, and cleanness gives way: impurity is communicable, purity is not. Gill moralizes the spittle as "all corrupt communication which proceeds out of the mouth." In v. 11 comes the law's single mitigation — if the man has שָׁטַף (H7857, "rinsed/flushed") his hands, the contagion is arrested; Cambridge notes it is "the only case mentioned in the law" where hand-washing alone halts the spread, though Poole records that whose hands is debated. The same flushing verb returns in v. 12, where porous חֶרֶשׂ (earthenware, which JFB explains was "unglazed and consequently porous") must be שָׁבַר — shattered, beyond cleansing — while wood is merely שָׁטַף, rinsed. Gill, citing Ainsworth, hears in the broken pot and the rinsed wood "the destruction of reprobate persons" and "the cleansing of penitent sinners" — a figural reading, offered as such.
Read under Sola Scriptura, the chapter is not finally about disease but about a holy God dwelling in the midst of a leaking, mortal people. Life itself — what flows from the human body — has gone wrong; the very fluids of generation now signal not vitality but death-ward corruption, and they spread. The law's relentless catalogue (bed, seat, saddle, anything-underneath, spittle, hands, clay, wood) is not fussiness; it is mercy teaching Israel that uncleanness is real, that it travels by contact, and that it cannot be ignored into harmlessness. Yet every verse but one ends the same way — and he shall be unclean until evening. The defilement is bounded. Water and the turning of the day undo it. Built into the severity is a promise: contracted impurity is curable, and the means is washing. The single exception is the porous clay vessel, which can only be broken — a sober note that some defilement runs too deep for rinsing, and must instead be destroyed and remade. The whole system, the ⚙ layer suggests (to be tested), is a parable in advance: a God who will not pretend the body's corruption away, who provides cleansing by water until evening, and who, in the broken vessel, hints that the deepest uncleanness will require not rinsing but a death.
Uncleanness travels by touch; cleanness must be given — and even then, some vessels can only be broken. (a reading, not a verse)
AI-generated connections. Each carries a verification badge with a recorded basis; contested links are flagged.
The law for the man (vv. 2–15) is deliberately twinned with the law for the woman (vv. 19–24, 25–30). The Hebrew binds them with the rare noun זוֹב (H2101, only ten verses in the whole Bible) and the participle זָב (H2100, "flowing"), shared verbatim across both halves of the chapter. Keil & Delitzsch use exactly this lexical agreement — "the agreement between the law relating to the man… and that concerning the woman with an issue (Leviticus 15:19, 'her issue in her flesh')" — to argue both refer to "a secretion from the sexual organs." The link is verbal in the strict sense: a low-frequency lexeme repeated across the unit.
Leviticus 15:19 · Leviticus 15:25
basis: rare shared lexeme H2101 zôwb (in only 10 verses) plus H2100 zûwb (41 vv) and H1320 bâsâr; Verifier-confirmed between Lev 15:2 and 15:19/15:25
The opening case finds its resolution in v. 13, where the man, once his issue ceases, counts seven days, washes his clothes, and bathes his flesh in running water. The bridge is again the rare זוֹב (H2101) together with בָּשָׂר (H1320, "flesh"). Keil appeals to v. 13's "bathe his flesh in water" as his decisive proof that "flesh" means the body, not the organ — so the thread is not only verbal but exegetically load-bearing: v. 13 is read back into v. 2 to settle the meaning of בָּשָׂר.
Leviticus 15:13
basis: rare shared lexeme H2101 zôwb (10 vv) + H2100 zûwb + H1320 bâsâr; Verifier-confirmed Lev 15:2 ↔ 15:13
The "saddle" of v. 9 is named by a word that occurs only three times in all Scripture: מֶרְכָּב (H4817). The other two are wholly unrelated in subject — Solomon's chariot-stalls (1 Kings 4:26) and the bridal seat of Solomon's palanquin (Song 3:10), the very passages Ellicott cites to fix the word's range ("the seat inside the palanquin"). By the rare-lexeme rule a three-verse word is a genuine verbal link; held honestly, it is a link of vocabulary only — the contexts (impurity, royal stables, royal wedding) share nothing thematically. The thread is recorded for what it is: a lexical thread, not a theological one.
1 Kings 4:26 · Song of Solomon 3:10
basis: rare shared lexeme H4817 merkâb (in only 3 verses total); Verifier-confirmed. Note: verbal only — contexts are unrelated
The recurring cure of vv. 5–11 — כָּבַס the clothes (H3526), רָחַץ the body, unclean עַד־הָעֶרֶב (until evening) — is the standard purification idiom shared with the red-heifer law of Numbers 19. The Verifier finds the cluster כָּבַס (H3526, 48 vv), עֶרֶב (H6153), נָגַע (H5060), טָמֵא (H2930) held in common — common, well-distributed purity vocabulary, not a rare quotation. The connection is real but structural: a shared ritual pattern, the same liturgy of laundering, bathing, and waiting for sundown, not a verbal citation.
Numbers 19:19 · Numbers 19:21
basis: shared purification-formula lexemes H3526 kâbaç, H6153 ʻereb, H5060 nâgaʻ, H2930 ṭâmêʼ — all common (≥48 vv); pattern, not rare-word quotation; Verifier-confirmed structural
That earthenware touched by impurity must be שָׁבַר (broken, H7665) while other vessels are washed is the same principle stated in the food-laws (Leviticus 11:33) and the sin-offering law (Leviticus 6:28). The verbal overlap is tighter than vessel-vocabulary alone: the Verifier finds the distinctive word for fired clay, חֶרֶשׂ (H2789, earthenware, only 16 vv), shared across all three, together with שָׁבַר (break) — and with 6:28 the rinsing verb שָׁטַף (H7857) as well. Keil makes the cross-reference explicit: vessels "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." Held honestly, this is a recurring legal formula stamped from one mould rather than one verse quoting another — so it is tiered structural, but the shared rare-ish חֶרֶשׂ is named so the link is not under-sold as mere common vocabulary.
Leviticus 11:33 · Leviticus 6:28
basis: recurring legal formula (porous earthenware broken, other vessels rinsed), shared by Lev 6:28 / 11:33; distinctive shared lexeme H2789 cheres (16 vv) + H7665 shâbar (+ H7857 shâṭaph with 6:28); Verifier-confirmed. Pattern from a common mould, not a quotation — held structural
Ellicott and Cambridge both connect the vessel-rinsing of v. 12 to Jesus' reference to the Pharisees' washing "of cups, and pots, brazen vessels, and of tables" (Mark 7:4) — the rabbinic extension of this law to metal and to newly purchased vessels. Held honestly: this is a cross-Testament link, Hebrew to Greek, so it cannot rest on a shared Strong's number — the Verifier finds no common original-language lexeme and returns "no shared lexeme." The connection is real as a history of interpretation (Second-Temple halakhah elaborating Leviticus 15:12), but the provenance of Mark's specific list is a report of Pharisaic custom, not a citation of this verse. Flagged so the seam shows.
Mark 7:4
basis: cross-Testament (Hebrew↔Greek): no shared Strong's lexeme possible; Verifier returns no shared lexeme. Link is interpretive-historical (Second-Temple practice), asserted by Ellicott/Cambridge, not a verbal quotation — left flagged
AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.
Every minor defilement in the chapter is undone the same way: wash, bathe, and wait — and he shall be unclean until evening. The cleansing is by water, and it is bounded by time. The historic Christian reading hears in this washing-rite a shadow cast forward. Matthew Henry states it plainly and traditionally — in these laws, he says, "The great gospel duties of faith and repentance are here signified, and the great gospel privileges of the application of Christ's blood to our souls for our justification, and his grace for our sanctification." The water that cleanses till evening is read as a parable of a greater washing: where Hebrews sets the ashes of a heifer that sanctify the flesh against the blood of Christ that purges the conscience (Heb 9:13-14). Held honestly: this is a typological reading, not a verbal link — no Hebrew↔Greek lexeme is shared — but it is an ancient and widely-held one, voiced here by a PD source, not a novelty of the ⚙ layer; the figure (water-cleansing now, blood-cleansing fulfilled) is offered as the traditional sense, to be weighed against the text.
Leviticus 15:5 · Hebrews 9:13
The deep grammar of Leviticus 15 is that uncleanness flows outward by contact and purity never does: the unclean man defiles the clean (v. 8), and even his rinsed hand can only withhold defilement, never impart cleanness. The Gospels deliberately invert this. When a woman with a twelve-year flow of blood — the very condition of Leviticus 15:25-30, the woman's counterpart to this man's issue — touches Jesus, the current runs backward: she is not made unclean by Him; He is not defiled by her; instead virtue goes out and she is healed (Mark 5:25-34). Held honestly: this is a cross-Testament, thematic-typological reading, not a verbal link — the Verifier finds no shared original-language lexeme between Hebrew Leviticus and Greek Mark, and the connection rests on the parallel condition (a chronic discharge rendering one unclean) and its reversal in Christ, who touches the unclean and cleanses rather than contracting their impurity.
Leviticus 15:25 · Mark 5:25
The chapter's one irreversible verdict is the porous clay vessel of v. 12: what has absorbed impurity too deeply to rinse must be שָׁבַר — broken. Gill, citing Ainsworth, already heard in it "the destruction of reprobate persons" set against "the cleansing of penitent sinners." The ⚙ layer offers a further, frankly figural reading to be tested: where impurity cannot be washed away, it can only be borne in a vessel that is broken — and the New Testament names a body that is a "vessel" (2 Cor 4:7) and a body "broken for you" (1 Cor 11:24) precisely so that what no rinsing could cleanse might be carried away in death. Held honestly: this is a novel typological suggestion, not an ancient consensus reading and not a verbal link — it leans on the figure of the broken clay vessel, offered for the reader to weigh against the text, not asserted as the verse's plain sense.
Leviticus 15:12 · 1 Corinthians 11:24
The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). Hebrew/Greek text, transliteration, morphology and Strong’s are transcribed from the Berean interlinear (CC0) + Strong’s lexicons (PD); the literal renderings, divergence notes, word notes and all synthesis are this tool’s own work (⚙) — fallible; verify them.
Named voices, quoted verbatim from public-domain works:
The Hebrew is the Masoretic text; transliterations, parsings, literal renderings, and the "where the English smooths the Hebrew" notes are this tool's own work (⚙) — careful but fallible; check them against BDB/HALOT. Two genuine ambiguities are left open, not resolved: (1) the meaning of בָּשָׂר ("flesh") in v. 2 — euphemism for the organ (Ellicott, Cambridge, Poole) or the body (Keil & Delitzsch) — the parse fixes the lemma, not the referent; (2) whose hands are rinsed in v. 11 — the flowing man's or the touched man's (Poole sets out both). A textual-critical note: v. 9 alone omits the "until evening" clause that closes every parallel verse; Ellicott argues the LXX's "until evening" preserves the original reading dropped from the Hebrew — recorded, not silently emended. On the cross-references: within Leviticus 15 the links rest on genuinely rare lexemes — זוֹב (H2101, 10 vv) and מֶרְכָּב (H4817, 3 vv) — and are tiered "verbal"; the merkâb link to 1 Kings 4:26 and Song 3:10 is verbal in vocabulary only, the contexts being unrelated, and is labeled as such. The Numbers 19 link is structural (shared ritual pattern, common purity vocabulary), not a quotation; the Leviticus 11:33 / 6:28 link is structural too — a recurring legal formula — but it carries the distinctive earthenware word חֶרֶשׂ (H2789, 16 vv) and the verbs שָׁבַר / שָׁטַף, which the Verifier confirms and which lift it above mere shared vocabulary, though still short of a one-verse-quotes-another citation. Every link reaching into the Greek New Testament (Mark 7:4, Mark 5:25, 1 Cor 11:24, Heb 9:13) is necessarily not verbal — a Hebrew↔Greek pair cannot share a Strong's number, and the Verifier returns no shared lexeme for each — and is tiered structural, typological, or flagged accordingly; the Mark 7:4 connection is left flagged because it reports Second-Temple practice rather than citing this verse. ✦ = human public-domain source, quoted and named. ⚙ = machine synthesis, to be verified. "Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so." (Acts 17:11)
✦ = human, public-domain source, quoted and named. ⚙ = machine synthesis, to be verified. Flagged cross-references are left visible on purpose — the verifier working in the open. “Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)