2101. zob
Lexical Summary
zob: Discharge, flow

Original Word: זוֹב
Part of Speech: Noun Masculine
Transliteration: zowb
Pronunciation: zobe
Phonetic Spelling: (zobe)
KJV: issue
NASB: discharge
Word Origin: [from H2100 (זוּב - flowing)]

1. a seminal or menstrual flux

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance
issue

From zuwb; a seminal or menstrual flux -- issue.

see HEBREW zuwb

NAS Exhaustive Concordance
Word Origin
from zub
Definition
an issue (of fluid)
NASB Translation
discharge (13).

Brown-Driver-Briggs
זוֺב noun masculine issue (Arabic fluid, liquid; Late Hebrew זוֺב, Aramaic דּוֺבָא in specific sense of Hebrew); — issue, flux, always from Genitals (compare Di Leviticus 15:2); only P: of man or woman Leviticus 15:33; — of man Leviticus 15:2,3(3 t. in verse); Leviticus 15:13,15; of woman Leviticus 15:19 (דָּם יִהְיֶה זֹבָהּ בִּבְשָׂרָהּ of monthly period); also Leviticus 15:25; Leviticus 15:25; Leviticus 15:26; Leviticus 15:28; Leviticus 15:30 (of morbid issue of blood, sometimes connected with the other; compare Matthew 9:20 etc.)

זוּד see זיד.

זוה (√ of following; compare Arabic put aside or away, draw together, contract).

Topical Lexicon
Definition and Scope

The Hebrew noun זוֹב denotes an abnormal bodily flow, most commonly a genital discharge. In Leviticus 15 the term embraces both the male emission that is neither seminal fluid nor urine, and the female flow that is either menstrual or prolonged beyond the normal cycle. The word never appears outside this cultic chapter, highlighting its specialized association with ritual impurity.

Occurrences and Context in Leviticus

All thirteen attestations lie within the priestly legislation of Leviticus 15 (verses 2, 3 × 3, 13, 15, 19, 25 × 2, 26, 28, 30, 33). The chapter divides the subject into four cases: (1) the chronic male discharge (verses 2–15); (2) the normal emission of semen (verses 16–18, not called זוֹב); (3) the ordinary menstrual period (verse 19); and (4) the pathological female hemorrhage (verses 25–30). The repeated mention of זוֹב establishes a deliberate literary cadence, underscoring the seriousness of the condition and the need for careful priestly oversight.

Ritual Purity and Theological Significance

The Mosaic economy taught Israel to distinguish between the holy and the common (Leviticus 10:10). Bodily fluids symbolized human mortality and weakness; when they appeared out of season or persistently, they rendered a worshiper unclean, barring entrance to the sanctuary. The impurity was not moral defilement in itself but a pedagogical sign that communion with the living God demands wholeness. By requiring washing, sacrifice, and a seven-day waiting period, the law instilled reverence for the Creator who alone grants life and health.

The sacrificial remedy culminated in the priest’s offering of “one sin offering and one burnt offering” (Leviticus 15:15), declaring that both forgiveness and consecration were necessary. The dual sacrifice hinted at a future provision whereby a single atonement would cleanse completely.

Practical Implications for Ancient Israel

1. Public Health: Isolation of the sufferer and laundering of garments (Leviticus 15:4–12) curtailed contagion and promoted hygiene centuries before germ theory.
2. Domestic Order: Husbands and wives learned to respect periodic abstinence, reinforcing fidelity and self-control (cf. 1 Corinthians 7:5).
3. Corporate Worship: By tracing impurity outward to anything the person touched, the law safeguarded communal sanctity, preserving the tabernacle as a microcosm of Eden regained.

Typological and Christological Perspectives

The woman with the twelve-year hemorrhage who touched the fringe of Jesus’ cloak (Luke 8:43–48) embodies the prophetic trajectory of זוֹב. Under the law she could not make anyone else clean; under grace she is made well instantaneously, and Christ remains undefiled. Her account reveals that the ritual strictures of Leviticus were signposts to a Savior who “bore our sicknesses” (Matthew 8:17) and whose blood speaks “a better word than the blood of Abel” (Hebrews 12:24).

Application in Ministry Today

Pastoral counseling: Leaders can reassure believers wrestling with chronic illness or reproductive issues that Scripture acknowledges their condition without shame and directs them to God’s compassionate presence.

Teaching purity: The passage offers a balanced theology that celebrates the goodness of the body while warning against casual attitudes toward sin and mortality.

Worship planning: The pattern of cleansing, waiting, and sacrifice encourages churches to incorporate confession, assurance, and consecration into corporate gatherings.

Related Concepts and Further Study

• Tzaraath (skin affliction) – Leviticus 13–14
• Menstruation and childbirth laws – Leviticus 12
• Holiness and wholeness in priestly theology – Ezekiel 44:23
• Christ’s healing miracles as fulfillment of Levitical types – Hebrews 9

Zôb thus functions as a vivid reminder of humanity’s frailty and God’s provision of comprehensive cleansing, culminating in the atoning work of Jesus Christ.

Forms and Transliterations
בְּזוֹב֑וֹ בזובו ז֣וֹב ז֨וֹב זָבָ֔ה זבה זוֹב֔וֹ זוֹב֖וֹ זוֹב֗וֹ זוֹבָ֔הּ זוב זובה זובו מִזּ֖וֹב מִזּוֹב֔וֹ מִזּוֹבָ֑הּ מִזּוֹבֽוֹ׃ מזוב מזובה מזובו מזובו׃ bə·zō·w·ḇōw bezoVo bəzōwḇōw miz·zō·w·ḇāh miz·zō·w·ḇōw miz·zō·wḇ mizZov mizzoVah mizzoVo mizzōwḇ mizzōwḇāh mizzōwḇōw zā·ḇāh zāḇāh zaVah zō·w·ḇāh zō·w·ḇōw zō·wḇ Zov zoVah zoVo zōwḇ zōwḇāh zōwḇōw
Links
Interlinear GreekInterlinear HebrewStrong's NumbersEnglishman's Greek ConcordanceEnglishman's Hebrew ConcordanceParallel Texts
Englishman's Concordance
Leviticus 15:2
HEB: זָ֣ב מִבְּשָׂר֔וֹ זוֹב֖וֹ טָמֵ֥א הֽוּא׃
NAS: from his body, his discharge is unclean.
KJV: out of his flesh, [because of] his issue he [is] unclean.
INT: A discharge his body his discharge is unclean he

Leviticus 15:3
HEB: תִּהְיֶ֥ה טֻמְאָת֖וֹ בְּזוֹב֑וֹ רָ֣ר בְּשָׂר֞וֹ
NAS: moreover, shall be his uncleanness in his discharge: it is his uncleanness
KJV: And this shall be his uncleanness in his issue: whether his flesh
INT: become shall be his uncleanness his discharge run his body

Leviticus 15:3
HEB: בְּשָׂר֞וֹ אֶת־ זוֹב֗וֹ אֽוֹ־ הֶחְתִּ֤ים
NAS: whether his body allows its discharge to flow
KJV: run with his issue, or his flesh
INT: his body for discharge or obstructs

Leviticus 15:3
HEB: הֶחְתִּ֤ים בְּשָׂרוֹ֙ מִזּוֹב֔וֹ טֻמְאָת֖וֹ הִֽוא׃
NAS: obstructs its discharge.
KJV: be stopped from his issue, it [is] his uncleanness.
INT: obstructs his body discharge is his uncleanness he

Leviticus 15:13
HEB: יִטְהַ֤ר הַזָּב֙ מִזּוֹב֔וֹ וְסָ֨פַר ל֜וֹ
NAS: cleansed from his discharge, then he shall count
KJV: is cleansed of his issue; then he shall number
INT: becomes the discharge his discharge shall count seven

Leviticus 15:15
HEB: לִפְנֵ֥י יְהוָ֖ה מִזּוֹבֽוֹ׃ ס
NAS: the LORD because of his discharge.
KJV: for him before the LORD for his issue.
INT: before the LORD of his discharge

Leviticus 15:19
HEB: כִּֽי־ תִהְיֶ֣ה זָבָ֔ה דָּ֛ם יִהְיֶ֥ה
NAS: a discharge, [if] her discharge in her body
KJV: have an issue, [and] her issue in her flesh
INT: When has discharge is blood shall continue

Leviticus 15:25
HEB: כִּֽי־ יָזוּב֩ ז֨וֹב דָּמָ֜הּ יָמִ֣ים
NAS: has a discharge of her blood
KJV: have an issue of her blood
INT: now if has A discharge of her blood days

Leviticus 15:25
HEB: כָּל־ יְמֵ֞י ז֣וֹב טֻמְאָתָ֗הּ כִּימֵ֧י
NAS: of her impure discharge she shall continue
KJV: all the days of the issue of her uncleanness
INT: all the days discharge of her impure the days

Leviticus 15:26
HEB: כָּל־ יְמֵ֣י זוֹבָ֔הּ כְּמִשְׁכַּ֥ב נִדָּתָ֖הּ
NAS: the days of her discharge shall be to her like her bed
KJV: all the days of her issue shall be unto her as the bed
INT: all the days of her discharge her bed menstruation

Leviticus 15:28
HEB: וְאִֽם־ טָהֲרָ֖ה מִזּוֹבָ֑הּ וְסָ֥פְרָה לָּ֛הּ
NAS: clean from her discharge, she shall count
KJV: But if she be cleansed of her issue, then she shall number
INT: When becomes her discharge shall count seven

Leviticus 15:30
HEB: לִפְנֵ֣י יְהוָ֔ה מִזּ֖וֹב טֻמְאָתָֽהּ׃
NAS: because of her impure discharge.'
KJV: the LORD for the issue of her uncleanness.
INT: before God the issue of her impure

Leviticus 15:33
HEB: וְהַזָּב֙ אֶת־ זוֹב֔וֹ לַזָּכָ֖ר וְלַנְּקֵבָ֑ה
NAS: because of menstrual impurity, and for the one who has a discharge, whether a male
KJV: and of him that hath an issue, of the man,
INT: of menstrual hath discharge A male A female

13 Occurrences

Strong's Hebrew 2101
13 Occurrences


bə·zō·w·ḇōw — 1 Occ.
miz·zō·wḇ — 1 Occ.
miz·zō·w·ḇāh — 1 Occ.
miz·zō·w·ḇōw — 3 Occ.
zā·ḇāh — 1 Occ.
zō·wḇ — 2 Occ.
zō·w·ḇāh — 1 Occ.
zō·w·ḇōw — 3 Occ.

2100
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