Bodily Discharges
1The LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron: 2“Speak to the Israelites and tell them: When any man has a dischargea from his body, he is •unclean. 3This is uncleanness of his discharge: Whether his body secretes the discharge or retains it, he is unclean. All the days that his body secretes or retains anything because of his discharge,b he is unclean.c 4Any bed the man with the discharge lies on will be unclean, and any furniture he sits on will be unclean. 5Anyone who touches his bed is to wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will remain unclean until evening. 6Whoever sits on furniture that the man with the discharge was sitting on is to wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will remain unclean until evening. 7Whoever touches the body of the man with a discharge is to wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will remain unclean until evening. 8If the man with the discharge spits on anyone who is •clean, he is to wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will remain unclean until evening. 9Any saddle the man with the discharge rides on will be unclean.d 10Whoever touches anything that was under him will be unclean until evening, and whoever carries such things is to wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will remain unclean until evening. 11If the man with the discharge touches anyone without first rinsing his hands in water,e the person who was touched is to wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will remain unclean until evening. 12Any clay pot that the man with the discharge touches must be broken, while any wooden utensil must be rinsed with water.f
13“When the man with the discharge has been cured of it, he is to count seven days for his cleansing, wash his clothes, and bathe his body in fresh water; he will be clean. 14He must take two turtledoves or two young pigeons on the eighth day, come before the LORD at the entrance to the tent of meeting, and give them to the priest. 15The priest is to sacrifice them, one as a •sin offering and the other as a •burnt offering.g In this way the priest will make •atonement for him before the LORD because of his discharge.
16“When a man has an emission of semen,h he is to bathe himself completely with water, and he will remain unclean until evening. 17Any clothing or leather on which there is an emission of semen must be washed with water, and it will remain unclean until evening. 18If a man sleeps with a woman and has an emission of semen, both of them are to bathe with water, and they will remain unclean until evening.i
19“When a woman has a discharge, and it consists of blood from her body, she will be unclean because of her menstruationj for seven days. Everyone who touches her will be unclean until evening. 20Anything she lies on during her menstruation will become unclean, and anything she sits on will become unclean. 21Everyone who touches her bed is to wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will remain unclean until evening. 22Everyone who touches any furniture she was sitting on is to wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will remain unclean until evening. 23If discharge is on the bed or the furniture she was sitting on, when he touches it he will be unclean until evening. 24If a man sleeps with her, and blood from her menstruation gets on him, he will be unclean for seven days, and every bed he lies on will become unclean.k
25“When a woman has a discharge of her blood for many days, though it is not the time of her menstruation, or if she has a discharge beyond her period, she will be unclean all the days of her unclean discharge, as she is during the days of her menstruation. 26Any bed she lies on during the days of her discharge will be like her bed during menstrual impurity; any furniture she sits on will be unclean as in her menstrual period. 27Everyone who touches them will be unclean; he must wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will remain unclean until evening. 28When she is cured of her discharge, she is to count seven days, and after that she will be clean.l 29On the eighth day she must take two turtledoves or two young pigeons and bring them to the priest at the entrance to the tent of meeting. 30The priest is to sacrifice one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering. In this way the priest will make atonement for her before the LORD because of her unclean discharge.
31“You must keep the Israelites from their uncleanness, so that they do not die by defiling My tabernaclem that is among them. 32This is the law for someone with a discharge: a man who has an emission of semen, becoming unclean by it; 33a woman who is in her menstrual period; anyone who has a discharge, whether male or female; and a man who sleeps with an unclean woman.”
Footnotes:
a. 15:2 Lv 15:33; 22:4; Nm 5:2; 2Sm 3:29
b. 15:3 DSS, Sam, LXX; MT omits he is unclean. All the days that his body secretes or retains anything because of his discharge
c. 15:3 A urinary tract infection
d. 15:9 Gn 31:34-35
e. 15:11 Ex 30:19; Mt 15:2; Mk 7:3
f. 15:12 Lv 6:28; 11:33
g. 15:15 Gn 22:2; Lv 3:5; Nm 6:11; Jos 8:31; 1Ch 16:1; Ps 20:3; Mc 6:6
h. 15:16 Lv 15:32; 19:20; 22:4; Nm 5:13
i. 15:18 2Sm 11:2-4
j. 15:19 Lv 12:2,5; 18:19; Ezk 22:10; 36:17
k. 15:24 Lv 18:19; 20:18; Ezk 18:6
l. 15:28 Lv 15:13; Mt 9:20-22
m. 15:31 Ex 25:9; Nm 5:2-3