Bible Strands
Leviticus 13:47
If any fabric is contaminated with mildew—any wool or linen garment,
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — God delivers ritual purity regulations to Israel through Moses during the wilderness period. This verse appears within Leviticus 13, which details the identification and isolation of contaminated fabric and skin conditions.
The words — The text identifies the contamination as a נֶגַע (nega) or plague, specifically a צָרָעַת (tzara'at) or serious disease affecting a בֶּגֶד (beged) or garment. These terms establish the material as ritually defiled rather than merely soiled.
The thread — The contamination of fabric runs through Leviticus 13:46 and 13:48, which frame the isolation of the infected and extend mildew laws to leather. Later passages like Isaiah 59:6 and Jude 1:23 repurpose clothing as a metaphor for unclean or sinful works.
Why it lands — The verse requires readers to recognize that ritual impurity extends beyond human skin to manufactured materials. It establishes a clear boundary where contaminated objects must be identified and separated to maintain communal holiness.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
The garment also that the plague of leprosy is in, whether it be a woollen garment, or a linen garment;
Cross-references
- Jude 1:23 save others by snatching them from the fire; and to still others show mercy tempered with fear, hating even the clothing stained by the flesh.
- Isaiah 3:16 The LORD also says: “Because the daughters of Zion are haughty—walking with heads held high and wanton eyes, prancing and skipping as they go, jingling the bracelets on their ankles—
- Isaiah 59:6 Their cobwebs cannot be made into clothing, and they cannot cover themselves with their works. Their deeds are sinful deeds, and acts of violence are in their hands.
- Isaiah 64:6 Each of us has become like something unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all wither like a leaf, and our iniquities carry us away like the wind.
- Ezekiel 16:16 You took some of your garments and made colorful high places for yourself, and on them you prostituted yourself. Such things should not have happened; never should they have occurred!
- Romans 13:12 The night is nearly over; the day has drawn near. So let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.
- Ephesians 4:22 to put off your former way of life, your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires;
- Colossians 3:3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.