Bible Strands
Leviticus 14:46
Anyone who enters the house during any of the days that it is closed up will be unclean until evening.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The text addresses the Israelites during the ritual inspection of a suspected leprous house. It specifies the consequences for anyone who crosses the threshold while the structure remains under official quarantine.
The words — יִטְמָא (yitMa') translates literally to "he will be unclean," and הִסְגִּיר (hisGir) means "he has shut up" or closed off. These terms anchor the verse in the mechanics of ritual containment and temporal boundaries.
The thread — The "unclean until evening" formula appears in Leviticus 11:24 and Leviticus 11:28 regarding carcass contamination, while Numbers 19:21 pairs ritual uncleanness with mandatory clothing washing. This verse extends those same purity boundaries to architectural spaces and daily routines.
Why it lands — The text demands strict physical separation from quarantined spaces to prevent ritual contamination. It requires readers to recognize that proximity, not just direct contact, triggers defilement under the law.
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
Moreover he that goeth into the house all the while that it is shut up shall be unclean until the even.
Cross-references
- Numbers 19:21 This is a permanent statute for the people: The one who sprinkles the water of purification must wash his clothes, and whoever touches the water of purification will be unclean until evening.
- Leviticus 11:24 These creatures will make you unclean. Whoever touches their carcasses will be unclean until evening,
- Leviticus 11:28 and anyone who picks up a carcass must wash his clothes, and he will be unclean until evening. They are unclean for you.
- Leviticus 15:5 Anyone who touches his bed must wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will be unclean until evening.
- Leviticus 15:10 Whoever 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.
- Leviticus 17:15 And any person, whether native or foreigner, who eats anything found dead or mauled by wild beasts must wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will be unclean until evening; then he will be clean.
- Leviticus 22:6 the man who touches any of these will remain unclean until evening. He must not eat from the sacred offerings unless he has bathed himself with water.
- Numbers 19:7 Then the priest must wash his clothes and bathe his body in water; after that he may enter the camp, but he will be ceremonially unclean until evening.