Bible Strands
Leviticus 15:2
“Say to the Israelites, ‘When any man has a bodily discharge, the discharge is unclean.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The LORD addresses Moses and Aaron, commanding them to deliver a specific declaration to the Israelites. This instruction functions as the opening directive within a legislative passage concerning ritual purity and bodily conditions.
The words — The Hebrew verb דַּבְּרוּ (dabberu) commands "speak," while אִישׁ (ish) designates "a man" as the subject. These terms establish the mode of transmission and the specific demographic targeted by the law.
The thread — The discharge-uncleanness pattern reappears in Leviticus 22:4, which bars Aaron’s descendants from consuming sacred food while unclean, and in Numbers 5:2, which orders the removal of those with discharges from the camp.
Why it lands — The text explicitly states that a man’s bodily discharge renders him unclean, establishing a physical condition as the basis for ritual status. It requires the reader to acknowledge that ceremonial eligibility depends on observable physical states rather than personal merit.
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
Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When any man hath a running issue out of his flesh, because of his issue he is unclean.
Cross-references
- Leviticus 22:4 If a descendant of Aaron has a skin disease or a discharge, he may not eat the sacred offerings until he is clean. Whoever touches anything defiled by a corpse or by a man who has an emission of semen,
- Numbers 5:2 “Command the Israelites to send away from the camp anyone with a skin disease, anyone who has a bodily discharge, and anyone who is defiled by a dead body.
- 2 Samuel 3:29 May it whirl over the head of Joab and over the entire house of his father, and may the house of Joab never be without one having a discharge or skin disease, or one who leans on a staff or falls by the sword or lacks food.”
- Matthew 9:20 Suddenly a woman who had suffered from bleeding for twelve years came up behind Him and touched the fringe of His cloak.
- Deuteronomy 4:7 For what nation is great enough to have a god as near to them as the LORD our God is to us whenever we call on Him?
- Nehemiah 9:13 You came down on Mount Sinai and spoke with them from heaven. You gave them just ordinances, true laws, and good statutes and commandments.
- Psalms 78:5 For He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which He commanded our fathers to teach to their children,
- Psalms 147:19 He declares His word to Jacob, His statutes and judgments to Israel.
- Mark 5:25 And a woman was there who had suffered from bleeding for twelve years.
- Mark 7:20 He continued: “What comes out of a man, that is what defiles him.