Bible Strands
Leviticus 15:3
This uncleanness is from his discharge, whether his body allows the discharge to flow or blocks it. So his discharge will bring about uncleanness.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The passage records a divine instruction delivered to the Israelites establishing ritual purity protocols for men experiencing abnormal bodily discharges. It occurs within the broader legislative framework of tabernacle hygiene and contamination boundaries.
The words — The Hebrew term זוֹב (zov) denotes a persistent discharge, while טֻמְאָה (tum'ah) designates the resulting state of ritual impurity. The syntax emphasizes that the defiling condition applies regardless of whether the flesh permits the flow or retains it.
The thread — The linkage of bodily emission to ritual status reappears in Leviticus 12:3 concerning postpartum purification timelines, and later functions as a prophetic metaphor for covenant violation in Ezekiel 16:26 and Ezekiel 23:20.
Why it lands — The text demands that the community treat physical discharge as an objective factor in ritual hygiene, requiring acknowledgment of the condition whether the body expels or contains the fluid. It establishes that defilement operates independently of personal control or conscious intent.
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
And this shall be his uncleanness in his issue: whether his flesh run with his issue, or his flesh be stopped from his issue, it is his uncleanness.
Cross-references
- Leviticus 12:3 And on the eighth day the flesh of the boy’s foreskin is to be circumcised.
- Ezekiel 16:26 You prostituted yourself with your lustful neighbors, the Egyptians, and increased your promiscuity to provoke Me to anger.
- Ezekiel 23:20 and lusted after their lovers, whose genitals were like those of donkeys and whose emission was like that of stallions.