Bible Strands
Leviticus 7:21
If one touches anything unclean, whether human uncleanness, an unclean animal, or any unclean, detestable thing, and then eats any of the meat of the peace offering that belongs to the LORD, that person must be cut off from his people.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — God delivers this command through Moses as part of the peace offering regulations, positioned between the prior prohibition against unclean consumption (Leviticus 7:20) and the subsequent dietary instructions (Leviticus 7:22). The audience is the Israelite community receiving ritual and sacrificial guidelines.
The words — The Hebrew phrase תִגַּ֣ע בְּ/טֻמְאַ֤ת (ti.Ga' be./tum.'At) literally means "will touch [in] uncleanness." The term נֶ֜פֶשׁ (Ne.fesh) translates to "anyone," identifying the individual subject bound by the rule.
The thread — The warning against consuming sacred meat after contact with impurity aligns with Leviticus 5:2, which details touching unclean animal carcasses, and Leviticus 11:10 and 11:20, which label certain sea and flying creatures as detestable. These passages collectively map the boundary between ritual defilement and holy consumption.
Why it lands — The text states that a person who touches unclean matter and then eats peace offering meat must be cut off from the people. It requires immediate separation from the community to maintain the sanctity of the offering.
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 the soul that shall touch any unclean thing, as the uncleanness of man, or any unclean beast, or any abominable unclean thing, and eat of the flesh of the sacrifice of peace offerings, which pertain unto the Lord, even that soul shall be cut off from his people.
Cross-references
- Leviticus 5:2 Or if a person touches anything unclean—whether the carcass of any unclean wild animal or livestock or crawling creature—even if he is unaware of it, he is unclean and guilty.
- Leviticus 11:10 But the following among all the teeming life and creatures in the water are detestable to you: everything in the seas or streams that does not have fins and scales.
- Leviticus 11:20 All flying insects that walk on all fours are detestable to you.
- Leviticus 12:1 Then the LORD said to Moses,
- Leviticus 15:1 And the LORD said to Moses and Aaron,
- Ezekiel 4:14 “Ah, Lord GOD,” I said, “I have never defiled myself. From my youth until now I have not eaten anything found dead or mauled by wild beasts. No unclean meat has ever entered my mouth.”
- Genesis 17:14 But if any male is not circumcised, he will be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.”
- Exodus 12:15 For seven days you must eat unleavened bread. On the first day you are to remove the leaven from your houses. Whoever eats anything leavened from the first day through the seventh must be cut off from Israel.
- Exodus 12:19 For seven days there must be no leaven found in your houses. If anyone eats something leavened, that person, whether a foreigner or native of the land, must be cut off from the congregation of Israel.
- Exodus 30:33 Anyone who mixes perfume like it or puts it on an outsider shall be cut off from his people.’”