Bible Strands
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.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The LORD speaks to Moses, instructing him to direct the Israelites to remove specific unclean individuals from the camp. This command follows immediately after the LORD’s initial address to Moses in Numbers 5:1.
The words — The Hebrew imperative צַו (tzav) means “command,” and the verb וִשַׁלְּחֻוּ (vi./sha.le.Chu) translates literally to “they may send away.” These terms establish the mandatory nature of the expulsion.
The thread — The text echoes Leviticus 13:46, which mandates that those with infectious skin diseases live alone outside the camp, and connects to Numbers 9:6, where ritual impurity from a dead body prevents Passover observance.
Why it lands — The passage requires readers to recognize that physical impurity temporarily excludes individuals from the community space where God dwells. It demands strict compliance with ritual boundaries to preserve the camp’s 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
Command the children of Israel, that they put out of the camp every leper, and every one that hath an issue, and whosoever is defiled by the dead:
Cross-references
- Leviticus 13:46 As long as he has the infection, he remains unclean. He must live alone in a place outside the camp.
- Leviticus 21:1 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Speak to Aaron’s sons, the priests, and tell them that a priest is not to defile himself for a dead person among his people,
- Numbers 9:6 But there were some men who were unclean due to a dead body, so they could not observe the Passover on that day. And they came before Moses and Aaron that same day
- Numbers 12:14 But the LORD answered Moses, “If her father had but spit in her face, would she not have been in disgrace for seven days? Let her be confined outside the camp for seven days; after that she may be brought back in.”
- Numbers 31:19 All of you who have killed a person or touched the dead are to remain outside the camp for seven days. On the third day and the seventh day you are to purify both yourselves and your captives.
- Leviticus 15:2 “Say to the Israelites, ‘When any man has a bodily discharge, the discharge is unclean.
- Numbers 19:11 Whoever touches any dead body will be unclean for seven days.
- Deuteronomy 24:8 In cases of infectious skin diseases, be careful to diligently follow everything the Levitical priests instruct you. Be careful to do as I have commanded them.
- 2 Kings 7:3 Now there were four men with leprosy at the entrance of the city gate, and they said to one another, “Why just sit here until we die?