Bible Strands
Numbers 5:3
You must send away male and female alike; send them outside the camp so they will not defile their camp, where I dwell among them.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — God addresses Moses to issue a directive to the Israelites immediately after commanding the removal of those with skin diseases, bodily discharges, and corpse defilement.
The words — The Hebrew תְּשַׁלֵּ֔חוּ (te.sha.Le.chu) translates literally as "you will send away," paired with מִ/ח֥וּץ (mi./Chutz) meaning "from the outside," which specifies the required direction of removal.
The thread — This camp purity mandate recurs in Deuteronomy 23:14, which ties holiness to God's protective presence, and Numbers 35:34, which forbids defiling the land where the Lord dwells among the Israelites.
Why it lands — The text requires the immediate physical separation of unclean persons to prevent defilement of the community space where God's presence resides.
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
Both male and female shall ye put out, without the camp shall ye put them; that they defile not their camps, in the midst whereof I dwell.
Cross-references
- Deuteronomy 23:14 For the LORD your God walks throughout your camp to protect you and deliver your enemies to you. Your camp must be holy, lest He see anything unclean among you and turn away from you.
- Leviticus 26:11 And I will make My dwelling place among you, and My soul will not despise you.
- Numbers 35:34 Do not defile the land where you live and where I dwell. For I, the LORD, dwell among the Israelites.”
- Psalms 68:18 You have ascended on high; You have led captives away. You have received gifts from men, even from the rebellious, that the LORD God may dwell there.
- Revelation 21:3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying: “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man, and He will dwell with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them as their God.
- Numbers 19:22 Anything the unclean person touches will become unclean, and anyone who touches it will be unclean until evening.”
- 1 Kings 7:3 The house was roofed with cedar above the beams that rested on the pillars—forty-five beams, fifteen per row.
- Isaiah 12:6 Cry out and sing, O citizen of Zion, for great among you is the Holy One of Israel.”
- Haggai 2:13 So Haggai asked, “If one who is defiled by contact with a corpse touches any of these, does it become defiled?” “Yes, it becomes defiled,” the priests answered.
- 1 Corinthians 5:7 Get rid of the old leaven, that you may be a new unleavened batch, as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.