Leviticus 11:25

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

Whoever carries any part of their carcass shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the evening.

World English Bible · Public Domain

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מִנִּבְלָתָ֑ם

nᵉbêlâh

H5038

“from · carcass · their”

Preposition + Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Construct + Suffix, Personal, 3rd Person, Masculine, Plural

Appears 48× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Leviticus 5:2

Full BDB Definition

Origin: from H5034

TWOT: 1286a

carcass, corpse - of humans, idols, animals

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

8: words
8: distinct lemmas
Pentateuch: section

Shared distinctive vocabulary

מִנִּבְלָתָ֑ם carcass H5038 occurs in 41 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Grammatical profile

3 verbs
4 nouns
1 preposition

Verb forms

הַנֹּשֵׂ֖א Qal · Participle Active
יְכַבֵּ֥ס Piel · Imperfect
וְטָמֵ֥א Qal · Sequential Perfect

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 17 words from the Hebrew and 20 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — closely comparable.

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

In the original languages it is 8 Hebrew tokens and 15 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to Leviticus 11:25 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Leviticus 11:40 He who eats of its carcass shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the evening. He also who carries its carcass shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the evening.
Leviticus 14:8 "He who is to be cleansed shall wash his clothes, and shave off all his hair, and bathe himself in water; and he shall be clean. After that he shall come into the camp, but shall dwell outside his tent seven days.
Leviticus 15:5 Whoever touches his bed shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening.
Numbers 31:24 You shall wash your clothes on the seventh day, and you shall be clean; and afterward you shall come into the camp.
Leviticus 16:28 He who burns them shall wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp.
Numbers 19:10 He who gathers the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the even: and it shall be to the children of Israel, and to the stranger who lives as a foreigner among them, for a statute forever.
Exodus 19:10 Yahweh said to Moses, "Go to the people, and sanctify them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments,
Exodus 19:14 Moses went down from the mountain to the people, and sanctified the people; and they washed their clothes.

Leviticus 11:28 He who carries their carcass shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the evening. They are unclean to you.
Leviticus 14:47 He who lies down in the house shall wash his clothes; and he who eats in the house shall wash his clothes.
Leviticus 15:7–11 "'He who touches the body of him who has the discharge shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening.
Leviticus 15:13 "'When he who has a discharge is cleansed of his discharge, then he shall count to himself seven days for his cleansing, and wash his clothes; and he shall bathe his flesh in running water, and shall be clean.
Numbers 19:8 He who burns her shall wash his clothes in water, and bathe his flesh in water, and shall be unclean until the even.
Numbers 19:19 and the clean person shall sprinkle on the unclean on the third day, and on the seventh day: and on the seventh day he shall purify him; and he shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and shall be clean at even.
Numbers 19:21–22 It shall be a perpetual statute to them: and he who sprinkles the water for impurity shall wash his clothes, and he who touches the water for impurity shall be unclean until even.
Psalms 51:2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity. Cleanse me from my sin.

Psalms 51:7 Purify me with hyssop, and I will be clean. Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
Zechariah 13:1 "In that day there will be a spring opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness.
John 13:8 Peter said to him, "You will never wash my feet!" Jesus answered him, "If I don't wash you, you have no part with me."
Acts 22:16 Now why do you wait? Arise, be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.'
Hebrews 9:10 being only (with meats and drinks and various washings) fleshly ordinances, imposed until a time of reformation.
Hebrews 10:22 let's draw near with a true heart in fullness of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and having our body washed with pure water,
1 Peter 3:21 This is a symbol of baptism, which now saves you-- not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
1 John 1:7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.

Revelation 7:14 I told him, "My lord, you know." He said to me, "These are those who came out of the great tribulation. They washed their robes, and made them white in the Lamb's blood.

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew Leviticus 11:25 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

וְכָל הַנֹּשֵׂ֖א מִנִּבְלָתָ֑ם יְכַבֵּ֥ס בְּגָדָ֖יו וְטָמֵ֥א עַד הָעָֽרֶב

Whoever carries any part of their carcass shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the evening.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Leviticus 11:25 Septuagint · lemma form

καί πᾶς ὁ αἴρω ὁ θνησιμαῖος αὐτός πλύνω ὁ ἱμάτιον καί ἀκάθαρτος εἰμί ἕως ἑσπέρα

And every one that takes of their dead bodies shall wash his garments, and shall be unclean till the evening.

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Targum (Aramaic paraphrase)

The Targum is the ancient Jewish Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Scriptures — an interpretive translation, not the Hebrew text itself. Onkelos (literal) and Pseudo-Jonathan (expansive) render the Torah, and Jonathan the Prophets. Coverage is partial: where no permissively-licensed English translation exists for a verse, only the Aramaic is shown. This is verse-level text, not a word-by-word alignment to the Hebrew.

Targum Onkelos Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)

וְכָל דְיִטוֹל:מִנְבִלְתְּהוֹן יְצַבַּע לְבוּשׁוֹהִי וִיהֵי מְסָאָב עַד רַמְשָׁא

(no public-domain English translation for this verse)

Targum Onkelos — Aramaic: “Onkelos Genesis” (public domain); “Onkelos Exodus” (public domain); “Onkelos Leviticus” (public domain); “Onkelos Numbers” (public domain); “Onkelos Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “J.W. Etheridge. The Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan Ben Uzziel on the Pentateuch. London: Longmans, Green, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)

וְכָל דְיוֹסִיט מִן נְבֵילְתְּהוֹן יְצַבַּע לְבוּשׁוֹי וִיהֵי מְסָאָב עַד רַמְשָׁא

Whoever carrieth any of their carcass must wash his clothes and be unclean until evening.

Targum Pseudo-Jonathan — Aramaic: “Targum Jonathan on Genesis” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Exodus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Leviticus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Numbers” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “The Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel, trans. J. W. Etheridge, London, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.

Commentary

Notes on Leviticus 11:25 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Trapp's Complete Commentary

John Trapp

Lev 11:25 And whosoever beareth [ought] of the carcase of them shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the even.

Ver. 25. Beareth aught, &c.] In his clothes, though he do not touch them with his flesh.

Shall wash his clothes.] This was a type of the defiling property of sin: as also of our cleansing by repentance, and faith in Christ’s blood.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Geneva Bible (1599)

Geneva Bible translators

Out of the camp.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(25) And whosoever beareth.—But he who removed the carcase out of the camp or city, or from one place to another, not only contracted defilement for the rest of the day, but had to wash the clothes which he had on, since the pollution by carrying is greater than that by touching. During the time of the second Temple, the administrators of the law declared that wherever the Law enjoins that a man should “wash his clothes” because of the legal defilement which he contracted, it included the command of bathing the body, and that it was only omitted here and in Lev_11:28; Lev_11:40 for the sake of brevity. The Samaritan text and some Hebrew manuscripts have actually the whole phrase “and wash his clothes and bathe himself in water,” as in Lev_17:15 and Num_19:19. In allusion to this we are told that those who contracted pollution, and have come out of the great tribulation, “washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (Rev_7:14).

Ought of the carcase.—The uncleanness was contracted by not only carrying away the whole carcase, but by removing any portion of it. (See Lev_11:32.) The expression ought is represented in the original, and is rightly printed in the ordinary type of the text in the Authorised Version of 1611. The printing it in italics is an unauthorised innovation, though it is followed in the Speaker’s Commentary, which professes to give the text of 1611.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Gill's Exposition

And whosoever beareth ought of the carcass of them,.... That carries them from one place to another, out of the camp, city, village, or house or field where they may lie; and though this is done with a good design, as being offensive or infectious, yet such an one

shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the even; from whence both Jarchi and Aben Ezra infer, that the pollution by hearing or carrying is greater than that by touching; since such a man, so defiled, was obliged to wash his clothes as well as his body; so saints, that have contracted pollution by any manner of sin, are to wash their garments and make them white in the blood of the Lamb, Rev 7:14.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

Necessary. To prevent the obstruction of the road, or the infection of the air. (Menochius) --- When any person touched these carcasses, he was obliged to wash his clothes immediately, and still to refrain from touching any thing sacred till sun-set. (Estius) --- If a dog chanced to die in the house of an Egyptian, all the family shaved their hair and began to mourn. The food and wine in the house could no longer be used. (Eusebius, præp. ii. 1.) They adored the dog. But other nations, which did not adore animals, esteemed those unworthy of sacred things who had touched a carcass, though they invoked their gods by slaying beasts, as Porphyrius remarks. (Eusebius, præp. v. 10.) They put off their shoes when they enter certain temples, for the same reason. Scortea non ulli fas est inferre sacello---ne violent puros exanimata Deos.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Matthew Poole's English Annotations

Whosoever beareth, or, taketh away, out of the place where haply it may lie, by which others may be either offended or polluted.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

John Wesley's Explanatory Notes

Beareth - Or, taketh away, out of the place where it may lie, by which others may be either offended, or polluted.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Rashi

Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (Rashi)

וכל הנשא מנבלתם AND WHOSOEVER BEARETH OUGHT OF THE CARRION OF THEM [SHALL BE UNCLEAN UNTIL THE EVEN] — In every passage where there is mentioned uncleanness consequent upon the bearing of anything unclean it is more stringent than uncleanness which is the result of contact, inasmuch as the former requires also the washing of the clothing one happens to wear whilst carrying the unclean thing (Sifra, Shemini, Section 4 8).

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

Leviticus, in the Pentateuch, opens this verse with 8 words (8 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is nᵉbêlâh (“carcass”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

The word nᵉbêlâh carries the sense “carcass.” How does it shape the verse?
How does Leviticus 5:2, which shares the word «carcass», read alongside this verse?
These translations render this verse differently; the difference is in the English rendering, not the original. What questions does that raise?
«הַנֹּשֵׂ֖א» is a Qal Participle Active verb. How does that grammatical form shape the action described?
Compare how Trapp's Complete Commentary and Geneva Bible (1599) read this verse. Where do they agree or differ?

Things to notice

This verse counts 8 Hebrew ↔ 15 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 14 words in this verse.
8 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 8 words in this verse.