Leviticus 15:10

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

Whoever touches anything that was under him shall be unclean until the evening. He who carries those things shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening.

World English Bible · Public Domain

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יְכַבֵּ֧ס

kâbaç

H3526

“to wash”

Verb, Piel, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular

Appears 51× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Genesis 49:11

Full BDB Definition

Origin: a primitive root

TWOT: 946

to wash (by treading), be washed, perform the work of a fuller - (Qal) washer, fuller, treader (participle) - (Piel) to wash (garments, person) - (Pual) to be washed - (Hothpael) to be washed out

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 →

18: words
14: distinct lemmas
Pentateuch: section

Shared distinctive vocabulary

יְכַבֵּ֧ס to wash H3526 occurs in 48 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Grammatical profile

7 verbs
6 nouns
3 prepositions
2 particles

Verb forms

הַנֹּגֵ֗עַ Qal · Participle Active
יִהְיֶ֣ה Qal · Imperfect
יִטְמָ֖א Qal · Imperfect
וְהַנּוֹשֵׂ֣א Qal · Participle Active
יְכַבֵּ֧ס Piel · Imperfect
וְרָחַ֥ץ Qal · Sequential Perfect
וְטָמֵ֥א Qal · Sequential Perfect

Repetition

Words recur within this verse — often emphatic in Hebrew:

וְכָל all H3605 ×2
יִטְמָ֖א to be unclean H2930 ×2
עַד until H5704 ×2
הָעָ֑רֶב evening H6153 ×2

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 33 words from the Hebrew and 37 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 18 Hebrew tokens and 29 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 15:10 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Leviticus 15:5 Whoever touches his bed shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening.
Leviticus 15:8 "'If he who has the discharge spits on him who is clean, then he shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening.
Psalms 26:6 I will wash my hands in innocence, So I will go about your altar, Yahweh;
James 4:8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

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 15:10 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

וְכָל הַנֹּגֵ֗עַ בְּכֹל֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר יִהְיֶ֣ה תַחְתָּ֔יו יִטְמָ֖א עַד הָעָ֑רֶב וְהַנּוֹשֵׂ֣א אוֹתָ֔ם יְכַבֵּ֧ס בְּגָדָ֛יו וְרָחַ֥ץ בַּמַּ֖יִם וְטָמֵ֥א עַד הָעָֽרֶב

Whoever touches anything that was under him shall be unclean until the evening. He who carries those things shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Leviticus 15:10 Septuagint · lemma form

καί πᾶς ὁ ἅπτομαι ὅσος ἐάν εἰμί ὑποκάτω αὐτός ἀκάθαρτος εἰμί ἕως ἑσπέρα καί ὁ αἴρω αὐτός πλύνω ὁ ἱμάτιον αὐτός καί λούω ὕδωρ καί ἀκάθαρτος εἰμί ἕως ἑσπέρα

And every one that touches whatever shall have been under him shall be unclean until evening; and he that takes them up shall wash his garments, and bathe himself in water, and shall be unclean until 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 דְיִקְרַב בְּכֹל דִי יְהֵי תְחוֹתוֹהִי יְהֵי מְסָאָב עַד רַמְשָׁא וּדְיִטוֹל יָתְהוֹן יְצַבַּע לְבוּשׁוֹהִי וְיַסְחֵי בְמַיָא 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)

וּדְיוֹסִיט יַתְהוֹן יְצַבַּע לְבוּשׁוֹי וְיַסְחֵי בְּאַרְבְּעִין סָאוִוין דְמוֹי וִיהֵי מְסָאָב עַד רַמְשָׁא

And whoever toucheth any thing that hath been under him shall be unclean until evening; and he who carrieth them shall wash his clothes, and bathe in forty seahs of water, 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 15:10 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 →

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(10) And whosoever toucheth any thing that was under him.—That is, the seat in the palanquin on which the passenger sits. If touched by any one after the man with the issue has sat on it, he contracts defilement till sundown.

And he that beareth any of those things.—Better, And he that beareth them. That is, whoso carries the palanquin, with the patient in it, from one place to another, contracts defilement. (See Lev_11:28; Lev_11:40.)

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 toucheth anything that was under him shall be unclean until the even,.... Either when lying along, or sitting, or riding, as in Lev 15:4; various are the traditions of the Jews concerning these things; if one that has an issue and a clean person sit together, in a ship, or on a beam, or ride together on a beast, though their garments do not touch, they are unclean, &c. (a):

and he that beareth any of those things; that carries any of the above things from place to place, as his bed, his seat, his saddle, or anything on which he has lain, sat, or rode.

shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even; See Gill on Lev 15:5.

(a) Misn. Zabim, c. 3. sect. 1. & c. 4. sect. 5, 7.

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

unfoldingWord translationNotes

Door43 World Missions Community

General Information:

Yahweh continues telling Moses and Aaron what the people must do to avoid infection.

that person

This refers to the person with the infected fluid.

will be unclean

The person whom other people may not touch is spoken of as if he were physically unclean. (See: Metaphor)

until evening

"until sunset"

Whomever he who has such a flow touches

"Whomever the person with the infected flow touches"

the person who was touched

This can be translated in active form. AT: "the person whom he touched" (See: Active or Passive)

Any clay pot that the one with such a flow of fluid touches must be broken

This can be translated in active form. AT: "Someone must break any clay pot that the one with such a flow of fluid touches" (See: Active or Passive)

every container of wood must be rinsed in water

This can be translated in active form. AT: "someone must rinse every wooden container in water" (See: Active or Passive)

translationWords

clean

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

Rashi

Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (Rashi)

וכל הנגע בכל אשר יהיה תחתיו AND WHOSOEVER TOUCHETH ANYTHING THAT WAS תחתיו — under the זב. This intends to teach regarding such an object for riding upon (if a זב has ridden on it) that whoever touches it becomes unclean, but he does not require washing of clothes and this is something stricter in the case of a thing for sleeping on than in that of a thing for riding on (since the former necessitates that his garments should be washed; cf. v. 5).

והנושא אותם AND HE THAT BEARETH THEM — “them” means all that have been mentioned in the matter of a זב — his flow, his spittle, his semen, and his urine, and that upon which he has slept or ridden — the bearing of them makes a man unclean so that he in turn makes his garments unclean (cf. Sifra, Metzora Parashat Zavim, Chapter 4 4).

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 18 words (14 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is kâbaç (“to wash”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

What does “to wash” (kâbaç) contribute to the verse as a whole?
How does Genesis 49:11, which shares the word «to wash», read alongside this verse?
What does the repetition of “all” (2× in this one verse) do in this verse?
These translations render this verse differently. What is at stake in choosing one wording over another?
«הַנֹּגֵ֗עַ» is a Qal Participle Active verb. How does that grammatical form shape the action described?
Compare how Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers and John Gill's Exposition read this verse. Where do they agree or differ?

Things to notice

This verse counts 18 Hebrew ↔ 29 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 17 words in this verse.
“all” occurs 2× in this single verse.
14 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 18 words in this verse.