Leviticus 15:20

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

"'Everything that she lies on in her impurity shall be unclean. Everything also that she sits on shall be unclean.

World English Bible · Public Domain

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Word by word

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בְּנִדָּתָ֖הּ

niddâh

H5079

“in/at · impurity · her”

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

Appears 29× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Leviticus 12:2

Full BDB Definition

Origin: from H5074

TWOT: 1302a

impurity, filthiness, menstruous, set apart - impurity - of ceremonial impurity - of menstruation - impure thing (figuratively) - of idolatry, immorality

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 →

11: words
7: distinct lemmas
Pentateuch: section

Shared distinctive vocabulary

בְּנִדָּתָ֖הּ impurity H5079 occurs in 24 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Grammatical profile

4 verbs
3 nouns
2 prepositions
2 particles

Verb forms

תִּשְׁכַּ֥ב Qal · Imperfect
יִטְמָ֑א Qal · Imperfect
תֵּשֵׁ֥ב Qal · Imperfect
יִטְמָֽא Qal · Imperfect

Repetition

Words recur within this verse — often emphatic in Hebrew:

וְכֹל֩ all H3605 ×2
עָלָ֛יו upon H5921 ×2
יִטְמָ֑א to be unclean H2930 ×2
אֲשֶׁ֨ר which H834 ×2

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 20 words from the Hebrew and 22 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.

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to Leviticus 15:20 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Leviticus 15:4–9 "'Every bed whereon he who has the discharge lies shall be unclean; and everything he sits on shall be unclean.
Proverbs 2:16–19 To deliver you from the strange woman, Even from the foreigner who flatters with her words;
Proverbs 5:3–13 For the lips of an adulteress drip honey. Her mouth is smoother than oil,
Proverbs 6:24 To keep you from the immoral woman, From the flattery of the wayward wife's tongue.
Proverbs 6:35 He won't regard any ransom, Neither will he rest content, though you give many gifts.
Proverbs 7:10–27 Behold, there a woman met him with the attire of a prostitute, And with crafty intent.
Proverbs 9:13–18 The foolish woman is loud, Undisciplined, and knows nothing.
Proverbs 22:27 If you don't have means to pay, Why should he take away your bed from under you?

Ecclesiastes 7:26 I find more bitter than death the woman whose heart is snares and traps, whose hands are chains. Whoever pleases God shall escape from her; but the sinner will be ensnared by her.
1 Corinthians 15:33 Don't be deceived! "Evil companionships corrupt good morals."

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 15:20 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

וְכֹל֩ אֲשֶׁ֨ר תִּשְׁכַּ֥ב עָלָ֛יו בְּנִדָּתָ֖הּ יִטְמָ֑א וְכֹ֛ל אֲשֶׁר תֵּשֵׁ֥ב עָלָ֖יו יִטְמָֽא

"'Everything that she lies on in her impurity shall be unclean. Everything also that she sits on shall be unclean.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Leviticus 15:20 Septuagint · lemma form

καί πᾶς ἐπί ὅς ἄν κοιτάζομαι ἐπί αὐτός ἐν ὁ ἄφεδρος αὐτός ἀκάθαρτος εἰμί καί πᾶς ἐπί ὅς ἄν ἐπι καταἵζω ἐπί αὐτός ἀκάθαρτος εἰμί

And every thing whereon she shall lie in her separation, shall be unclean; and whatever she shall sit upon, shall be unclean.

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)

וְכֹל דִי תִשְׁכּוּב עֲלוֹהִי בְּרִחוּקָהּ יְהֵי מְסָאָב וְכֹל דִי תֵיתֵב עֲלוֹהִי יְהֵי מְסָאָב

(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 מִדַעַם דִמְיַיחֵד לְמִשְׁכַּב עֲלוֹי בְּעִידוֹנֵי רִיחוּקָהּ יְהֵי מְסָאָב וְכָל מִדַעַם דִמְיַיחֵד לְמֵיתַב עֲלוֹי בְּעִידוֹנֵי רִיחוּקָהּ יְהֵי מְסָאָב

Whatever such an one shall lie upon during the time of her separation shall be unclean; and whatever such an one sitteth upon during the time of her separation shall be unclean.

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 15:20 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 →

Geneva Bible (1599)

Geneva Bible translators

That is, when she hath her flowers, whereby she is separate from her husband, from the Tabernacle and from touching of any holy thing.

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

John Gill's Exposition

And everything that she lieth upon in her separation shall be unclean,.... During her being apart from her husband, with whom she might be, and do all offices for him, but not lie with him; and whatsoever she lay upon during this time, bed or couch, and the clothes upon them, were unclean:

everything also that she sitteth upon shall be unclean; chair, stool, &c. as is the case of a man, Lev 15:4.

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

One, except infants, &c.

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).

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 11 words (7 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is niddâh (“impurity”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

The word niddâh carries the sense “impurity.” How does it shape the verse?
Leviticus 12:2 shares the word «impurity» with this verse. How do the two illuminate each other?
“all” occurs 2× in this one verse. What is the effect of the repetition?
These translations render this verse differently; the difference is in the English rendering, not the original. What questions does that raise?
The verb «תִּשְׁכַּ֥ב» is Qal Imperfect. How does its form color the action?
Reading how Geneva Bible (1599) and John Gill's Exposition read this verse, where do the two commentators agree and where do they part?

Things to notice

These translations choose different wording for 14 words in this verse.
“all” occurs 2× in this single verse.
7 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 11 words in this verse.