Leviticus 15:21

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex) Leviticus 15:21 appears in the Hebrew Old Testament. The text above is from the Westminster Leningrad Codex. Each word links to its Strong’s number, a concise gloss, and parsing drawn from the Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible morphology. Click any word for its full Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB) entry.
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Leviticus 15:21 (World English Bible). Public Domain. Lemma interlinear Bible study tool, https://lemma.gebible.app/v/leviticus/15/21.

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English Translation
Whoever touches her bed shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening.
World English Bible · Public Domain
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Compare translations 3

The same verse in 3 English versions, stacked beneath the original-language interlinear above. Click any original word for its lexicon entry.

Each is an independent rendering of the whole verse — the interlinear is not word-aligned to these translations.

Highlighted words mark where these versions differ — a whole-verse word diff, not a word-by-word alignment.

  • World English Bible Public Domain
    Whoever touches her bed shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening.
  • King James Version Public Domain
    And whosoever toucheth her bed shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even.
  • unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
    And any person who touches her bed shall wash his clothes, and he shall bathe with water. And he shall be unclean until the evening.

unfoldingWord Literal Text — © unfoldingWord, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Word-aligned USFM3 via Door43 (git.door43.org/unfoldingWord/en_ult).

Versions to compare (up to 4)

3 of 4 selected

Show all 18 translations

Every available English version of this verse, each an independent rendering of the whole verse.

  • World English Bible Public Domain
    Whoever touches her bed shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening.
  • Berean Standard Bible Public Domain
    and anyone who touches her bed must wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will be unclean until evening.
  • Majority Standard Bible Public Domain
    and anyone who touches her bed must wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will be unclean until evening.
  • King James Version Public Domain
    And whosoever toucheth her bed shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even.
  • American Standard Version (1901) Public Domain
    And whosoever toucheth her bed shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even.
  • Revised Version (1885) Public Domain
    And whosoever toucheth her bed shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even.
  • Geneva Bible (1599) Public Domain
    Whosoeuer also toucheth her bedde, shall wash his clothes, and wash himselfe with water, and shalbe vncleane vnto the euen.
  • Douay-Rheims (1899) Public Domain
    And every thing that she sleepeth on, or that she sitteth on in the days of her separation, shall be defiled.
  • Young's Literal Translation Public Domain
    and any one who is coming against her bed doth wash his garments, and hath bathed with water, and been unclean till the evening.
  • Literal Standard Version CC BY-SA 4.0
    and anyone who is coming against her bed washes his garments, and has bathed with water, and been unclean until the evening.
  • Unlocked Literal Bible CC BY-SA 4.0
    Whoever touches her bed must wash his clothes and bathe himself in water; that person will be unclean until evening.
  • unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
    And any person who touches her bed shall wash his clothes, and he shall bathe with water. And he shall be unclean until the evening.
  • Darby Bible Public Domain
    And whoever toucheth her bed shall wash his garments, and bathe in water, and be unclean until the even.
  • World Messianic Bible Public Domain
    Whoever touches her bed shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening.
  • Webster's Bible Public Domain
    And whoever toucheth her bed shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening.
  • Free Bible Version CC BY-SA 4.0
    and anyone who touches her bed must wash their clothes and wash themselves with water, and will be unclean until the evening.
  • Bible in Basic English Public Domain
    And anyone touching her bed will have to have his clothing washed and his body bathed in water and be unclean till evening.
  • JPS Tanakh (1917) Public Domain
    And whosoever toucheth her bed shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even.

Literal Standard Version (2020), Covenant Press — licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API (eBible.org). Unlocked Literal Bible (unfoldingWord) — licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API (eBible.org). unfoldingWord Literal Text — © unfoldingWord, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Word-aligned USFM3 via Door43 (git.door43.org/unfoldingWord/en_ult). Free Bible Version, Dr. Jonathan Gallagher — licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API (eBible.org).

Word by word

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בְּמִשְׁכָּבָ֑הּ
mishkâb
H4904
“in/at · bed · her”
Preposition + Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct + Suffix, Personal, 3rd Person, Feminine, Singular
Part of Speech
Preposition + Noun
Type
Common
Gender
Masculine
Number
Singular
State
Construct
Full BDB Definition

Origin: from H7901

TWOT: 2381c

a lying down, couch, bier, act of lying - couch, bed - act of lying, lying down or sleeping room, bedroom - lying down (for sexual contact)
  1. וְכָל kôl H3605 “and · all of” Conjunction + Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct
  2. הַנֹּגֵ֖עַ nâgaʻ H5060 “the · touching” Particle, Definite Article + Verb, Qal, Participle Active, Masculine, Singular, Absolute
  3. יְכַבֵּ֧ס kâbaç H3526 “to wash” Verb, Piel, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular
  4. בְּגָדָ֛יו beged H899 “garments · his” Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Construct + Suffix, Personal, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular
  5. וְרָחַ֥ץ râchats H7364 “and · to wash” Conjunction + Verb, Qal, Sequential Perfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular
  6. בַּמַּ֖יִם mayim H4325 “in/at the · water(s)” Preposition, Determined + Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Absolute
  7. וְטָמֵ֥א ṭâmêʼ H2930 “and · to be unclean” Conjunction + Verb, Qal, Sequential Perfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular
  8. עַד ʻad H5704 “until” Preposition
  9. הָעָֽרֶב ʻereb H6153 “the · evening” Particle, Definite Article + Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute

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 →

10
words
10
distinct lemmas
Pentateuch
section

Shared distinctive vocabulary

בְּמִשְׁכָּבָ֑הּ bed H4904 occurs in 44 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Grammatical profile

  • 4 verbs
  • 5 nouns
  • 1 preposition

Verb forms

  • הַנֹּגֵ֖עַ Qal · Participle Active
  • יְכַבֵּ֧ס Piel · Imperfect
  • וְרָחַ֥ץ Qal · Sequential Perfect
  • וְטָמֵ֥א Qal · Sequential Perfect

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 19 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

5

Topical passages linked to Leviticus 15:21 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

  • Leviticus 15:5–6 Whoever touches his bed shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening.
  • Isaiah 22:14 Yahweh of Hosts revealed himself in my ears, Surely this iniquity shall not be forgiven you until you die, says the Lord, Yahweh of Hosts.
  • 2 Corinthians 7:1 Having therefore these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
  • Hebrews 9:26 or else he must have suffered often since the foundation of the world. But now once at the end of the ages, he has been revealed to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.
  • 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 15:21 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

וְכָל הַנֹּגֵ֖עַ בְּמִשְׁכָּבָ֑הּ יְכַבֵּ֧ס בְּגָדָ֛יו וְרָחַ֥ץ בַּמַּ֖יִם וְטָמֵ֥א עַד הָעָֽרֶב

Whoever touches her bed shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Leviticus 15:21 Septuagint · lemma form

καί πᾶς ὅς ἐάν ἅπτομαι ὁ κοίτη αὐτός πλύνω ὁ ἱμάτιον αὐτός καί λούω ὁ σῶμα αὐτός ὕδωρ καί ἀκάθαρτος εἰμί ἕως ἑσπέρα

And whoever shall touch her bed shall wash his garments, and bathe his body 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)

2

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.

  1. Targum Onkelos Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)
    וְכָל דְיִקְרַב בְּמִשְׁכְּבָהּ 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.

  2. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)
    וְכָל מַאן דְיִקְרַב בְּמִשְׁכָּבָהּ יְצַבַּע לְבוּשׁוֹי וְיַסְחֵי בְּאַרְבְּעִין סָאוִוין דְמוֹי וִיהֵי מְסָאָב עַד רַמְשָׁא

    And whoever toucheth her bed shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself with 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 15:21 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

(21-22) And whosoever toucheth her bed.—The regulations in these three verses are the same as those laid down in Lev_15:4-6.

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 her bed,.... The same thing that is said of a profluvious man, and so in Lev 15:22.

.

Leviticus 15:22

lev 15:22

lev 15:22

lev 15:22And whosoever toucheth anything that she sat upon,.... Which was appropriated to her to sit upon, as the Targum of Jonathan, which was her proper and peculiar seat, what she usually sat upon; such were obliged to wash their clothes and bathe, as in all the above cases. See Lev 15:5.

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

her bed

This refers to the woman who is menstruating.

that person 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"

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.

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 10 words (10 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is mishkâb (“bed”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

  1. How does “bed” (mishkâb) shape what this verse is saying?
  2. How does Genesis 49:4, which shares the word «bed», read alongside this verse?
  3. These translations render this verse differently; the difference is in the English rendering, not the original. What questions does that raise?
  4. «הַנֹּגֵ֖עַ» is a Qal Participle Active verb. How does that grammatical form shape the action described?
  5. 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

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Old Testament
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English shown for the Greek Septuagint (in the Hebrew ↔ Greek comparison).

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