Leviticus 17:16

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

But if he doesn't wash them, or bathe his flesh, then he shall bear his iniquity.'"

World English Bible · Public Domain

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יְכַבֵּ֔ס

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 →

8: words
7: distinct lemmas
Pentateuch: section

Shared distinctive vocabulary

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

Grammatical profile

3 verbs
2 nouns
1 conjunction
2 particles

Verb forms

יְכַבֵּ֔ס Piel · Imperfect
יִרְחָ֑ץ Qal · Imperfect
וְנָשָׂ֖א Qal · Sequential Perfect

Repetition

A word recurs within this verse — often emphatic in Hebrew:

לֹ֣א not H3808 ×2

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 16 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 17:16 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Leviticus 5:1 "'If anyone sins, in that he hears the voice of adjuration, he being a witness, whether he has seen or known, if he doesn't report it, then he shall bear his iniquity.
Leviticus 7:18 If any of the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offerings is eaten on the third day, it will not be accepted, neither shall it be imputed to him who offers it. It will be an abomination, and the soul who eats any of it will bear his iniquity.
Leviticus 19:8 but everyone who eats it shall bear his iniquity, because he has profaned the holy thing of Yahweh, and that soul shall be cut off from his people.
Leviticus 20:17 "'If a man takes his sister, his father's daughter, or his mother's daughter, and sees her nakedness, and she sees his nakedness; it is a shameful thing; and they shall be cut off in the sight of the children of their people: he has uncovered his sister's nakedness; he shall bear his iniquity.
Leviticus 20:19–20 "'You shall not uncover the nakedness of your mother's sister, nor of your father's sister; for he has made naked his close relative: they shall bear their iniquity.
Numbers 19:19–20 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.
Isaiah 53:11 He shall see of the travail of his soul, [and] shall be satisfied: by the knowledge of himself shall my righteous servant justify many; and he shall bear their iniquities.
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."

Hebrews 9:28 so Christ also, having been once offered to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, without sin, to those who are eagerly waiting for him for salvation.
1 Peter 2:24 who his own self bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live to righteousness; by whose stripes you were healed.

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 17:16 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

וְאִם֙ לֹ֣א יְכַבֵּ֔ס וּבְשָׂר֖וֹ לֹ֣א יִרְחָ֑ץ וְנָשָׂ֖א עֲוֺנֽוֹ

But if he doesn't wash them, or bathe his flesh, then he shall bear his iniquity.'"

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Leviticus 17:16 Septuagint · lemma form

ἐάν δέ μή πλύνω ὁ ἱμάτιον καί ὁ σῶμα μή λούω ὕδωρ καί λαμβάνω ἀνόμημα αὐτός

But if he do not wash his garments, and do not bathe his body in water, then shall he bear his iniquity.

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)

וְאִם לָא יְצַבַּע וּבִסְרֵהּ לָא יַסְחֵי וִיקַבֵּל חוֹבֵהּ

(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)

וְאִין אַרְשַׁע וְלָא יְצַבַּע וּבִשְרֵיהּ לָא יַסְחֵי וִיקַבֵּל חוֹבֵיהּ

but if he be perverse and will not wash, nor bathe his flesh, he shall bear his transgression.

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 17:16 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 17:16 But if he wash [them] not, nor bathe his flesh; then he shall bear his iniquity.

Ver. 16. Shall bear his iniquity,] i.e., The punishment of it: they are so near akin, that one name serves for both.

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.

Joseph Benson's Commentary

Lev 17:16. His iniquity — The punishment of it, and therefore must offer a sacrifice for it.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Geneva Bible (1599)

Geneva Bible translators

Or, himself.

Or, the punishment of his sin.

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

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(16) Then he shall bear his iniquity.—If he neglects these acts of purification, and enters the sanctuary in a defiled state, or partakes of the sacrificial meal, he is to incur the penalty of excision for the former act, and to be beaten with stripes for the latter, according to the interpretation given to this law in the time of Christ.

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

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

16. See on Lev_19:26.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Gill's Exposition

But if he wash them not,.... Neither wash his clothes: nor bathe his flesh; if he is negligent, and does not take care to make use of these ablutions:

then he shall bear his iniquity; his guilt shall remain on him, and he shall suffer the punishment the law exposes him to, either by the hand of God, or the civil magistrate, which is due to persons that enter into the sanctuary in their uncleanness, or eat of holy things. For not washing his body the punishment was cutting off, and for not washing his garments, beating, as Jarchi says.

Next: Leviticus Chapter 18

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

Matthew Poole's English Annotations

i.e. The punishment of it, and therefore must offer a sacrifice for it. Lev 5:1,2; 7:18

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

Whedon's Commentary on the Bible

Daniel D. Whedon

16. He shall bear his iniquity — The punishment shall be visited. The same words, in the original, in Exo_34:7, and Lev_10:17, (see note,) signify to bear away or expiate iniquity. See Num_9:13, note. A voluntary neglect of purification from an involuntary fault is not a trifle but an iniquity. The great sin of Gospel-hardened sinners is their neglect to wash away their sins and inherited depravity in the precious blood of Jesus Christ. 4.) Substitution may be inferred from Lev_17:14. 5.) Also from Deu_21:1-9, where the guilt of an unknown slayer is chargeable upon the whole people, and by washing the hands is transferred to the sacrifice. 6.) The noun kopher, ransom, cognate with the verb kipper, expiate, includes the idea of substitution. 7.) The symbol of the scapegoat is a visible manifestation of the taking away of guilt by means of the expiation. Jewish tradition is very full and positive on this point. The standing rule is, that there can be no expiation except by blood.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Wesley's Explanatory Notes

His iniquity - The punishment of it, and therefore must offer a sacrifice for it.

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

Rashi

Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (Rashi)

ונשא עונו THEN HE SHALL BEAR HIS INIQUITY — If he eats sacred food or enters the Sanctuary in this state of uncleanness he becomes liable to excision for this uncleanness just as for doing these things in any other state of uncleanness (Sifra, Acharei Mot, Chapter 12 14).

ובשרו לא ירחץ ונשא עונו [BUT IF HE WASH THEM NOT], NOR LAVE HIS FLESH HE SHALL BEAR HIS INIQUITY — For the omission to lave his body before entering the Sanctuary or before eating sacred food he is liable to excision, but for the omission to wash his clothes he is liable to lashes only (Sifra, Acharei Mot, Chapter 12 13).

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 (7 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

The word kâbaç carries the sense “to wash.” How does it shape the verse?
How does Genesis 49:11, which shares the word «to wash», read alongside this verse?
What does the repetition of “not” (2× in this one verse) do in this verse?
These translations render this verse differently; the difference is in the English rendering, not the original. What questions does that raise?
«יְכַבֵּ֔ס» is a Piel Imperfect verb. How does that grammatical form shape the action described?
Compare how Trapp's Complete Commentary and Joseph Benson's Commentary read this verse. Where do they agree or differ?

Things to notice

These translations choose different wording for 2 words in this verse.
“not” occurs 2× in this single verse.
7 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 8 words in this verse.