Numbers 19:15

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

Every open vessel, which has no covering bound on it, is unclean.

World English Bible · Public Domain

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צָמִ֥יד

tsâmîyd

H6781

“bracelet of”

Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct

Appears 7× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Genesis 24:22

Full BDB Definition

Origin: from H6775

TWOT: 1927b , 1927c

bracelet - cover (of vessel)

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

Notable vocabulary

The rarest word here is צָמִ֥יד bracelet H6781 — appearing just 7 times in the whole Hebrew Bible.

Shared distinctive vocabulary

צָמִ֥יד bracelet H6781 occurs in 7 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Grammatical profile

1 verb
4 nouns
1 adjective
1 pronoun
1 preposition
2 particles

Verb forms

פָת֔וּחַ Qal · Participle Passive

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 12 words from the Hebrew and 15 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 10 Hebrew tokens and 12 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 Numbers 19:15 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Leviticus 14:36 The priest shall command that they empty the house, before the priest goes in to examine the plague, that all that is in the house not be made unclean: and afterward the priest shall go in to inspect the house.
Leviticus 11:32 On whatever any of them falls when they are dead, it shall be unclean; whether it is any vessel of wood, or clothing, or skin, or sack, whatever vessel it is, with which any work is done, it must be put into water, and it shall be unclean until the evening; then it will be clean.
Numbers 31:20 As to every garment, and all that is made of skin, and all work of goats' [hair], and all things made of wood, you shall purify yourselves.

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 Numbers 19:15 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

וְכֹל֙ כְּלִ֣י פָת֔וּחַ אֲשֶׁ֛ר אֵין צָמִ֥יד פָּתִ֖יל עָלָ֑יו טָמֵ֖א הֽוּא

Every open vessel, which has no covering bound on it, is unclean.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Numbers 19:15 Septuagint · lemma form

καί πᾶς σκεῦος ἀναοἴγω ὅσος οὐ δεσμός καταδέω ἐπί αὐτός ἀκάθαρτος εἰμί

And every open vessel which has not a covering bound upon it, shall be unclean.

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

On this verse, The Pulpit Commentary discusses the Septuagint’s reading. Read the note in Commentary ↓

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 מַן דַחֲסַף פְּתִיחַ דְלֵית מִגוּפַת שְׁיִיעַ מַקַף עַלוֹהִי מְסָאָב הוּא

(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 מַאן דְפָחַר פָּתִיחַ דְלֵית מְגוּפְתָּא מְחַבְּרָא בֵּיהּ מַקַף עַל פּוּמֵיהּ דְיַפְרֵישׁ בֵּינֵיהּ וּבֵין סוּבְתָּא מְסָאָב הוּא בִּגְנֵינָא בְּאַוִירָא דְסוֹבְתָּא דְמִפּוּמֵיהּ וּמִגַוֵיהּ וְלָא מִגַבֵּיהּ

And every earthen vessel which hath no covering fastened upon its mouth, which would have kept it separate from the uncleanness, is defiled by the uncleanness of the air which toucheth its mouth, and its interior, and not the outside of it (only).

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 Numbers 19:15 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

Hebrew, a covering of cloth.

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

John Gill's Exposition

And every open vessel,.... An earthen one, as the Targum of Jonathan; and so Jarchi interprets it; and Maimonides (r) observes, that this is only to be understood of an earthen vessel:

which hath no covering bound upon it; a linen or a woollen cloth wrapped and tied about it:

is unclean; the air of the house getting into it by its being uncovered.

(r) In Misn. Cholin, c. 1. sect. 6.

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

Cover. Samaritan, "neither chains nor bands." Formerly boxes were tied down. (Homer, Odyssey viii.) If the covering of any hollow vessel was off, when a corpse was present, it became unclean. (Calmet)

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

Every open vessel, because it receives the air of the tent, by which it is ceremonially polluted. Compare Lev 11:32,33.

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

15. Every open vessel — The uncovered vessel is rendered unclean by the subtle effluvia of the corpse diffused in the air. Hence, according to the Hebrew, there must be for such vessel a cover bound by a string.

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

The Pulpit Commentary

Which hath no covering bound upon it. So the Septuagint (osa ouci desmodetai ep autw ), and this is the sense. In the Hebrew lytiP, a string, stands in apposition to dymiX, a covering. If the vessel was open, its contents were polluted by the odour of death.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rashi

Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (Rashi)

וכל כלי פתוח AND EVERY OPEN VESSEL — Scripture is speaking of an earthen vessel which is not receptive of uncleanness by an unclean thing touching its exterior but only by it being in its interior (even without contact with the interior walls; cf. Rashi on Leviticus 11:33); therefore if the cover that forms its lid is not well joined to it by a perfect contact, it (the vessel) becomes unclean; but if the lid is joined upon it, it is clean, whilst metal vessels would in any case become unclean, whether they are closed or not, since they are receptive of uncleanness whether an unclean object touches them on their inside or on their outside (Chullin 25a).

פתיל is an expression denoting “joined” in the Arabic language. Similar is (Genesis 30:8; cf. Rashi thereon), נפתולי אלהים נפתלתי, “By bonds of God I have joined myself (נפתלתי) with my sister."

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.

Numbers, in the Pentateuch, opens this verse with 10 words (10 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is tsâmîyd (“bracelet”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

How does “bracelet” (tsâmîyd) shape what this verse is saying?
Genesis 24:22 shares the word «bracelet» with this verse. How do the two illuminate each other?
These translations render this verse differently; the difference is in the English rendering, not the original. What questions does that raise?
The verb «פָת֔וּחַ» is Qal Participle Passive. 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

This verse counts 10 Hebrew ↔ 12 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 7 words in this verse.
10 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 10 words in this verse.