What Does Leviticus 14:47 Mean in the King James?
And he that lieth in the house shall wash his clothes; and he that eateth in the house shall wash his clothes.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
Resting and eating in the house both carry the same consequence: what clings to the clothes is washed away.
THE MEANING
A space you inhabit reaches even your clothes: the verse names lying down and eating as two forms of contact, and gives both the same washing. The cleansing removes the trace carried on the garment rather than adding anything to the person.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that only deliberate or dramatic contact leaves a trace; even lying down or eating in the house brings the same washing.
THE ROOT
יְכַבֵּס
yekabbēs
GROWS FROM
כבס
k-b-s
To wash or launder, especially clothing.
“wash” in this verse is yekabbēs. The verse repeats this laundering verb for both the person who lies down and the person who eats. The same root names the work of a fuller, making the washing a concrete removal of what has clung to cloth.
ALSO GROWS
kōvēs: A fuller, someone who washes cloth.
כֹּבֵס
This related word shows the root at work on fabric, the very surface named in the verse.
kabbəsēnî: Wash me; the form used in Psalm 51:2.
כַּבְּסֵנִי
The same root can name washing a person as well as laundering clothes, carrying the image of cleansing beyond the garment.
שֹׁכֵב
shōkhēv
GROWS FROM
שכב
sh-k-b
To lie down or recline.
“lieth” in this verse is shōkhēv. The word for lying down shares its root with מִשְׁכָּב (mishkāv), meaning a bed or lying place. In Leviticus 15:5, touching the bed brings the same washing of clothes, linking posture, place, and the trace carried on garments.
ALSO GROWS
shākav: To lie down or recline.
שָׁכַב
This is the action named in the verse; even resting in the house falls under the same cleansing requirement.
mishkāv: A bed or lying place.
מִשְׁכָּב
The related word makes the connection between the body’s posture and the place that receives it.
THE PATTERN
Contact is treated as something a garment can carry, and washing removes its trace.
And whosoever toucheth his bed shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even.Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.THE THREAD
And whosoever toucheth his bed shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even.The same washing verb follows contact with a bed there, while this verse names lying down and eating inside the house. Together they show the garment as the surface where contact becomes visible, and washing as its removal.
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