What Does Leviticus 15:11 Mean in the King James?
And whomsoever he toucheth that hath the issue, and hath not rinsed his hands in water, he shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even.
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
The Hebrew root behind “toucheth” also names a blow or affliction, so this verse shows contact carrying consequences beyond the skin.
THE MEANING
The verse draws a precise boundary around bodily contact: before the hands are rinsed, a touch from the person with a discharge leaves the other ritually unclean. Washing clothes and bathing mark a temporary condition with a stated limit: “until the even.”
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that this state is permanent: the verse names an endpoint, “until the even.”
THE ROOT
יִגַּע
yiggaʿ
GROWS FROM
נגע
To touch, reach, or strike; to come into contact.
“toucheth” in this verse is yiggaʿ. The same three consonants name touching and, in a related noun, a blow or affliction. Here the touch has a defined consequence, though the root alone does not say that every touch transmits harm.
ALSO GROWS
nagaʿ: To touch or reach.
נָגַע
This verb shares the root of יִגַּע and makes contact the passage’s pivotal action.
negaʿ: A blow, plague, or affliction.
נֶגַע
This noun carries the root’s more forceful side, revealing how the language can connect contact with impact.
שָׁטַף
shataf
GROWS FROM
שטף
To rinse or wash; to flow over or flood.
“rinsed” in this verse is shataf. The root holds both rinsing and forceful flow. In this verse, water passing over the hands marks a boundary before contact.
ALSO GROWS
shetef: A flood or overflowing current.
שֶׁטֶף
This noun shares the root’s consonants and shows its sense of water flowing over.
shoteph: Flowing, sweeping, or overflowing.
שׁוֹטֵף
This form keeps the root’s movement in view: rinsing belongs to a family of words for water passing across or over.
THE PATTERN
Contact can carry a condition across bodies, while washing or a cleansing touch marks a change in that condition.
And he that toucheth the flesh of him that hath the issue shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even.And whatsoever the unclean person toucheth shall be unclean; and the soul that toucheth it shall be unclean until even.And Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.THE THREAD
Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.“Stricken” translates נָגוּעַ (naguaʿ), from the same root נגע as “toucheth” here. The shared root holds reaching another and being struck within one consonantal family, deepening the verse’s sense of contact as consequential.
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