What Does Leviticus 15:12 Mean in the King James?
And the vessel of earth, that he toucheth which hath the issue, shall be broken: and every vessel of wood shall be rinsed in water.
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 same contact receives two different treatments: clay is broken, while wood is rinsed.
THE MEANING
The verse makes the consequence of contact concrete: the earthen vessel touched by the person with the discharge is broken, while a wooden vessel is rinsed in water. The two responses remain distinct, with the vessel’s material shaping what happens next.
THE ROOT
הַזָּב
ha-zav
GROWS FROM
זוב
zub
to flow or stream; a bodily discharge
The Hebrew calls the person with the “issue” הַזָּב (ha-zav), literally “the one who flows.” English makes the condition sound abstract, while the Hebrew keeps the ongoing bodily flow in view as it touches the vessel.
ALSO GROWS
zav: one who has a flow or discharge
זָב
This is the word used for the person whose touch affects the vessel.
zov: a flow or bodily discharge
זוֹב
It names the flowing condition that the English word “issue” can obscure.
יִשָּׁבֵר
yishaver
GROWS FROM
שבר
shavar
to break or shatter
The vessel of clay is not rinsed; the verse says it is broken. The same root also forms a noun for fracture or ruin, keeping the result concrete: this vessel is taken out of use through breakage.
ALSO GROWS
shavar: to break or shatter
שָׁבַר
This verb names what happens to the earthen vessel.
shever: a breaking, fracture, or ruin
שֶׁבֶר
This noun carries the root’s sense of breakage into the outcome the verse specifies.
יִשָּׁטֵף
yishatef
GROWS FROM
שטף
shataph
to wash over, rinse, or sweep away
“rinsed” in this verse is yishatef. The word for rinsing belongs to a root that also describes something sweeping over or flooding. Wood receives a washing action, set apart from the earthen vessel’s breakage.
ALSO GROWS
shataph: to wash, rinse, or sweep over
שָׁטַף
The wooden vessel receives this water-based treatment.
shetef: a flood or torrent
שֶׁטֶף
This branch shows the root’s sense of water moving over something.
THE PATTERN
Contact with impurity is handled through the vessel’s material, with some vessels broken and others washed.
And every earthen vessel, whereinto any of them falleth, whatsoever is in it shall be unclean; and ye shall break it.But the earthen vessel wherein it is sodden shall be broken: and if it be sodden in a brasen pot, it shall be both scoured, and rinsed in water.And when they come from the market, except they wash, they eat not. And many other things there be, which they have received to hold, as the washing of cups, and pots, brasen vessels, and of tables.THE THREAD
And every earthen vessel, whereinto any of them falleth, whatsoever is in it shall be unclean; and ye shall break it.This verse uses the same root, שבר (shavar, to break), for an earthen vessel that receives contact with an unclean creature. The shared word reveals breakage as a specific response for contaminated earthenware.
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