What Does Leviticus 15:6 Mean in the King James?
And he that sitteth on any thing whereon he sat that hath the issue 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 repeats the same root for “sitteth” and “sat,” making the shared seat the bridge through which a flowing condition reaches another body.
THE MEANING
A bodily condition reaches beyond the body: what one person occupies carries a temporary ritual status to the next person who sits there. The clothes are washed and the body is bathed, while that status lasts until evening.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
“Unclean” here does not mean the person has committed a moral wrong; it names a temporary ritual status caused by contact.
THE ROOT
זָב
zāv
GROWS FROM
זוב
z-w-b
to flow, gush, or discharge
“issue” in this verse is zāv. The Hebrew calls the person a “flowing one,” making the condition an ongoing outflow rather than a single event. The verse traces its reach from that flow to the occupied place and then to the next person who sits there.
ALSO GROWS
zāv: one who is flowing; a person with the discharge
זָב
The label itself describes a continuing flow, the condition at the start of the contact chain.
zōv: a flow or discharge
זוֹב
This names the outflow itself, whose reach extends to the surfaces the person occupies.
יֹשֵׁב
yōshēv
GROWS FROM
ישב
y-sh-b
to sit, dwell, or remain
“sitteth” in this verse is yōshēv. The Hebrew repeats this root for both the person who sits and the place where the one with the discharge sits. That shared verb connects bodies through occupied space: the place is not incidental, but the bridge by which ritual status passes.
ALSO GROWS
yāshav: to sit, dwell, or remain
יָשַׁב
The root joins taking a seat with settling or dwelling in a place.
mōshāv: a seat, dwelling place, or settlement
מוֹשָׁב
This branch makes the link between sitting and the place one occupies explicit.
THE PATTERN
Contact can carry ritual status through shared surfaces, while cleansing and time mark its boundary.
Every bed, whereon he lieth that hath the issue, is unclean: and every thing, whereon he sitteth, shall be unclean.And whatsoever the unclean person toucheth shall be unclean; and the soul that toucheth it shall be unclean until even.When she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his garment. For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole. And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague.THE THREAD
Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.The Hebrew words for “sitteth” and “seat” here, יָשַׁב (yāshav, “sit or dwell”) and מוֹשָׁב (mōshāv, “seat or dwelling place”), grow from the same root as the sitting in Leviticus. There, shared occupancy carries ritual status; here, the same root links sitting with the company a person inhabits.
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