What Does Leviticus 15:8 Mean in the King James?

And if he that hath the issue spit upon him that is clean; then he shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even.

Leviticus 15:8 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

A clean state can change through a single bodily contact, and the text gives that change a finite boundary.

THE MEANING

When the person with a discharge spits on someone clean, that contact makes the other person unclean. Clothing is washed and the body is bathed, while the changed status lasts until evening. The verse treats this condition as embodied and time-bounded.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It undoes the assumption that being clean makes someone immune to contact: here, one bodily encounter changes the person’s ritual status.

THE ROOT

טָמֵא

ṭāmēʾ

GROWS FROM

טמא

To be unclean or make unclean.

The root ⁨טמא⁩ (ṭ-m-ʾ, to be unclean) names both the state of uncleanness and the act of making something unclean. Here, ⁨טָמֵא⁩ (ṭāmēʾ, unclean) describes a condition transferred through physical contact, not a verdict on the person’s character.

ALSO GROWS

ṭumʾāh: The state of uncleanness.

טֻמְאָה

It names the condition the clean person enters after the contact described in the verse.

ṭimmēʾ: Made something or someone unclean.

טִמֵּא

This verb from the same root shows how the root can name both a state and its transmission.

טָהוֹר

ṭāhôr

GROWS FROM

טהר

To be clean or pure.

The root ⁨טהר⁩ (ṭ-h-r, to be clean) supplies the other side of the verse’s change of status. English separates “clean” and “unclean” into opposing labels; the Hebrew roots present them as distinct conditions that contact can alter and that cleansing can address.

ALSO GROWS

ṭāhŏrāh: Purity or cleanness.

טָהֳרָה

This noun from the same root gives a name to the state held by the person before the contact.

ṭihēr: Cleansed or purified.

טִהֵר

This verb from the same root shows cleanness as a condition that can be restored.

THE PATTERN

Ritual uncleanness can pass through physical contact, making clean and unclean conditions transferable.

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.

Leviticus 15:7 · KJVContact with the person who has the discharge changes the other person’s status and is followed by washing and a time boundary.

And whatsoever the unclean person toucheth shall be unclean; and the soul that toucheth it shall be unclean until even.

Numbers 19:22 · KJVThe verse describes uncleanness passing from a person to what they touch and then to another person.

Then said Haggai, If one that is unclean by a dead body touch any of these, shall it be unclean? And the priests answered and said, It shall be unclean.

Haggai 2:13 · KJVContact carries the unclean condition to other things, showing the same principle beyond this passage.

THE THREAD

Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

Psalm 51:7 · KJV

The word translated “clean” here is ⁨אֶטְהָר⁩ (ʾeṭhār, I shall be clean), from ⁨טהר⁩ (ṭ-h-r, to be clean). Leviticus shows contact changing that state; the Psalm speaks of cleanness as something reached through cleansing.

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