What Does Leviticus 14:47 Mean?
And the one who lies down in the house shall tread his garments, and the one who eats in the house shall tread his garments.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And he that lieth in the house shall wash his clothes; and he that eateth in the house shall wash his clothes.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.
“tread his garments” 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 whoever touches his lying place shall tread his garments, wash himself in the waters, and be soiled until evening.Tread me thoroughly clean of my crookedness, and cleanse me of my falling short.And I say to him, My lord, you know. And he says to me, These are the ones who come out of the great pressure, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.THE THREAD
And whoever touches his lying place shall tread his garments, wash himself in the waters, and be soiled until evening.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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