What Does Leviticus 14:9 Mean?
But on the seventh day he shall shave all his hair from his head, his beard, and his brows; all his hair he shall shave. Then he shall tread his garments, and wash his flesh in water, and he shall be clean.
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
But it shall be on the seventh day, that he shall shave all his hair off his head and his beard and his eyebrows, even all his hair he shall shave off: and he shall wash his clothes, also he shall wash his flesh in water, and he shall be clean.THE KEY
The English repeats “wash,” but Hebrew gives the clothing and flesh different washing verbs, then names the person clean only after both.
THE MEANING
Cleansing here moves through a complete sequence: every hair is shaved, the clothes are washed, the flesh is washed, and then the person is clean. The verse names cleanness only after the clearing is complete.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that uncleanness is permanent: the verse describes a definite passage from uncleanness to being clean.
THE ROOT
וְכִבֶּס
ve-khibbes
GROWS FROM
כבס
k-b-s
To wash or launder, especially garments.
“tread his garments” in this verse is ve-khibbes. English uses the same word for washing clothes and flesh, while Hebrew changes roots between them. כבס marks the laundering of garments as its own part of the full cleansing.
ALSO GROWS
kibbes: Washed or laundered
כִּבֵּס
This form names the garment washing in the verse.
kibbus: Washing or laundering
כִּבּוּס
The noun form keeps the clothing-cleansing action distinct from bathing the body.
וְרָחַץ
ve-rachats
GROWS FROM
רחץ
r-ḥ-ts
To wash or bathe the body.
“wash his flesh” in this verse is ve-rachats. This is a different washing from the one used for clothes. The verse names both the garment and the body, giving the cleansing a complete, physical scope.
ALSO GROWS
rachats: Wash or bathe
רָחַץ
The verb describes washing the flesh here.
rechitsah: Washing or bathing
רְחִיצָה
The related noun carries the body-washing action as a distinct act.
וְטָהֵר
ve-taher
GROWS FROM
טהר
t-h-r
To be clean or pure; to cleanse.
The root reaches from the condition of being clean to the act of cleansing. Here, the final word names the condition that follows shaving and washing.
ALSO GROWS
tahor: Clean or pure
טָהוֹר
This related form names the state the verse reaches at its end.
tiher: Cleansed or purified
טִהֵר
This form makes the cleansing action explicit, linking the process to the final state.
tahorah: Cleanness or purification
טָהֳרָה
The noun carries both the resulting cleanness and the process of purification.
THE PATTERN
Scripture depicts cleansing as a passage marked by washing and a changed condition.
Then he went down and immersed himself seven times in Jordan, according to the word of the man of God. And his flesh returned like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.Tread me thoroughly clean of my crookedness, and cleanse me of my falling short.That he might set her apart, cleansing her with the bath of water by the word.THE THREAD
Tread me thoroughly clean of my crookedness, and cleanse me of my falling short.“Cleanse” here and “clean” in Leviticus share the Hebrew root טהר (t-h-r), meaning to be clean or to cleanse. Leviticus shows the body and garments being washed before cleanness is named; Psalm 51 places washing and cleansing side by side.
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