What Does Leviticus 15:10 Mean?
And whoever touches anything that was beneath him shall be soiled until evening, and whoever lifts any of these shall tread his garments, wash himself in the waters, and be soiled until evening.
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 whosoever toucheth any thing that was under him shall be unclean until the even: and he that beareth any of those things shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even.THE KEY
Touch is a passage: what lies beneath him can leave a condition that travels with the person who carries it.
THE MEANING
This verse treats contact as transmissible: touching what lies beneath him makes the toucher unclean, and bearing those things carries that condition with the person. The response reaches both the clothing and the body. The condition lasts until evening, giving it a boundary as well as a means of washing.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that contact leaves no trace once the moment ends: here its consequence remains until evening and calls for washing of both clothing and body.
THE ROOT
נֹגֵעַ
nōgēaʿ
GROWS FROM
נגע
reach, touch, come into contact
“toucheth” in this verse is nōgēaʿ. The verse’s touch-word comes from a root that also names a stroke or affliction. Contact here is more than proximity: it is the route by which a condition reaches another person.
ALSO GROWS
nagaʿ: touch, reach, come into contact
נָגַע
This is the verb in the verse: the toucher comes into contact with what lies beneath him.
negaʿ: stroke, mark, plague, affliction
נֶגַע
The shared consonants link touching with what strikes or marks, giving contact a consequential edge.
הַנֹּשֵׂא
hannōśēʾ
GROWS FROM
נשא
lift, carry, bear; in some phrases, bear away
“lifts” in this verse is hannōśēʾ. The same root holds carrying and bearing away together. Here the person who carries the objects carries their consequence forward, and the verse names washing as the response.
ALSO GROWS
nāśāʾ: lift, carry, bear
נָשָׂא
This is the root behind “beareth,” making the carrier’s action part of the verse’s chain of contact.
nāśāʾ ʿāwōn: bear or take away crookedness; rendered “forgive” in some contexts
נָשָׂא עָוֹן
The root can describe bearing a burden and bearing it away, holding carrying and release within one word family.
יְכַבֵּס
yekhabbēs
GROWS FROM
כבס
wash or launder clothing
“tread his garments” in this verse is yekhabbēs. This is specifically the verb for laundering clothes, distinct from the next verb for bathing the body. The verse names cleansing for both the garment that meets contact and the person who carries it.
ALSO GROWS
kibbēs: wash, launder
כִּבֵּס
This verb names the washing of the carrier’s clothes in the verse.
kōvēs: fuller, clothes-washer
כֹּבֵס
The related noun names someone who washes cloth, reinforcing the root’s clothing-centered sense.
THE PATTERN
Contact carries a condition forward, whether impurity is transmitted or power passes through touch.
And whatever the unclean person touches shall be unclean, and the living soul that touches it shall be unclean until evening.Then Haggai said, If one who is unclean by a corpse touches any of these, shall it be unclean? And the priests answered and said, It shall be unclean.And at once Jesus, knowing in himself that strength had gone out from him, turned about in the crowd and said, "Who touched my garments?"THE THREAD
Tread me thoroughly clean of my crookedness, and cleanse me of my falling short.The verb translated “wash” here is from the same כבס root used for laundering clothes in Leviticus. Psalm 51 uses that clothing-washing word for a person’s inner condition, opening the image from what clings to garments to what is cleansed within.
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