What Does Leviticus 15:11 Mean?
And whomever the one who flows touches, without having rinsed his hands in the waters, 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 whomsoever he toucheth that hath the issue, and hath not rinsed his hands in water, he shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even.THE KEY
The Hebrew root behind “toucheth” also names a blow or affliction, so this verse shows contact carrying consequences beyond the skin.
THE MEANING
The verse draws a precise boundary around bodily contact: before the hands are rinsed, a touch from the person with a discharge leaves the other ritually unclean. Washing clothes and bathing mark a temporary condition with a stated limit: “until the even.”
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that this state is permanent: the verse names an endpoint, “until the even.”
THE ROOT
יִגַּע
yiggaʿ
GROWS FROM
נגע
To touch, reach, or strike; to come into contact.
“toucheth” in this verse is yiggaʿ. The same three consonants name touching and, in a related noun, a blow or affliction. Here the touch has a defined consequence, though the root alone does not say that every touch transmits harm.
ALSO GROWS
nagaʿ: To touch or reach.
נָגַע
This verb shares the root of יִגַּע and makes contact the passage’s pivotal action.
negaʿ: A blow, plague, or affliction.
נֶגַע
This noun carries the root’s more forceful side, revealing how the language can connect contact with impact.
שָׁטַף
shataf
GROWS FROM
שטף
To rinse or wash; to flow over or flood.
“rinsed” in this verse is shataf. The root holds both rinsing and forceful flow. In this verse, water passing over the hands marks a boundary before contact.
ALSO GROWS
shetef: A flood or overflowing current.
שֶׁטֶף
This noun shares the root’s consonants and shows its sense of water flowing over.
shoteph: Flowing, sweeping, or overflowing.
שׁוֹטֵף
This form keeps the root’s movement in view: rinsing belongs to a family of words for water passing across or over.
THE PATTERN
Contact can carry a condition across bodies, while washing or a cleansing touch marks a change in that condition.
And whoever touches the flesh of the one who flows shall tread his garments, wash himself in the waters, and be soiled until evening.And whatever the unclean person touches shall be unclean, and the living soul that touches it shall be unclean until evening.And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, I will. Be clean. And straightway his leprosy was cleansed.THE THREAD
Surely he has borne our sicknesses, and carried our wounds. Yet we reckoned him struck, beaten by God, and bowed low.“Stricken” translates נָגוּעַ (naguaʿ), from the same root נגע as “toucheth” here. The shared root holds reaching another and being struck within one consonantal family, deepening the verse’s sense of contact as consequential.
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