What Does Leviticus 15:12 Mean?
And a clay vessel that the one who flows touches shall be broken, and every wooden vessel shall be rinsed in the waters.
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 the vessel of earth, that he toucheth which hath the issue, shall be broken: and every vessel of wood shall be rinsed in water.THE KEY
The same contact receives two different treatments: clay is broken, while wood is rinsed.
THE MEANING
The verse makes the consequence of contact concrete: the earthen vessel touched by the person with the discharge is broken, while a wooden vessel is rinsed in water. The two responses remain distinct, with the vessel’s material shaping what happens next.
THE ROOT
הַזָּב
ha-zav
GROWS FROM
זוב
zub
to flow or stream; a bodily discharge
The Hebrew calls the person with the “issue” הַזָּב (ha-zav), literally “the one who flows.” English makes the condition sound abstract, while the Hebrew keeps the ongoing bodily flow in view as it touches the vessel.
ALSO GROWS
zav: one who has a flow or discharge
זָב
This is the word used for the person whose touch affects the vessel.
zov: a flow or bodily discharge
זוֹב
It names the flowing condition that the English word “issue” can obscure.
יִשָּׁבֵר
yishaver
GROWS FROM
שבר
shavar
to break or shatter
The vessel of clay is not rinsed; the verse says it is broken. The same root also forms a noun for fracture or ruin, keeping the result concrete: this vessel is taken out of use through breakage.
ALSO GROWS
shavar: to break or shatter
שָׁבַר
This verb names what happens to the earthen vessel.
shever: a breaking, fracture, or ruin
שֶׁבֶר
This noun carries the root’s sense of breakage into the outcome the verse specifies.
יִשָּׁטֵף
yishatef
GROWS FROM
שטף
shataph
to wash over, rinse, or sweep away
“rinsed” in this verse is yishatef. The word for rinsing belongs to a root that also describes something sweeping over or flooding. Wood receives a washing action, set apart from the earthen vessel’s breakage.
ALSO GROWS
shataph: to wash, rinse, or sweep over
שָׁטַף
The wooden vessel receives this water-based treatment.
shetef: a flood or torrent
שֶׁטֶף
This branch shows the root’s sense of water moving over something.
THE PATTERN
Contact with impurity is handled through the vessel’s material, with some vessels broken and others washed.
And every clay vessel into which any of them falls, whatever is in it is unclean, and you break it.But the clay vessel in which it is boiled shall be broken. And if it is boiled in a bronze pot, it shall be scrubbed and rinsed in water.And when they come from the marketplace, unless they immerse themselves, they do not eat. And many other things there are, which they have received to hold, such as the immersions of cups, pitchers, bronze vessels, and couches.THE THREAD
And every clay vessel into which any of them falls, whatever is in it is unclean, and you break it.This verse uses the same root, שבר (shavar, to break), for an earthen vessel that receives contact with an unclean creature. The shared word reveals breakage as a specific response for contaminated earthenware.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us