What Does Leviticus 15:6 Mean?
And whoever sits on any vessel on which the one who flows sat 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 he that sitteth on any thing whereon he sat that hath the issue shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even.THE KEY
The Hebrew repeats the same root for “sitteth” and “sat,” making the shared seat the bridge through which a flowing condition reaches another body.
THE MEANING
A bodily condition reaches beyond the body: what one person occupies carries a temporary ritual status to the next person who sits there. The clothes are washed and the body is bathed, while that status lasts until evening.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
“Unclean” here does not mean the person has committed a moral wrong; it names a temporary ritual status caused by contact.
THE ROOT
זָב
zāv
GROWS FROM
זוב
z-w-b
to flow, gush, or discharge
“the one who flows” in this verse is zāv. The Hebrew calls the person a “flowing one,” making the condition an ongoing outflow rather than a single event. The verse traces its reach from that flow to the occupied place and then to the next person who sits there.
ALSO GROWS
zāv: one who is flowing; a person with the discharge
זָב
The label itself describes a continuing flow, the condition at the start of the contact chain.
zōv: a flow or discharge
זוֹב
This names the outflow itself, whose reach extends to the surfaces the person occupies.
יֹשֵׁב
yōshēv
GROWS FROM
ישב
y-sh-b
to sit, dwell, or remain
The Hebrew repeats this root for both the person who sits and the place where the one with the discharge sits. That shared verb connects bodies through occupied space: the place is not incidental, but the bridge by which ritual status passes.
ALSO GROWS
yāshav: to sit, dwell, or remain
יָשַׁב
The root joins taking a seat with settling or dwelling in a place.
mōshāv: a seat, dwelling place, or settlement
מוֹשָׁב
This branch makes the link between sitting and the place one occupies explicit.
THE PATTERN
Contact can carry ritual status through shared surfaces, while cleansing and time mark its boundary.
Every lying place on which the one who flows lies is soiled, and every vessel on which he sits shall be soiled.And whatever the unclean person touches shall be unclean, and the living soul that touches it shall be unclean until evening.When she had heard about Jesus, she came into the crowd from behind and touched his garment. For she said, "If I touch even his garments, I will be delivered." And at once the spring of her blood dried up, and she knew in her body that she was healed of the scourge.THE THREAD
Flourishing is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the way of those who miss the mark, nor sit in the seat of the scoffers.The Hebrew words for “sitteth” and “seat” here, יָשַׁב (yāshav, “sit or dwell”) and מוֹשָׁב (mōshāv, “seat or dwelling place”), grow from the same root as the sitting in Leviticus. There, shared occupancy carries ritual status; here, the same root links sitting with the company a person inhabits.
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