What Does Leviticus 15:7 Mean?
And whoever touches the flesh of the one who flows 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 toucheth the flesh of him that hath the issue shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even.THE KEY
The Hebrew root for “touch” also gives a word for affliction, making contact itself the hinge through which a condition passes.
THE MEANING
When you touch the flesh of someone with an issue, the verse gives that contact a consequence: your clothes are washed, your body is bathed, and your status is unclean until evening. Contact has a real effect here, and that effect has a stated limit.
THE ROOT
נֹגֵעַ
nōgēaʿ
GROWS FROM
נגע
To touch, reach, or come into contact; related forms can carry the sense of a strike or affliction.
“toucheth” in this verse is nōgēaʿ. נָגַע (nāgaʿ, “touch or reach”) and נֶגַע (negaʿ, “stroke or affliction”) share the consonants נגע. That connection makes touch in this verse more than incidental contact: it is the point where ritual status passes from one body to another, while washing and the evening limit mark its bounds.
ALSO GROWS
nāgaʿ: To touch, reach, or make contact.
נָגַע
This verb names the physical contact that carries consequence in the verse.
negaʿ: A stroke, affliction, or plague.
נֶגַע
This related word uses the same consonants for an afflicting impact, illuminating how the root links contact with an effect.
THE PATTERN
Bodily contact is a consequential threshold through which uncleanness or healing can pass.
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.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.THE THREAD
And whatever the unclean person touches shall be unclean, and the living soul that touches it shall be unclean until evening.The Hebrew root נגע (nāgaʿ, “touch”) appears in both verses as contact carries ritual status. Numbers traces that contact onward from a person to what is touched, while Leviticus specifies the bodily contact and names washing and evening as its limit.
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