Be Unclean

Jacob heard that Shechem had defiled his daughter Dinah, but since his sons were with his livestock in the field, he remained silent about it until they returned.

But because Shechem had defiled their sister Dinah, Jacob’s sons answered him and his father Hamor deceitfully.

Jacob’s other sons came upon the slaughter and looted the city, because their sister had been defiled.

Or if he touches human uncleanness—anything by which one becomes unclean—even if he is unaware of it, when he realizes it, he is guilty.

These creatures will make you unclean. Whoever touches their carcasses will be unclean until evening,

and whoever picks up one of their carcasses must wash his clothes, and he will be unclean until evening.

Every animal with hooves not completely divided or that does not chew the cud is unclean for you. Whoever touches any of them will be unclean.

All the four-footed animals that walk on their paws are unclean for you; whoever touches their carcasses will be unclean until evening,

and anyone who picks up a carcass must wash his clothes, and he will be unclean until evening. They are unclean for you.

These animals are unclean for you among all the crawling creatures. Whoever touches them when they are dead shall be unclean until evening.

When one of them dies and falls on something, that article becomes unclean; any article of wood, clothing, leather, sackcloth, or any implement used for work must be rinsed with water and will remain unclean until evening; then it will be clean.

If any of them falls into a clay pot, everything in it will be unclean; you must break the pot.

Any food coming into contact with water from that pot will be unclean, and any drink in such a container will be unclean.

Anything upon which one of their carcasses falls will be unclean. If it is an oven or cooking pot, it must be smashed; it is unclean and will remain unclean for you.

Nevertheless, a spring or cistern containing water will remain clean, but one who touches a carcass in it will be unclean.

If an animal that you may eat dies, anyone who touches the carcass will be unclean until evening.

Whoever eats from the carcass must wash his clothes and will be unclean until evening, and anyone who picks up the carcass must wash his clothes and will be unclean until evening.

Do not defile yourselves by any crawling creature; do not become unclean or defiled by them.

For I am the LORD your God; consecrate yourselves, therefore, and be holy, because I am holy. You must not defile yourselves by any creature that crawls along the ground.

“Say to the Israelites, ‘A woman who becomes pregnant and gives birth to a son will be unclean for seven days, as she is during the days of her menstruation.

If, however, she gives birth to a daughter, the woman will be unclean for two weeks as she is during her menstruation. Then she must continue in purification from her bleeding for sixty-six days.

The priest is to examine the infection on his skin, and if the hair in the infection has turned white and the sore appears to be deeper than the skin, it is a skin disease. After the priest examines him, he must pronounce him unclean.

The priest will reexamine him, and if the rash has spread on the skin, the priest must pronounce him unclean; it is a skin disease.

it is a chronic skin disease and the priest must pronounce him unclean. He need not isolate him, for he is unclean.

But whenever raw flesh appears on someone, he will be unclean.

When the priest sees the raw flesh, he must pronounce him unclean. The raw flesh is unclean; it is a skin disease.

The priest shall examine it, and if it appears to be beneath the skin and the hair in it has turned white, the priest shall pronounce him unclean; it is a diseased infection that has broken out in the boil.

If it spreads any further on the skin, the priest must pronounce him unclean; it is an infection.

the priest must examine it. If the hair in the spot has turned white and the spot appears to be deeper than the skin, it is a disease that has broken out in the burn. The priest must pronounce him unclean; it is a diseased infection.

On the seventh day the priest is to reexamine him, and if it has spread further on the skin, the priest must pronounce him unclean; it is a diseased infection.

the priest shall examine the infection, and if it appears to be deeper than the skin and the hair in it is yellow and thin, the priest must pronounce him unclean; it is a scaly outbreak, an infectious disease of the head or chin.

the man is diseased; he is unclean. The priest must pronounce him unclean because of the infection on his head.

As long as he has the infection, he remains unclean. He must live alone in a place outside the camp.

This is the law concerning a mildew contamination in wool or linen fabric, weave, or knit, or any leather article, for pronouncing it clean or unclean.”

The priest must order that the house be cleared before he enters it to examine the mildew, so that nothing in the house will become unclean. After this, the priest shall go in to inspect the house.

Anyone who enters the house during any of the days that it is closed up will be unclean until evening.

Any bed on which the man with the discharge lies will be unclean, and any furniture on which he sits will be unclean.

Anyone who touches his bed must wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will be unclean until evening.

Whoever sits on furniture on which the man with the discharge was sitting must wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will be unclean until evening.

Whoever touches the body of the man with a discharge must wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will be unclean until evening.

If the man with the discharge spits on one who is clean, that person must wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will be unclean until evening.

Any saddle on which the man with the discharge rides will be unclean.

Whoever touches anything that was under him will be unclean until evening, and whoever carries such things must wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will be unclean until evening.

If the man with the discharge touches anyone without first rinsing his hands with water, the one who was touched must wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will be unclean until evening.

When a man has an emission of semen, he must bathe his whole body with water, and he will be unclean until evening.

Any clothing or leather on which there is an emission of semen must be washed with water, and it will remain unclean until evening.

If a man lies with a woman and there is an emission of semen, both must bathe with water, and they will remain unclean until evening.

When a woman has a discharge consisting of blood from her body, she will be unclean due to her menstruation for seven days, and anyone who touches her will be unclean until evening.

Anything on which she lies or sits during her menstruation will be unclean,

and anyone who touches her bed must wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will be unclean until evening.

Whoever touches any furniture on which she was sitting must wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will be unclean until evening.

And whether it is a bed or furniture on which she was sitting, whoever touches it will be unclean until evening.

If a man lies with her and her menstrual flow touches him, he will be unclean for seven days, and any bed on which he lies will become unclean.

Anyone who touches these things will be unclean; he must wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will be unclean until evening.

You must keep the children of Israel separate from their uncleanness, so that they do not die by defiling My tabernacle, which is among them.

This is the law of him who has a discharge, of the man who has an emission of semen whereby he is unclean,

And any person, whether native or foreigner, who eats anything found dead or mauled by wild beasts must wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will be unclean until evening; then he will be clean.

You must not lie carnally with your neighbor’s wife and thus defile yourself with her.

You must not lie carnally with any animal, thus defiling yourself with it; a woman must not stand before an animal to mate with it; that is a perversion.

Do not defile yourselves by any of these practices, for by all these things the nations I am driving out before you have defiled themselves.

Even the land has become defiled, so I am punishing it for its sin, and the land will vomit out its inhabitants.

For the men who were in the land before you committed all these abominations, and the land has become defiled.

So if you defile the land, it will vomit you out as it spewed out the nations before you.

You must keep My charge not to practice any of the abominable customs that were practiced before you, so that you do not defile yourselves by them. I am the LORD your God.”

You must not turn to mediums or spiritists; do not seek them out, or you will be defiled by them. I am the LORD your God.

And I will set My face against that man and cut him off from his people, because by giving his offspring to Molech, he has defiled My sanctuary and profaned My holy name.

You are therefore to distinguish between clean and unclean animals and birds. Do not become contaminated by any animal or bird, or by anything that crawls on the ground; I have set these apart as unclean for you.

Then the LORD said to Moses, “Speak to Aaron’s sons, the priests, and tell them that a priest is not to defile himself for a dead person among his people,

or his unmarried sister who is near to him, since she has no husband.

He is not to defile himself for those related to him by marriage, and so profane himself.

He must not go near any dead body; he must not defile himself, even for his father or mother.

or whoever touches a crawling creature or a person that makes him unclean, whatever the uncleanness may be—

the man who touches any of these will remain unclean until evening. He must not eat from the sacred offerings unless he has bathed himself with water.

He must not eat anything found dead or torn by wild animals, which would make him unclean. I am the LORD.

You must send away male and female alike; send them outside the camp so they will not defile their camp, where I dwell among them.”

by sleeping with another man, and it is concealed from her husband and her impurity is undetected (since there is no witness against her and she was not caught in the act),

and if a feeling of jealousy comes over her husband and he suspects his wife who has defiled herself—or if a feeling of jealousy comes over him and he suspects her even though she has not defiled herself—

But if you have gone astray while under your husband’s authority and have defiled yourself and lain carnally with a man other than your husband’—

When he has made her drink the water, if she has defiled herself and been unfaithful to her husband, then the water that brings a curse will enter her and cause bitter suffering; her belly will swell, her thigh will shrivel, and she will become accursed among her people.

But if the woman has not defiled herself and is clean, she will be unaffected and able to conceive children.

This is the law of jealousy when a wife goes astray and defiles herself while under her husband’s authority,

Even if his father or mother or brother or sister should die, he is not to defile himself, because the symbol of consecration to his God is upon his head.

If someone suddenly dies in his presence and defiles his consecrated head of hair, he must shave his head on the day of his cleansing—the seventh day.

He must rededicate his time of separation to the LORD and bring a year-old male lamb as a guilt offering. But the preceding days shall not be counted, because his separation was defiled.

Then the priest must wash his clothes and bathe his body in water; after that he may enter the camp, but he will be ceremonially unclean until evening.

The one who burned the heifer must also wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and he too will be ceremonially unclean until evening.

The man who has gathered up the ashes of the heifer must also wash his clothes, and he will be ceremonially unclean until evening. This is a permanent statute for the Israelites and for the foreigner residing among them.

Whoever touches any dead body will be unclean for seven days.

Anyone who touches a human corpse and fails to purify himself defiles the tabernacle of the LORD. That person must be cut off from Israel. He remains unclean, because the water of purification has not been sprinkled on him, and his uncleanness is still on him.

This is the law when a person dies in a tent: Everyone who enters the tent and everyone already in the tent will be unclean for seven days,

Anyone in the open field who touches someone who has been killed by the sword or has died of natural causes, or anyone who touches a human bone or a grave, will be unclean for seven days.

But if a person who is unclean does not purify himself, he will be cut off from the assembly, because he has defiled the sanctuary of the LORD. The water of purification has not been sprinkled on him; he is unclean.

This is a permanent statute for the people: The one who sprinkles the water of purification must wash his clothes, and whoever touches the water of purification will be unclean until evening.

Anything the unclean person touches will become unclean, and anyone who touches it will be unclean until evening.”

Do not defile the land where you live and where I dwell. For I, the LORD, dwell among the Israelites.”

you must not leave the body on the tree overnight, but you must be sure to bury him that day, because anyone who is hung on a tree is under God’s curse. You must not defile the land that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance.

then the husband who divorced her first may not remarry her after she has been defiled, for that is an abomination to the LORD. You must not bring sin upon the land that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance.

Then Josiah brought all the priests from the cities of Judah and desecrated the high places, from Geba to Beersheba, where the priests had burned incense. He tore down the high places of the gates at the entrance of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which was to the left of the city gate.

He also desecrated Topheth in the Valley of Ben-hinnom so that no one could sacrifice his son or daughter in the fire to Molech.

The king also desecrated the high places east of Jerusalem, to the south of the Mount of Corruption, which King Solomon of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.

And as Josiah turned, he saw the tombs there on the hillside, and he sent someone to take the bones out of the tombs, and he burned them on the altar to defile it, according to the word of the LORD proclaimed by the man of God who had foretold these things.

Furthermore, all the leaders of the priests and the people multiplied their unfaithful deeds, following all the abominations of the nations, and they defiled the house of the LORD, which He had consecrated in Jerusalem.

The nations, O God, have invaded Your inheritance; they have defiled Your holy temple and reduced Jerusalem to rubble.

They defiled themselves by their actions and prostituted themselves by their deeds.

So you will desecrate your silver-plated idols and your gold-plated images. You will throw them away like menstrual cloths, saying to them, “Be gone!”

I brought you into a fertile land to eat its fruit and bounty, but you came and defiled My land and made My inheritance detestable.

“How can you say, ‘I am not defiled; I have not run after the Baals’? Look at your behavior in the valley; acknowledge what you have done. You are a swift young she-camel galloping here and there,

For the people of Judah have done evil in My sight, declares the LORD. They have set up their abominations in the house that bears My Name, and so have defiled it.

They have placed their abominations in the house that bears My Name, and so have defiled it.

“Ah, Lord GOD,” I said, “I have never defiled myself. From my youth until now I have not eaten anything found dead or mauled by wild beasts. No unclean meat has ever entered my mouth.”

Therefore as surely as I live, declares the Lord GOD, because you have defiled My sanctuary with all your detestable idols and abominations, I Myself will withdraw My favor; I will not look upon you with pity, nor will I spare you.

Then He told them, “Defile the temple and fill the courts with the slain. Go forth!” So they went out and began killing throughout the city.

in order that the house of Israel may no longer stray from Me and no longer defile themselves with all their transgressions. Then they will be My people and I will be their God, declares the Lord GOD.’”

He does not eat at the mountain or look to the idols of the house of Israel. He does not defile his neighbor’s wife or approach a woman during her period.

though the father has done none of them: Indeed, the son eats at the mountain and defiles his neighbor’s wife.

He does not eat at the mountain or look to the idols of the house of Israel. He does not defile his neighbor’s wife.

And I said to them: ‘Each of you must throw away the abominations before his eyes, and you must not defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.’

In the wilderness I said to their children: ‘Do not walk in the statutes of your fathers or keep their ordinances or defile yourselves with their idols.

And I pronounced them unclean through their gifts—the sacrifice of every firstborn in the fire—so that I might devastate them, in order that they would know that I am the LORD.

Therefore tell the house of Israel that this is what the Lord GOD says: Will you defile yourselves the way your fathers did, prostituting yourselves with their abominations?

When you offer your gifts, sacrificing your sons in the fire, you continue to defile yourselves with all your idols to this day. So should I be consulted by you, O house of Israel? As surely as I live, declares the Lord GOD, I will not be consulted by you!

There you will remember your ways and all the deeds with which you have defiled yourselves, and you will loathe yourselves for all the evils you have done.

and tell her that this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘O city who brings her own doom by shedding blood within her walls and making idols to defile herself,

you are guilty of the blood you have shed, and you are defiled by the idols you have made. You have brought your days to a close and have come to the end of your years. Therefore I have made you a reproach to the nations and a mockery to all the lands.

One man commits an abomination with his neighbor’s wife; another wickedly defiles his daughter-in-law; and yet another violates his sister, his own father’s daughter.

She offered sexual favors to all the elite of Assyria. She defiled herself with all the idols of those for whom she lusted.

And I saw that she too had defiled herself; both of them had taken the same path.

Then the Babylonians came to her, to the bed of love, and in their lust they defiled her. But after she had been defiled by them, she turned away in disgust.

have brought these things upon you, because you have prostituted yourself with the nations and defiled yourself with their idols.

They have also done this to Me: On that very same day, they defiled My sanctuary and profaned My Sabbaths.

You have relied on your swords, you have committed detestable acts, and each of you has defiled his neighbor’s wife. Should you then possess the land?’

“Son of man, when the people of Israel lived in their land, they defiled it by their own ways and deeds. Their behavior before Me was like the uncleanness of a woman’s impurity.

So I poured out My wrath upon them because of the blood they had shed on the land, and because they had defiled it with their idols.

They will no longer defile themselves with their idols or detestable images, or with any of their transgressions. I will save them from all their apostasies by which they sinned, and I will cleanse them. Then they will be My people, and I will be their God.

and He said to me, “Son of man, this is the place of My throne and the place for the soles of My feet, where I will dwell among the Israelites forever. The house of Israel will never again defile My holy name—neither they nor their kings—by their prostitution and by the funeral offerings for their kings at their deaths.

When they placed their threshold next to My threshold and their doorposts beside My doorposts, with only a wall between Me and them, they defiled My holy name by the abominations they committed. Therefore I have consumed them in My anger.

A priest must not defile himself by going near a dead person. However, for a father, a mother, a son, a daughter, a brother, or an unmarried sister, he may do so,

I know all about Ephraim, and Israel is not hidden from Me. For now, O Ephraim, you have turned to prostitution; Israel is defiled.

In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing: Ephraim practices prostitution there, and Israel is defiled.

They will not pour out wine offerings to the LORD, and their sacrifices will not please Him, but will be to them like the bread of mourners; all who eat will be defiled. For their bread will be for themselves; it will not enter the house of the LORD.

Arise and depart, for this is not your place of rest, because its defilement brings destruction—a grievous destruction!

So Haggai asked, “If one who is defiled by contact with a corpse touches any of these, does it become defiled?” “Yes, it becomes defiled,” the priests answered.