Leviticus 15:19

Translations

Modern

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.

Traditional

And if a woman have an issue, and her issue in her flesh be blood, she shall be put apart seven days: and whosoever toucheth her shall be unclean until the even.

Literal

And a woman—when she is discharging, her discharge consisting of blood from her flesh, she shall be in her menstruation seven days, and anyone who touches her shall be unclean until the evening.

Latin

Mulier, quæ redeunte mense patitur fluxum sanguinis, septem diebus separabitur.

Original

Hebrew

English

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.

Notes

Leviticus 15:19–23

A woman's menstrual period is natural and not a disease. But because it involved a bloody discharge, she became ceremonially unclean (see Leviticus 15:32–33). The rules were similar to those for a man with a bodily discharge (15:2–12). She could stay at home, but anything she sat on became unclean. Anyone who touched her had to wash, and she probably did the same after the seven-day quarantine. There was no animal sacrifice needed.

Leviticus 15:1–33

The idea of normal and abnormal, along with the created order, helps interpret these rules (see “Clean, Unclean, and Holy” Theme Note). Bodily discharges, like infections (see study note on Leviticus 13:1–46), were not considered "normal" because they weakened a person's health. This made the person seem incomplete. Whether male (15:1–18) or female (15:19–33), such a person became unclean.

Theme notes and profiles

Ancient Law Codes Clean, Unclean, and Holy

Related verses

Leviticus 12:2
“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.
Mark 5:25
And a woman was there who had suffered from bleeding for twelve years.
Matthew 15:19
For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, and slander.
Lamentations 1:17
Zion stretches out her hands, but there is no one to comfort her. The LORD has decreed against Jacob that his neighbors become his foes. Jerusalem has become an unclean thing among them.
Leviticus 12:4
The woman shall continue in purification from her bleeding for thirty-three days. She must not touch anything sacred or go into the sanctuary until the days of her purification are complete.
Lamentations 1:8–9
Jerusalem has sinned greatly; therefore she has become an object of scorn. All who honored her now despise her, for they have seen her nakedness; she herself groans and turns away.
Ezekiel 36:17
“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.
Leviticus 20:18
If a man lies with a menstruating woman and has sexual relations with her, he has exposed the source of her flow, and she has uncovered the source of her blood. Both of them must be cut off from among their people.

Glossary

Bathe, Bathing Biblical Concept of Law Blood, Flow of Cleanness and Uncleanness, Regulations Concerning Deuteronomy, Book of Hemorrhage History of Israel John the Baptist Law of Moses Leviticus, Book of Medicine and Medical Practice Offerings and Sacrifices Priesthood Worship

Topics

Copulation: During Menses Defilement: Caused by Menses Hemorrhage: Menstruation Menstruation: Law Relating To Purification for Women: After Menstruation Purification: Scriptures Relating To Sanitation: Contagion Sanitation: Disinfection Sanitation: Quarantine Sanitation: Venereal Diseases Women: Purifications of After Menstruation

Leviticus 15:19

Translations?

Original?

Notes?

Related verses?

Glossary?

Topics?