Defilement

Passages on this topic

From Nave’s Topical Bible (1896), a historical reference index. The groupings are Nave’s; the verses are shown in the text used across this site.

Laws relating to

• Leviticus 7:18–21 If any of the meat from his peace offering is eaten on the third day, it will not be accepted. It will not be credited to the one who presented it; it shall be an abomination, and the one who eats of it shall bear his iniquity. Meat that touches anything unclean must not be eaten; it is to be burne…
• Leviticus 11:43 Do not defile yourselves by any crawling creature; do not become unclean or defiled by them.
• Leviticus 22:2–7 “Tell Aaron and his sons to treat with respect the sacred offerings that the Israelites have consecrated to Me, so that they do not profane My holy name. I am the LORD. Tell them that for the generations to come, if any of their descendants in a state of uncleanness approaches the sacred offerings…

Caused by

Leprosy

• Leviticus 13:3 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.
• Leviticus 13:44–46 the man is diseased; he is unclean. The priest must pronounce him unclean because of the infection on his head. A diseased person must wear torn clothes and let his hair hang loose, and he must cover his mouth and cry out, ‘Unclean, unclean!’ As long as he has the infection, he remains unclean. He…
• Leviticus 14 Then the LORD said to Moses, “This is the law for the one afflicted with a skin disease on the day of his cleansing, when he is brought to the priest. The priest is to go outside the camp to examine him, and if the skin disease of the afflicted person has healed, the priest shall order that two liv… (whole chapter)
• Leviticus 22:4–7 If a descendant of Aaron has a skin disease or a discharge, he may not eat the sacred offerings until he is clean. Whoever touches anything defiled by a corpse or by a man who has an emission of semen, or whoever touches a crawling creature or a person that makes him unclean, whatever the uncleanne…

Gonorrhea

• Leviticus 15:1–15 And the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “Say to the Israelites, ‘When any man has a bodily discharge, the discharge is unclean. This uncleanness is from his discharge, whether his body allows the discharge to flow or blocks it. So his discharge will bring about uncleanness. Any bed on which the man w…
• Leviticus 22:4 If a descendant of Aaron has a skin disease or a discharge, he may not eat the sacred offerings until he is clean. Whoever touches anything defiled by a corpse or by a man who has an emission of semen,

Copulation

• Leviticus 15:17 Any clothing or leather on which there is an emission of semen must be washed with water, and it will remain unclean until evening.

Spermatorrhea

• Leviticus 15:16–17 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.

Childbirth

• Leviticus 12:2–8 “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. And on the eighth day the flesh of the boy’s foreskin is to be circumcised. The woman shall continue in purification from her bleeding for th…
• Luke 2:22 And when the time of purification according to the Law of Moses was complete, His parents brought Him to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord

Menses

• Leviticus 15:19–33 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…
• 2 Samuel 11:4 Then David sent messengers to get her, and when she came to him, he slept with her. (Now she had just purified herself from her uncleanness.) Then she returned home.

Touching the dead

• Numbers 19:11–22 Whoever touches any dead body will be unclean for seven days. He must purify himself with the water on the third day and on the seventh day; then he will be clean. But if he does not purify himself on the third and seventh days, he will not be clean. Anyone who touches a human corpse and fails to p…
• Numbers 31:19–20 All of you who have killed a person or touched the dead are to remain outside the camp for seven days. On the third day and the seventh day you are to purify both yourselves and your captives. And purify every garment and leather good, everything made of goat’s hair, and every article of wood.”

Touching the carcass of any ceremonially unclean animal

• Leviticus 11:39–40 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.
• Leviticus 17:15–16 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. But if he does not wash his clothes and bathe himself, then he shall bear his iniquity.”
• Leviticus 22:8 He must not eat anything found dead or torn by wild animals, which would make him unclean. I am the LORD.

Touching carcass of an unclean thing

• Leviticus 5:2–13 Or if a person touches anything unclean— whether the carcass of any unclean wild animal or livestock or crawling creature— even if he is unaware of it, he is unclean and guilty. Or if he touches human uncleanness— anything by which one becomes unclean— even if he is unaware of it, when he realizes…
• Leviticus 11:8 You must not eat their meat or touch their carcasses; they are unclean for you.
• Leviticus 11:24–28 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…
• Leviticus 11:31–38 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 m…
• Leviticus 14:46–57 Anyone who enters the house during any of the days that it is closed up will be unclean until evening. And anyone who sleeps in the house or eats in it must wash his clothes. If, however, the priest comes and inspects it, and the mildew has not spread after the house has been replastered, he shall…
• Leviticus 15:5–11 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 ma…
• Deuteronomy 23:10–11 If any man among you becomes unclean because of a nocturnal emission, he must leave the camp and stay outside. When evening approaches, he must wash with water, and when the sun sets he may return to the camp.

Killing in battle

• Numbers 31:19–20 All of you who have killed a person or touched the dead are to remain outside the camp for seven days. On the third day and the seventh day you are to purify both yourselves and your captives. And purify every garment and leather good, everything made of goat’s hair, and every article of wood.”

Contact with sinners falsely supposed to cause

• John 18:28 Then they led Jesus away from Caiaphas into the Praetorium. By now it was early morning, and the Jews did not enter the Praetorium, to avoid being defiled and unable to eat the Passover.

Of priests

• Leviticus 16:26 The man who released the goat as the scapegoat must wash his clothes and bathe himself with water; afterward he may reenter the camp.
• Leviticus 16:28 The one who burns them must wash his clothes and bathe himself with water, and afterward he may reenter the camp.
• Numbers 19:7–10 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. Then a…
• Ezekiel 44:25–26 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, and after he is cleansed, he must count off seven days for himself.

Egyptian usage, concerning

• Genesis 43:32 They separately served Joseph, his brothers, and the Egyptians. They ate separately because the Egyptians would not eat with the Hebrews, since that was detestable to them.

See Ablution

See Purification

See Uncleanness