Purification

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From Nave’s Topical Bible (1896), a historical reference index.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.

(Sanitary and symbolical)

For women

Before marriage

• Esther 2:12 In the twelve months before her turn to go to King Xerxes, the harem regulation required each young woman to receive beauty treatments with oil of myrrh for six months, and then with perfumes and cosmetics for another six months.

After childbirth

• Leviticus 12:6–8 When the days of her purification are complete, whether for a son or for a daughter, she is to bring to the priest at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting a year-old lamb for a burnt offering and a young pigeon or a turtledove for a sin offering. And the priest will present them before the LORD and…
• 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

After menstruation

• 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.

Of the Jews before the Passover celebration

• John 11:55 Now the Jewish Passover was near, and many people went up from the country to Jerusalem to purify themselves before the Passover.

For those who had recently killed someone in battle

• Numbers 31:19–24 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.” The…

Of Levites, see below

Of lepers

See Leprosy

By fire, for things that resist fire

• Numbers 31:23 everything that can withstand the fire— must be put through the fire, and it will be clean. But it must still be purified with the water of purification. And everything that cannot withstand the fire must pass through the water.

By blood

• Exodus 24:5–8 Then he sent out some young men of Israel, and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls as peace offerings to the LORD. Moses took half of the blood and put it in bowls, and the other half he splattered on the altar. Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people, wh…
• Leviticus 14:6–7 And he is to take the live bird together with the cedar wood, scarlet yarn, and hyssop, and dip them into the blood of the bird that was slaughtered over the fresh water. Seven times he shall sprinkle the one to be cleansed of the skin disease. Then he shall pronounce him clean and release the live…
• Hebrews 9:12–14 He did not enter by the blood of goats and calves, but He entered the Most Holy Place once for all by His own blood, thus securing eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that their bodies are…
• Hebrews 9:19–22 For when Moses had proclaimed every commandment of the law to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats, along with water, scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll and all the people, saying, “This is the blood of the covenant, which God has commanded you to keep.” In the same…

By abstaining from sexual intercourse

• Exodus 19:15 “Be prepared for the third day,” he said to the people. “Do not draw near to a woman.”

Washing parts of animal sacrifices in water

• Leviticus 1:9 The entrails and legs must be washed with water, and the priest shall burn all of it on the altar as a burnt offering, a food offering, a pleasing aroma to the LORD.
• Leviticus 1:13 The entrails and legs must be washed with water, and the priest shall present all of it and burn it on the altar; it is a burnt offering, a food offering, a pleasing aroma to the LORD.
• Leviticus 9:14 He washed the entrails and the legs and burned them atop the burnt offering on the altar.
• 2 Chronicles 4:6 He also made ten basins for washing and placed five on the south side and five on the north. The parts of the burnt offering were rinsed in them, but the priests used the Sea for washing.

Penalty to be imposed upon those who do not observe the ordinances concerning

• Leviticus 7:20–21 But if anyone who is unclean eats meat from the peace offering that belongs to the LORD, that person must be cut off from his people. If one touches anything unclean, whether human uncleanness, an unclean animal, or any unclean, detestable thing, and then eats any of the meat of the peace offering…
• Numbers 19:13 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.
• Numbers 19:20 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.

Water of

• Numbers 19:17–21 For the purification of the unclean person, take some of the ashes of the burnt sin offering, put them in a jar, and pour fresh water over them. Then a man who is ceremonially clean is to take some hyssop, dip it in the water, and sprinkle the tent, all the furnishings, and the people who were ther…
• Numbers 31:23 everything that can withstand the fire— must be put through the fire, and it will be clean. But it must still be purified with the water of purification. And everything that cannot withstand the fire must pass through the water.

Washing hands in water, symbolical of innocency

• Deuteronomy 21:6 Then all the elders of the city nearest the victim shall wash their hands by the stream over the heifer whose neck has been broken,
• Psalm 26:6 I wash my hands in innocence that I may go about Your altar, O LORD,
• Matthew 27:24 When Pilate saw that he was accomplishing nothing, but that instead a riot was breaking out, he took water and washed his hands before the crowd. “I am innocent of this man’s blood,” he said. “You bear the responsibility.”

Traditions of the elders concerning

• Matthew 15:2 “Why do Your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They do not wash their hands before they eat.”
• Mark 7:2–5 and they saw some of His disciples eating with hands that were defiled— that is, unwashed. Now in holding to the tradition of the elders, the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat until they wash their hands ceremonially. And on returning from the market, they do not eat unless they wash. And there…
• Mark 7:8–9 You have disregarded the commandment of God to keep the tradition of men.” He went on to say, “You neatly set aside the command of God to maintain your own tradition.
• Luke 11:38 But the Pharisee was surprised to see that Jesus did not first wash before the meal.

Of Paul, to show his fidelity to the law

• Acts 21:24 Take these men, purify yourself along with them, and pay their expenses so they can have their heads shaved. Then everyone will know that there is no truth to these rumors about you, but that you also live in obedience to the law.
• Acts 21:26 So the next day Paul took the men and purified himself along with them. Then he entered the temple to give notice of the date when their purification would be complete and the offering would be made for each of them.

Figurative

• Psalm 26:6 I wash my hands in innocence that I may go about Your altar, O LORD,
• Psalm 51:7 Purify me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
• Ezekiel 36:25 I will also sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your impurities and all your idols.
• Hebrews 10:22 let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

See Ablution

See Defilement

See Sanitation

Scriptures Relating to

• Genesis 35:2 So Jacob told his household and all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods that are among you. Purify yourselves and change your garments.
• Exodus 19:10 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow. They must wash their clothes
• Exodus 19:14 When Moses came down from the mountain to the people, he consecrated them, and they washed their clothes.
• Exodus 29:4 Then present Aaron and his sons at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting and wash them with water.
• Exodus 30:18–21 “You are to make a bronze basin with a bronze stand for washing. Set it between the Tent of Meeting and the altar, and put water in it, with which Aaron and his sons are to wash their hands and feet. Whenever they enter the Tent of Meeting or approach the altar to minister by presenting a food offe…
• Exodus 40:12 Then bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance to the Tent of Meeting and wash them with water.
• Exodus 40:30–32 He placed the basin between the Tent of Meeting and the altar and put water in it for washing; and from it Moses, Aaron, and his sons washed their hands and feet. They washed whenever they entered the Tent of Meeting or approached the altar, just as the LORD had commanded Moses.
• Leviticus 8:6 Then Moses presented Aaron and his sons and washed them with water.
• Leviticus 14:8–9 The one being cleansed must wash his clothes, shave off all his hair, and bathe with water; then he will be ceremonially clean. Afterward, he may enter the camp, but he must remain outside his tent for seven days. On the seventh day he must shave off all his hair — his head, his beard, his eyebrows…
• Leviticus 15:4–13 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 sittin…