Sanitation

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From Nave’s Topical Bible (1896), a historical reference index.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

Carcasses

• Leviticus 5:2 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.
• Leviticus 10:4–5 Moses summoned Mishael and Elzaphan, sons of Aaron’s uncle Uzziel, and said to them, “Come here; carry the bodies of your cousins outside the camp, away from the front of the sanctuary.” So they came forward and carried them, still in their tunics, outside the camp, as Moses had directed.
• 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 11:31–40 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 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,
• Leviticus 22:6 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.
• Numbers 9:6 But there were some men who were unclean due to a dead body, so they could not observe the Passover on that day. And they came before Moses and Aaron that same day
• Numbers 9:10 “Tell the Israelites: ‘When any one of you or your descendants is unclean because of a dead body, or is away on a journey, he may still observe the Passover to the LORD.
• Numbers 19:11–16 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 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.

Childbirth

• Leviticus 12:3 And on the eighth day the flesh of the boy’s foreskin is to be circumcised.
• Ezekiel 16:4 On the day of your birth your cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water for cleansing. You were not rubbed with salt or wrapped in cloths.

Circumcision

See Circumcision

Contagion

• Leviticus 5:2–3 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 7:19 Meat that touches anything unclean must not be eaten; it is to be burned up. As for any other meat, anyone who is ceremonially clean may eat it.
• Leviticus 7:21 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 that belongs to the LORD, that person must be cut off from his people.”
• 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 11:31–40 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 13:2–59 “When someone has a swelling or rash or bright spot on his skin that may be an infectious skin disease, he must be brought to Aaron the priest or to one of his sons who is a priest. The priest is to examine the infection on his skin, and if the hair in the infection has turned white and the sore ap…
• Leviticus 14:2–3 “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,
• 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 14:34–48 “When you enter the land of Canaan, which I am giving you as your possession, and I put a contamination of mildew into a house in that land, the owner of the house shall come and tell the priest, ‘Something like mildew has appeared in my house.’ The priest must order that the house be cleared befor…
• Leviticus 14:54–57 This is the law for any infectious skin disease, for a scaly outbreak, for mildew in clothing or in a house, and for a swelling, rash, or spot, to determine when something is clean or unclean. This is the law regarding skin diseases and mildew.”

Disinfection

• Leviticus 2:13 And you shall season each of your grain offerings with salt. You must not leave the salt of the covenant of your God out of your grain offering; you are to add salt to each of your offerings.
• Leviticus 7:19 Meat that touches anything unclean must not be eaten; it is to be burned up. As for any other meat, anyone who is ceremonially clean may eat it.
• Leviticus 11:24–40 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 13:6 The priest will examine him again on the seventh day, and if the sore has faded and has not spread on the skin, the priest shall pronounce him clean; it is a rash. The person must wash his clothes and be clean.
• Leviticus 13:34 On the seventh day the priest shall examine the scaly outbreak, and if it has not spread on the skin and does not appear to be deeper than the skin, the priest is to pronounce him clean. He must wash his clothes, and he will be clean.
• Leviticus 13:47–59 If any fabric is contaminated with mildew— any wool or linen garment, any weave or knit of linen or wool, or any article of leather— and if the mark in the fabric, leather, weave, knit, or leather article is green or red, then it is contaminated with mildew and must be shown to the priest. And the…
• 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 14:34–48 “When you enter the land of Canaan, which I am giving you as your possession, and I put a contamination of mildew into a house in that land, the owner of the house shall come and tell the priest, ‘Something like mildew has appeared in my house.’ The priest must order that the house be cleared befor…
• Leviticus 14:54–57 This is the law for any infectious skin disease, for a scaly outbreak, for mildew in clothing or in a house, and for a swelling, rash, or spot, to determine when something is clean or unclean. This is the law regarding skin diseases and mildew.”
• Leviticus 15:2–13 “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 with the discharge lies will be unclean…

See Purification

Filth, Disposition of

• Exodus 29:14 But burn the flesh of the bull and its hide and dung outside the camp; it is a sin offering.
• Exodus 29:34 And if any of the meat of ordination or any bread is left until the morning, you are to burn up the remainder. It must not be eaten, because it is sacred.
• Leviticus 4:11–12 But the hide of the bull and all its flesh, with its head and legs and its entrails and dung— all the rest of the bull— he must take outside the camp to a ceremonially clean place where the ashes are poured out, and there he must burn it on a wood fire on the ash heap.
• Leviticus 4:21 Then he is to take the bull outside the camp and burn it, just as he burned the first bull. It is the sin offering for the assembly.
• Leviticus 6:30 But no sin offering may be eaten if its blood has been brought into the Tent of Meeting to make atonement in the Holy Place; it must be burned.’’
• Leviticus 7:17 But any meat of the sacrifice remaining until the third day must be burned up.
• Leviticus 7:19 Meat that touches anything unclean must not be eaten; it is to be burned up. As for any other meat, anyone who is ceremonially clean may eat it.
• Leviticus 8:17 But the bull with its hide, flesh, and dung he burned outside the camp, as the LORD had commanded him.
• Leviticus 8:32 Then you must burn up the remainder of the meat and bread.
• Leviticus 9:11 But he burned up the flesh and the hide outside the camp.

Food

• Leviticus 3:17 This is a permanent statute for the generations to come, wherever you live: You must not eat any fat or any blood.”
• Leviticus 7:15–19 The meat of the sacrifice of his peace offering of thanksgiving must be eaten on the day he offers it; none of it may be left until morning. If, however, the sacrifice he offers is a vow or a freewill offering, it shall be eaten on the day he presents his sacrifice, but the remainder may be eaten o…
• Leviticus 7:23–27 “Speak to the Israelites and say, ‘You are not to eat any of the fat of an ox, a sheep, or a goat. The fat of an animal found dead or mauled by wild beasts may be used for any other purpose, but you must not eat it. If anyone eats the fat of an animal from which a food offering may be presented to…
• Leviticus 11:2–23 “Say to the Israelites, ‘Of all the beasts of the earth, these ones you may eat: You may eat any animal that has a split hoof completely divided and that chews the cud. But of those that only chew the cud or only have a divided hoof, you are not to eat the following: The camel, though it chews the…
• Leviticus 11:26–27 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,
• Leviticus 11:29–43 The following creatures that move along the ground are unclean for you: the mole, the mouse, any kind of great lizard, the gecko, the monitor lizard, the common lizard, the skink, and the chameleon. These animals are unclean for you among all the crawling creatures. Whoever touches them when they a…
• Leviticus 11:46–47 This is the law regarding animals, birds, all living creatures that move in the water, and all creatures that crawl along the ground. You must distinguish between the unclean and the clean, between animals that may be eaten and those that may not.’”
• Leviticus 17:10–15 If anyone from the house of Israel or a foreigner living among them eats any blood, I will set My face against that person and cut him off from among his people. For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for your souls upon the altar; for it is the bloo…
• Leviticus 19:5–8 When you sacrifice a peace offering to the LORD, you shall offer it for your acceptance. It shall be eaten on the day you sacrifice it, or on the next day; but what remains on the third day must be burned up. If any of it is eaten on the third day, it is tainted and will not be accepted. Whoever ea…
• Leviticus 19:26 You must not eat anything with blood still in it. You must not practice divination or sorcery.

Gluttony, Disease Resulting from

• Numbers 11:18–20 And say to the people: Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, and you will eat meat, because you have cried out in the hearing of the LORD, saying: ‘Who will feed us meat? For we were better off in Egypt!’ Therefore the LORD will give you meat, and you will eat. You will eat it not for one or two days…
• Numbers 11:31–33 Now a wind sent by the LORD came up, drove in quail from the sea, and brought them near the camp, about two cubits above the surface of the ground, for a day’s journey in every direction around the camp. All that day and night, and all the next day, the people stayed up gathering the quail. No one…

Penalties Concerning

• Deuteronomy 28:15 If, however, you do not obey the LORD your God by carefully following all His commandments and statutes I am giving you today, all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:
• Deuteronomy 28:21–22 The LORD will make the plague cling to you until He has exterminated you from the land that you are entering to possess. The LORD will strike you with wasting disease, with fever and inflammation, with scorching heat and drought, and with blight and mildew; these will pursue you until you perish.
• Deuteronomy 28:27 The LORD will afflict you with the boils of Egypt, with tumors and scabs and itch from which you cannot be cured.
• Deuteronomy 28:35 The LORD will afflict you with painful, incurable boils on your knees and thighs, from the soles of your feet to the top of your head.
• Deuteronomy 28:45 All these curses will come upon you. They will pursue you and overtake you until you are destroyed, since you did not obey the LORD your God and keep the commandments and statutes He gave you.
• Deuteronomy 28:59–62 He will bring upon you and your descendants extraordinary disasters, severe and lasting plagues, and terrible and chronic sicknesses. He will afflict you again with all the diseases you dreaded in Egypt, and they will cling to you. The LORD will also bring upon you every sickness and plague not rec…

Quarantine

• Leviticus 13:2–5 “When someone has a swelling or rash or bright spot on his skin that may be an infectious skin disease, he must be brought to Aaron the priest or to one of his sons who is a priest. The priest is to examine the infection on his skin, and if the hair in the infection has turned white and the sore ap…
• Leviticus 13:31–33 But if the priest examines the scaly infection and it does not appear to be deeper than the skin, and there is no black hair in it, the priest shall isolate the infected person for seven days. On the seventh day the priest is to reexamine the infection, and if the scaly outbreak has not spread and…
• Leviticus 13:45–46 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 must live alone in a place outside the camp.
• Leviticus 14:2–3 “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,
• Leviticus 14:8 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.
• Leviticus 14:34–38 “When you enter the land of Canaan, which I am giving you as your possession, and I put a contamination of mildew into a house in that land, the owner of the house shall come and tell the priest, ‘Something like mildew has appeared in my house.’ The priest must order that the house be cleared befor…
• Leviticus 15:19 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.
• Numbers 5:2–3 “Command the Israelites to send away from the camp anyone with a skin disease, anyone who has a bodily discharge, and anyone who is defiled by a dead body. 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.”
• Numbers 31:11–20 and carried away all the plunder and spoils, both people and animals. They brought the captives, spoils, and plunder to Moses, to Eleazar the priest, and to the congregation of Israel at the camp on the plains of Moab, by the Jordan across from Jericho. And Moses, Eleazar the priest, and all the le…
• 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.

Instances of

• Numbers 12:10 As the cloud lifted from above the Tent, suddenly Miriam became leprous, white as snow. Aaron turned toward her, saw that she was leprous,
• Numbers 12:14–15 But the LORD answered Moses, “If her father had but spit in her face, would she not have been in disgrace for seven days? Let her be confined outside the camp for seven days; after that she may be brought back in.” So Miriam was confined outside the camp for seven days, and the people did not move…
• 2 Kings 7:3 Now there were four men with leprosy at the entrance of the city gate, and they said to one another, “Why just sit here until we die?
• 2 Kings 15:5 And the LORD afflicted the king with leprosy until the day he died, so that he lived in a separate house while his son Jotham had charge of the palace and governed the people of the land.
• 2 Chronicles 26:21 So King Uzziah was a leper until the day of his death. He lived in isolation, leprous and cut off from the house of the LORD, while his son Jotham had charge of the royal palace and governed the people of the land.
• Luke 17:12 As He entered one of the villages, He was met by ten lepers. They stood at a distance

Rest Commanded

• Exodus 20:9–11 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God, on which you must not do any work— neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant or livestock, nor the foreigner within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the hea…
• Exodus 31:13–17 “Tell the Israelites, ‘Surely you must keep My Sabbaths, for this will be a sign between Me and you for the generations to come, so that you may know that I am the LORD who sanctifies you. Keep the Sabbath, for it is holy to you. Anyone who profanes it must surely be put to death. Whoever does any…
• Exodus 34:21–22 Six days you shall labor, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even in the seasons of plowing and harvesting, you must rest. And you are to celebrate the Feast of Weeks with the firstfruits of the wheat harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering at the turn of the year.
• Exodus 35:2 For six days work may be done, but the seventh day shall be your holy day, a Sabbath of complete rest to the LORD. Whoever does any work on that day must be put to death.
• Leviticus 23:3–8 For six days work may be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of complete rest, a day of sacred assembly. You must not do any work; wherever you live, it is a Sabbath to the LORD. These are the LORD’s appointed feasts, the sacred assemblies you are to proclaim at their appointed times. The Passov…
• Leviticus 23:24–42 “Speak to the Israelites and say, ‘On the first day of the seventh month you are to have a day of rest, a sacred assembly announced by trumpet blasts. You must not do any regular work, but you are to present a food offering to the LORD.’” Again the LORD said to Moses, “The tenth day of this seventh…
• Leviticus 25:2–12 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: When you enter the land that I am giving you, the land itself must observe a Sabbath to the LORD. For six years you may sow your field and prune your vineyard and gather its crops. But in the seventh year there shall be a Sabbath of complete rest for the la…
• Numbers 9:2–3 “The Israelites are to observe the Passover at its appointed time. You are to observe it at the appointed time, at twilight on the fourteenth day of this month, in accordance with its statutes and ordinances.”
• Numbers 28:16–18 The fourteenth day of the first month is the LORD’s Passover. On the fifteenth day of this month, there shall be a feast; for seven days unleavened bread is to be eaten. On the first day there is to be a sacred assembly; you must not do any regular work.
• Numbers 28:25–26 On the seventh day you shall hold a sacred assembly; you must not do any regular work. On the day of firstfruits, when you present an offering of new grain to the LORD during the Feast of Weeks, you are to hold a sacred assembly; you must not do any regular work.

See Recreation

See Rest

See Sabbath

See Sabbatic Year

Uncleanness

• Leviticus 20:2–6 “Tell the Israelites, ‘Any Israelite or foreigner living in Israel who gives any of his children to Molech must be put to death. The people of the land are to stone him. 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 defile…
• Leviticus 20:10–21 If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife— with the wife of his neighbor— both the adulterer and the adulteress must surely be put to death. If a man lies with his father’s wife, he has uncovered his father’s nakedness. Both must surely be put to death; their blood is upon them. If a man li…
• Deuteronomy 27:20–23 ‘Cursed is he who sleeps with his father’s wife, for he has violated his father’s marriage bed.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’ ‘Cursed is he who lies with any animal.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’ ‘Cursed is he who sleeps with his sister, the daughter of his father or the daughter of h…

Venereal Diseases

• Leviticus 15:2–13 “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 with the discharge lies will be unclean…
• Leviticus 15:16–28 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…
• Leviticus 15:31–33 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, of a woman in her menstrual period, of any male or…
• 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,
• Leviticus 22:6 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.

Women in Childbirth

• 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.
• Leviticus 12:4–5 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. If, however, she gives birth to a daughter, the woman will be unclean for two weeks as she is during her men…

See Ablutions

See Defilement

See Leprosy

See Purification

See Uncleanness