Word study
Purification
4 Hebrew and 2 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “purification”. English often uses one word where Hebrew or Greek has several, each with its own shade of meaning. Under each word are verses where it is translated this way; choose the word itself for its full study: every verse, how else it is translated, the forms it takes and what the dictionaries say.
At a glance
How often each original word is translated “purification” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side Compare the Greek words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- טׇהֳרָה ṭohŏrâhpurifying, cleansingtranslated this way 7 times of its 15 uses · Strong’s H2893Noun · Translated: purification 6, cleansing 6, cost of his cleansing 1, according to the purification 1Full study and all 14 verses →
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.
1 Chronicles 23:28 but their duty was to assist the descendants of Aaron with the service of the house of the LORD, being responsible for the courts and chambers, the purification of all the holy things, and the work of the service of the house of God,
- נִדָּה niddâhimpuritytranslated this way 3 times of its 26 uses · Strong’s H5079Noun · Translated: menstruation 4, menstrual period 3, purification 3, of 3Full study and all 22 verses →
Numbers 19:9 Then a man who is ceremonially clean is to gather up the ashes of the heifer and store them in a ceremonially clean place outside the camp. They must be kept by the congregation of Israel for preparing the water of purification; this is for purification from sin.
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.
- חַטָּאָה chaṭṭââhoffence, penalty, occasiontranslated this way 2 times of its 292 uses · Strong’s H2403Noun · Translated: sin offering 108, sin 83, sins 73, sin offerings 8Full study and all 271 verses →
Numbers 8:7 This is what you must do to cleanse them: Sprinkle them with the water of purification. Have them shave their whole bodies and wash their clothes, and so purify themselves.
Numbers 19:9 Then a man who is ceremonially clean is to gather up the ashes of the heifer and store them in a ceremonially clean place outside the camp. They must be kept by the congregation of Israel for preparing the water of purification; this is for purification from sin.
- חָטָא châṭâmisstranslated this way 1 time of its 233 uses · Strong’s H2398Verb · Translated: sinned 73, sin 33, committed 26, sins 21Full study and all 217 verses →
Ezekiel 43:23 When you have finished the purification, you are to present a young, unblemished bull and an unblemished ram from the flock.
Greek words (New Testament)
- καθαρισμός katharismóscleansing, purifying, purificationtranslated this way 3 times of its 7 uses · Strong’s G2512Noun · Translated: purification 3, cleansing 2, ceremonial washing 1, cleansed 1Full study and all 7 verses →
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
John 2:6 Now six stone water jars had been set there for the Jewish rites of purification. Each could hold from twenty to thirty gallons.
- ἁγνισμός hagnismóspurificationtranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s G49Noun · Translated: purification 1Full study and its 1 verse →
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.
How to study a word well
- Start from the verse, not the dictionary. Find which Hebrew or Greek word stands in the verse you are studying. One English word often translates several different original words.
- Read every place the word is used. A word means what its writers used it to mean. The list of verses and the count by book show its range, and who uses it most.
- Look at how it is translated. A word rendered five different ways has a wider meaning than any one English word can carry.
- Notice the form. A command is not a statement, and a passive verb is something done to the subject. The form in your verse is part of the meaning.
- See what it keeps company with. The words that appear beside it again and again show how the Bible itself connects ideas.
- Then read the dictionaries. They give the considered view of scholars, with their evidence.
- Come back to the verse. Context decides. A word does not carry every one of its meanings into every verse, and where a word came from does not settle what it means in a sentence written centuries later.
What the Bible says about purification: passages by topic →
Scripture text and translation counts: Berean Standard Bible. Full entry: Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906, public domain), in the digital edition Brown-Driver-Briggs Enhanced by unfoldingWord (Joel Ruark, J. de Joode), based on data by Eliran Wong and Stephen Ku; its additions are used under CC BY 4.0. Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary: Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible Project, CC BY 4.0. Hebrew-to-English verse numbering: original work of the Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible available at https://github.com/openscriptures/morphhb, CC BY 4.0. We reformatted the data, linked the references to this site’s Bible text and left out words in other scripts that the source holds only as images. These are historical reference works; an entry gives its authors’ view, and a word’s meaning in any verse depends on how it is used there.