# Leviticus 15 📖: Bodily Discharges [[📚 Explore the Bible Books]] [[-Leviticus Overview]] | [[Leviticus 14]] | [[Leviticus 16]] > [!info] Table of Contents > [[#📜 Scripture Text (NET)]] > [[#📖 Verse-by-Verse Commentary]] > [[#🤔 Interesting Facts / Historical and Cultural Insights]] > [[#🧠 Chapter Summary]] > [[#✝️ Christ in This Chapter]] > [[#🔎 Key Principles / 🛟 Life Application]] > [[#💬 Discussion Questions]] > [[#✍️ Key Verses to Remember]] > [[#🔗 Related Passages/Cross Reference]] > [[#🙏 Devotional Reflection]] > [[#📂 Internal Notes]] ## 📜 Scripture Text (NET) (The NET Bible: New English Translation. Biblical Studies Press, 2005) ### Male Bodily Discharges [[#Verse 01.]] The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron:  [[#Verse 02.]] “Speak to the Israelites and tell them, ‘When any man has a discharge from his body, his discharge is unclean.  [[#Verse 03.]] Now this is his uncleanness in regard to his discharge—whether his body secretes his discharge or blocks his discharge, he is unclean. All the days that his body has a discharge or his body blocks his discharge, this is his uncleanness. [[#Verse 04.]] “‘Any bed the man with a discharge lies on will be unclean, and any furniture he sits on will be unclean.  [[#Verse 05.]] Anyone who touches his bed must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening.  [[#Verse 06.]]6 The one who sits on the furniture the man with a discharge sits on must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening.  [[#Verse 07.]] The one who touches the body of the man with a discharge must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening.  [[#Verse 08.]] If the man with a discharge spits on a person who is ceremonially clean, that person must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening.  [[#Verse 09.]] Any means of riding that the man with a discharge rides on will be unclean.  [[#Verse 10.]] Anyone who touches anything that was under him will be unclean until evening, and the one who carries those items must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening.  [[#Verse 11.]] Anyone whom the man with the discharge touches without having rinsed his hands in water must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening.  [[#Verse 12.]] A clay vessel which the man with the discharge touches must be broken, and any wooden utensil must be rinsed in water. ### Purity Regulations for Male Bodily Discharges [[#Verse 13.]] “‘When the man with the discharge becomes clean from his discharge he is to count off for himself seven days for his purification, and he must wash his clothes, bathe in fresh water, and be clean.  [[#Verse 14.]] Then on the eighth day he is to take for himself two turtledoves or two young pigeons, and he is to present himself before the Lord at the entrance of the Meeting Tent and give them to the priest,  [[#Verse 15.]] and the priest is to make one of them a sin offering and the other a burnt offering. So the priest is to make atonement for him before the Lord for his discharge. [[#Verse 16.]] “‘When a man has a seminal emission, he must bathe his whole body in water and be unclean until evening,  [[#Verse 17.]] and he must wash in water any clothing or leather that has semen on it, and it will be unclean until evening.  [[#Verse 18.]] As for a woman whom a man goes to bed with, then has a seminal emission, they must bathe in water and be unclean until evening. ### Female Bodily Discharges [[#Verse 19.]] “‘When a woman has a discharge and her discharge is blood from her body, she is to be in her menstruation seven days, and anyone who touches her will be unclean until evening.  [[#Verse 20.]] Anything she lies on during her menstruation will be unclean, and anything she sits on will be unclean.  [[#Verse 21.]] Anyone who touches her bed must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening.  [[#Verse 22.]] Anyone who touches any furniture she sits on must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening.  [[#Verse 23.]] If there is something on the bed or on the furniture she sits on, when he touches it he will be unclean until evening,  [[#Verse 24.]] and if a man actually goes to bed with her so that her menstrual impurity touches him, then he will be unclean seven days and any bed he lies on will be unclean. [[#Verse 25.]] “‘When a woman’s discharge of blood flows many days not at the time of her menstruation, or if it flows beyond the time of her menstruation, all the days of her discharge of impurity will be like the days of her menstruation—she is unclean. [[#Verse 26.]] Any bed she lies on all the days of her discharge will be to her like the bed of her menstruation, any furniture she sits on will be unclean like the impurity of her menstruation,  [[#Verse 27.]] and anyone who touches them will be unclean, and he must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. ### Purity Regulations for Female Bodily Discharges [[#Verse 28.]] “‘If she becomes clean from her discharge, then she is to count off for herself seven days, and afterward she will be clean.  [[#Verse 29.]] Then on the eighth day she must take for herself two turtledoves or two young pigeons and she must bring them to the priest at the entrance of the Meeting Tent,  [[#Verse 30.]] and the priest is to make one a sin offering and the other a burnt offering. So the priest is to make atonement for her before the Lord from her discharge of impurity. ### Summary of Purification Regulations for Bodily Discharges [[#Verse 31.]] “‘Thus you are to set the Israelites apart from their impurity so that they do not die in their impurity by defiling my tabernacle which is in their midst.  [[#Verse 32.]] This is the law for the one with a discharge: for the one who has a seminal emission and becomes unclean by it,  [[#Verse 34.]] for the one who is sick in her menstruation, for the one with a discharge, whether male or female, and for a man who goes to bed with an unclean woman.’” ## 📖 Verse-by-Verse Commentary ###### Overall. ###### Verse 01. ###### Verse 02. ###### Verse 03. ###### Verse 04. ###### Verse 05. ###### Verse 06. ###### Verse 07. ###### Verse 08. ###### Verse 09. ###### Verse 10. ###### Verse 11. ###### Verse 12. ###### Verse 13. ###### Verse 14. ###### Verse 15. ###### Verse 16. ###### Verse 17. ###### Verse 18. ###### Verse 19. ###### Verse 20. ###### Verse 21. ###### Verse 22. ###### Verse 23. ###### Verse 24. ###### Verse 25. ###### Verse 26. ###### Verse 27. ###### Verse 28. ###### Verse 29. ###### Verse 30. ###### Verse 31. ###### Verse 32. ###### Verse 33. ###### Verse 34. ## 🤔 Interesting Facts / Historical and Cultural Insights 1. The chapter is arranged in a mirror pattern: a man's long-term discharge, a man's normal emission, a woman's normal cycle, and a woman's long-term discharge. 2. The uncleanness described here is ritual, not sinful. 3. Normal emissions required washing, and the uncleanness lasted until evening (15:16-18). 4. Abnormal discharges required waiting seven days after healing and then bringing two birds as offerings (15:13-15, 28-30). 5. The washing after healing was to be done in "running water," literally "living water" (15:13). 6. A clay pot touched by a man with a discharge had to be broken, but a wooden one could be rinsed (15:12). 7. A woman's monthly impurity lasted seven days (15:19). 8. The woman Jesus healed in Mark 5 had suffered for twelve years (Mark 5:25). 9. She touched the edge of Jesus' cloak (Luke 8:44), likely the tassel commanded in Numbers 15:38. 10. Verse 31 states the purpose of these laws: to keep Israel from dying by defiling the Lord's dwelling among them. ## 🧠 Chapter Summary > [!note] 🌱 Still growing. This section is on its way. ## ✝️ Christ in This Chapter Christ is the One who makes the unclean whole. Under this law a woman with a long-term flow of blood was unclean (15:25), but when such a woman touched Jesus, she was healed and He called her "Daughter" (Mark 5:25-34). ## 🔎 Key Principles / 🛟 Life Application > [!note] 🌱 Still growing. This section is on its way. ## 💬 Discussion Questions 1. These laws touch the most private parts of life. What does that say about God's concern for every area of our lives, including our bodies? 2. Uncleanness could pass to others through touch (15:4-12). How does this help explain why the woman in Mark 5 came to Jesus quietly? 3. God warned that uncleanness could defile His tabernacle among them (15:31). Why was the holiness of God's dwelling so important? ## ✍️ Key Verses to Remember - 📖 verse 2: Instructions for a man with a bodily discharge. - 📖 verse 25: A woman with a long-term flow of blood is unclean. - 📖 verse 31: Israel must be kept separate from uncleanness so they do not defile the Lord's tabernacle. ## 🔗 Related Passages/Cross Reference - 🔗 [[Mark 05#Verse 25.|Mark 5:25-34]] - A woman is healed by touching Jesus. - 🔗 [[Luke 08#Verse 43.|Luke 8:43-48]] - Daughter, your faith has made you well. - 🔗 [[Hebrews 10#Verse 22.|Hebrews 10:22]] - Our bodies washed with pure water. - 🔗 [[2 Corinthians 07#Verse 01.|2 Corinthians 7:1]] - Cleanse ourselves from all defilement. - 🔗 [[Ezekiel 36#Verse 25.|Ezekiel 36:25]] - I will sprinkle clean water on you. ## 🙏 Devotional Reflection > [!note] 🌱 Still growing. This section is on its way. ## 📂 Internal Notes