“ ‘If any man has an emission of semen, then he shall bathe all his flesh in water, and be unclean until the evening.
To immerse in a mikveh to become ritually pure
The cited verse
The Hebrew (Masoretic Text)
וְרָחַ֥ץ בַּמַּ֖יִם אֶת־כָּל־בְּשָׂר֑וֹ וְטָמֵ֖א עַד־הָעָֽרֶב
In Maimonides’ words
How Maimonides defines this commandment in his Sefer HaMitzvot — his own words, shown as a primary source.
היא שצונו שנטבול במי מקוה ואז נטהר מאיזה מין ממיני טומאות שנטמאו בה, והוא אמרו יתברך ורחץ במים ובאה הקבלה מים שכל גופו עולה בהם והוא שעור מקוה אלא אם כן יהיו מים נובעים שאין להם שעור, כמו שהתבאר בדקדוק מצוה זו. ומתנאיה שהזב בלבד יהיו המים שיטהר בהן נובעין כמו שבא בתורה מים חיים, ואין הכוונה במאמר הטבילה מצות עשה שיהא חייב כל טמא שיטהר על כל פנים כמו שהוא חייב כל מי שיתכסה בכסות שיעשה ציצית או כל מי שיש לו בית שיעשה לו מעקה. ואולם הנרצה בזה דין טבילה והיות התורה אומרת לנו כי מי שירצה ליטהר מטומאתו הנה לא ישלם לו זה אלא בטבילה במים ואז יטהר. ולשון ספרי ורחץ במים יכול גזרת מלך תלמוד לומר ואחר יבא אל המחנה מפני הטומאה. רומז אל זה השרש שבארנו כי הוא דין לבד שכל מי שירצה לטהר יעשה כך, וזה הדין הוא המצוה, ואולם לא שיהיה חייב טבילה על כל פנים אבל מי שירצה להשאר בטומאתו ולא יכנס זמן רב למחנה שכינה הרשות בידו. וכבר בא בלשון ספרי האמת שכל מי שנטמא ויטבול שהוא נטהר אבל לא תשלם טהרתו עד שיעריב שמשו, וכן בא בפירוש המקובל שצריך שיטבול וגופו ערום נוגע בשטח המים שלא יהיה דבר חוצץ בינו ובין המים. הנה התבאר לך מצוה זו והיא מצות טבילה כוללת משפטי המקוה ומשפטי הרחיצה ומשפטי טבול יום. ומצוה זו מבוארת במסכת מקואות ובמסכת טבול יום. (מצורע, טהרה הלכות מקואות באחד עשר פרקים):
That is that He commanded us that we immerse in the mikveh waters, and that we then become pure from one of the various types of impurities with which we have become impure. And that is His, may He be blessed, saying, "and he shall bathe in water" (Leviticus 15:16). And it comes in the tradition that it is water that all of one's body can enter, and that is the measurement of a mikveh - unless the waters are running waters, which have no measurement; as is explained in the analysis of this commandment. And it is among the stipulations specifically for the zav, that the waters that purify him be running - as in the Torah, it says, "living waters" (Leviticus 15:13). And the intention of the statement that immersion is a positive commandment is not that anyone impure is obligated to perforce be purified, in the same way that anyone covered by a cloak must make tzitzit, or anyone with a home must make a parapet. Rather what is intended is the law of immersion - and that is that the Torah told us that anyone who wants to be purified from his impurity will only complete it with immersion in water; and he will then be purified. And the language of the [Sifra] (Sifra, Acharei Mot, Section 5:3) is, "'And he shall bathe [...] in water' (Leviticus 16:26) - I might think that it is a decree of the King (that he must immerse). [Hence] we learn to say, 'and then he may come to the camp' - from his impurity." This hints to the principle that we have explained - that the law is only that anyone who wants to become pure do this. That is the law, and that is the commandment - and not that he be obligated perforce to immerse. Rather, anyone who wants to remain impure and not enter the camp of the Divine Presence for a certain time is allowed [to do so]. And it has already appeared in the books of truth that one who becomes impure and immerses is purified, but he does not complete his purification until the sun goes down for him. And it also appears in the accepted tradition that when he immerses, his naked flesh must be in contact with the water itself and that there not be anything separating between him and the water. Behold this commandment has been explained to you - and that is the commandment of immersion; and it includes the regulations of the mikveh, the regulations of bathing and the regulations of one who has immersed that day (before sunset). And this law is explained in Tractate Mikvaot and in Tractate Tevul Yom. (See Parashat Metzora Mishneh Torah, Immersion Pools 1-11)
Hebrew: Sefer HaMitzvot, Warsaw 1883 (public domain). English: Sefaria Edition, trans. Rabbi Francis Nataf, 2021 (CC0). Via Sefaria; translator’s footnotes omitted.
Literary form: a ritual instruction
Applicability
How the catalog describes where and when this commandment applies. These are independent descriptions, not a verdict on which laws still count.
- Recorded as practiced today
Classical halakhic consequences
The consequences the classical halakhah attaches to this commandment, grouped by who imposes them. Where a category has none recorded, that absence is itself meaningful.
Imposed by a court
No court-imposed penalty is recorded.
At the hands of Heaven
No divinely-imposed consequence is recorded.
Ritual remedy
No ritual remedy is recorded.
How the streams of Judaism treat this commandment
The streams of Judaism read the same commandment differently — an ongoing plurality, not a ranking. Each position below is reported as the catalog records it; none is presented as the correct one.
- Orthodox Binding
- Conservative Binding, with modification
- Reform Kept as an ethical principle
- Reconstructionist Not binding
- Karaite As the catalog records it: binding with modification (biblical bathing affirmed; rabbinic mikveh halakhah of 40 se'ah/drawn water/hashaqah rejected as Oral Law construction)
24 of 613 commandments have been examined in depth so far — this one is queued.
How later traditions received this commandment
How later traditions read or reworked this commandment, each attributed to its own voice. The catalog’s own classification of each reception is shown as it records it, never adopted as GEBible’s.
Qumran (the Dead Sea Scrolls)
- 1QS 3:4-9 read it more strictly
- CD 10:10-13 read it more strictly
- 4Q414 (Ritual of Purification) The catalog describes this reception as: liturgical elaboration
Rabbinic aggadah
- Mishnah Yoma 8:9 The catalog describes this reception as: aggadic/allegorical homily R. Akiva's wordplay reading God as the 'mikveh of Israel' (Jer 17:13) — an aggadic homily on the verb q-w-h, not a halakhic derivation of immersion law
Philo of Alexandria
- De Specialibus Legibus 1.257-261 read it allegorically
- De Specialibus Legibus 3.205-209 read it allegorically
Josephus
- Antiquities 3.262-264 rationalized it
- Jewish War 2.129 carried a parallel
The New Testament
- John 2:6 carried a parallel stone water jars 'for the Jewish rites of purification' presuppose immersion-related purity practice
- Mark 7:3-4 The catalog describes this reception as: polemically engaged critiques Pharisaic tradition-of-the-elders washing/immersion customs rather than the biblical immersion law itself
- Hebrews 9:10 treated it as abrogated refers to 'various baptisms' (baptismois) as fleshly ordinances superseded
The Church Fathers
- Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho 14 rejected it polemically
- Tertullian, De Baptismo 5 reinterpreted it
The Qur'an and hadith
- Q 5:6 carried a parallel
- Q 4:43 carried a parallel
Where this commandment meets modern human-rights frameworks
One modern normative lens, attributed to it — not GEBible’s assessment. Each row names the framework it measures against and the catalog’s own classification of the relation.
This framework catalogues tensions; it records agreement in only one of its entries. The near-total tension rate is the shape of the instrument, not a finding.
No tension with the catalogued modern frameworks is recorded here.