Then Haggai said, “If one who is unclean by reason of a dead body touch any of these, will it be unclean?” The priests answered, “It will be unclean.”
Parallel Translations
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Then Haggai said, “If one who is unclean by reason of a dead body touch any of these, will it be unclean?” The priests answered, “It will be unclean.”
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Then said Haggai, If one that is unclean by a dead body touch any of these, shall it be unclean? And the priests answered and said, It shall be unclean.
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Then said Haggai: 'If one that is unclean by a dead body touch any of these, shall it be unclean?' And the priests answered and said: 'It shall be unclean.'
Cross-references (4)
Passages linked to Haggai 2:13 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Leviticus 22:4-6 “ ‘Whoever of the offspring of Aaron is a leper or has a discharge shall not eat of the holy things until he is clean. Whoever touches anything that is unclean by the dead, or a man who has a seminal emission, or whoever touches any creeping thing whereby he may be made unclean, or a man from whom he may become unclean, whatever uncleanness he has— the person that touches any such shall be unclean until the evening, and shall not eat of the holy things unless he bathes his body in water.
- Numbers 5:2-3 “Command the children of Israel that they put out of the camp every leper, everyone who has a discharge, and whoever is unclean by a corpse. You shall put both male and female outside of the camp so that they don’t defile their camp, in the midst of which I dwell.”
- Numbers 9:6-10 There were certain men, who were unclean because of the dead body of a man, so that they could not keep the Passover on that day, and they came before Moses and Aaron on that day. Those men said to him, “We are unclean because of the dead body of a man. Why are we kept back, that we may not offer the offering of Yahweh in its appointed season among the children of Israel?” Moses answered them, “Wait, that I may hear what Yahweh will command concerning you.” Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, “Say to the children of Israel, ‘If any man of you or of your generations is unclean by reason of a dead body, or is on a journey far away, he shall still keep the Passover to Yahweh.
- Numbers 19:11-22 “He who touches the dead body of any man shall be unclean seven days. He shall purify himself with water on the third day, and on the seventh day he shall be clean; but if he doesn’t purify himself the third day, then the seventh day he shall not be clean. Whoever touches a dead person, the body of a man who has died, and doesn’t purify himself, defiles Yahweh’s tabernacle; and that soul shall be cut off from Israel; because the water for impurity was not sprinkled on him, he shall be unclean. His uncleanness is yet on him. “This is the law when a man dies in a tent: everyone who comes into the tent, and everyone who is in the tent, shall be unclean seven days. Every open vessel, which has no covering bound on it, is unclean. “Whoever in the open field touches one who is slain with a sword, or a dead body, or a bone of a man, or a grave, shall be unclean seven days. “For the unclean, they shall take of the ashes of the burning of the sin offering; and running water shall be poured on them in a vessel. A clean person shall take hyssop, dip it in the water, and sprinkle it on the tent, on all the vessels, on the persons who were there, and on him who touched the bone, or the slain, or the dead, or the grave. The clean person shall sprinkle on the unclean on the third day, and on the seventh day. On the seventh day, he shall purify him. He shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water, and shall be clean at evening. But the man who shall be unclean, and shall not purify himself, that soul shall be cut off from among the assembly, because he has defiled the sanctuary of Yahweh. The water for impurity has not been sprinkled on him. He is unclean. It shall be a perpetual statute to them. He who sprinkles the water for impurity shall wash his clothes, and he who touches the water for impurity shall be unclean until evening. “Whatever the unclean person touches shall be unclean; and the soul that touches it shall be unclean until evening.”
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (12 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain That is, the flesh of the sacrifices, whereby he…
That is, the flesh of the sacrifices, whereby he signifieth that thing which of itself is good, cannot make another thing so: and therefore they ought not to justify themselves by their sacrifices and ceremonies: but contrary he that is unclean and not pure of heart, doth corrupt those things and make them detestable unto God, which else are good and godly.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Hag 2:13 Then said Haggai, If [one that is]…
Hag 2:13 Then said Haggai, If [one that is] unclean by a dead body touch any of these, shall it be unclean? And the priests answered and said, It shall be unclean.
Ver. 13. If one that is unclean by a dead body] With a ceremonial uncleanness. The Hebrew hath it thus, If one that is unclean in soul, that is, in his whole person, as every wicked man is totus totus pollutus, wholly covered with corruption, a loathsome leper from head to foot, wholly set upon sin, as Exo 32:22, lying down in wickedness, or in that wicked one, 1Jn 5:19, sick of such a disease as the physicians call corruptionem totius substantiae, nay, dead in sins and trespasses, Eph 2:1; and can therefore do no better than dead work at best, Heb 9:14, such as the living God will not be served with. {See Trapp on "Mal 3:16"} doct. 4, use 1. He is unclean, unclean, and impureth all that he toucheth, according to that which followeth.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Now the second case is proposed for resolution, &c.
Now the second case is proposed for resolution, &c.
If one that is unclean; ceremonially or legally polluted, and unclean.
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By a dead body; for such touch, though at unawares, did pollute, Num 19:13.
Touch any of these; bread or pottage, wine, or oil, or meat.
Shall it be unclean? shall that which the unclean (by touch of the dead) doth touch become unclean, or no? Though a mediate touch of what is holy will not make holy, yet will not a mediate touch of what is polluted defile whatsoever it toucheth?
It shall be unclean; it is resolved affirmatively, It shall be polluted.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Then answered Haggai, and said,.... To the priests, and…
Then answered Haggai, and said,.... To the priests, and before the people; and made an application of these things to them, which was the thing in view in putting the questions:
So is this people, and so is this nation before me, saith the Lord; not only those people that were present and at work at the temple, but those that were absent, even the whole body of the people; who, though they were pure in their own eyes, yet were not so before the Lord; who knew their hearts, and the spring of all their actions; what were their ends and views in all they did: as a garment carrying in it holy flesh could not sanctify other things touched by it that were common and profane, but left them as they were; so their ritual devotions, and externally holy actions, did not and could not sanctify their impure hearts, but left them as unclean as before; nor did they sanctify their common mercies, their bread, pottage, wine, and oil: and, on the other hand, as an impure person made everything impure he touched; so they, being impure in heart, all their actions, even their religious ones, were impure also, as follows:
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and so is every work of their hands; and that which they offer there is unclean; pointing at the altar, which they had built, and offered sacrifice on ever since they came out of Babylon, though the temple was not yet built, Ezr 3:3 but all their outward religious services, and all the sacrifices they offered up, were in the Lord's account impure and abominable, as well as themselves; coming from an unsanctified heart, and offered up with unclean hands, and without repentance towards God, and faith in Christ; and living in other respects in disobedience to God, and especially while they neglected the building of the temple; satisfying themselves with offering sacrifices on the altar, when the house of God lay desolate; which is the principal thing respected, as appears by what follows.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Said - Now the second case is proposed. These…
Said - Now the second case is proposed. These - Bread or pottage, wine or oil, or meat. Unclean - Shall that which the unclean doth touch, become unclean? Though a mediate touch of what is holy will not make holy, yet will not a mediate touch of what is polluted defile?
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain No, conformably to Leviticus vi. 27. (Menochius) --- What…
No, conformably to Leviticus vi. 27. (Menochius) --- What the linen covered could not render other things sacred. The victim must come in immediate contact with them, to have this effect. (Haydock) --- Those who had touched the dead, rendered both holy and common things unclean for others. There were two sorts of sanctified meat: the victims for sin, which the priests on duty alone could eat, (Leviticus vii. 1, 6.) and the peace-offerings, of which all who were clean might partake, Leviticus xix. The former alone sanctified what they touched. Both must be burnt if they touched any thing unclean, while ordinary food in the same predicament might be consumed by people in mourning, &c. (Calmet) --- That which touched a holy things was sanctified, (Leviticus vi. 18.) but that thing did not sanctify others; so the people, by touching the sacrifices, were only legally holy, and therefore their victims were not acceptable to the Lord as long as they did not comply with their duty of building his temple. (Worthington)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On the other hand, a legally "unclean" person imparts…
On the other hand, a legally "unclean" person imparts his uncleanness to any thing, whereas a legally holy thing cannot confer its sanctity on an "unclean" person (Num 19:11, Num 19:13, Num 19:22). Legal sanctity is not so readily communicated as legal impurity. So the paths to sin are manifold: the paths to holiness one, and that one of difficult access [GROTIUS]. One drop of filth will defile a vase of water: many drops of water will not purity a vase of filth [MOORE].
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 13. unclean by a dead body] Lit. unclean by…
13. unclean by a dead body] Lit. unclean by a person. The full phrase, “a dead person, or body,” occurs Lev_21:11; Num_6:6; but the word “dead” is often left to be understood as here and Lev_21:1; Lev_22:4. The law of ceremonial uncleanness as attaching to death (under which there lay, no doubt, the moral idea that death polluted because it was the offspring and the wages of sin) is found in Num_19:11-22.
shall it be unclean?] as clearly laid down in Num_19:22. Compare, for the moral counterpart, Jas_2:10, where Dean Plumptre observes: “This seems at first of the nature of an ethical paradox, but practically it states a deep moral truth. If we wilfully transgress one commandment we shew that in principle we sit loose to all. It is but accident, or fear, or the absence of temptation, that prevents our transgressing them also. Actual transgression in one case involves potential transgression in all.” Camb. Bible for Schools, St James, p. 68.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (13) Unclean.—The defilement incurred by contact with a dead…
(13) Unclean.—The defilement incurred by contact with a dead body was one of the deepest. (See Num_19:11-16.) On the force of the term tmê nephesh, compare the passages Lev_21:11; Lev_22:4; Num_6:6.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Unclean by a dead body; Septuagint, ajkaqartov ejpi yuch|:…
Unclean by a dead body; Septuagint, ajkaqartov ejpi yuch|: Vulgate. pollutus in anima. These versions are closer to the Hebrew, "unclean by a soul," than the Authorized Version, but not so intelligible. "Soul" ( nephesh) is used to mean a person, and, with the attribute "dead" understood, a corpse, as Lev_21:1. The full phrase is found in Num_6:6, Num_6:11. Contact with a dead body produced the gravest ceremonial uncleanness, which lasted seven days, and could be purged only by a double lustration and other rites. (Num_19:11, etc.) This uncleanness was doubtless connected with the idea that death was the result of sin. Any of these. The things mentioned in the preceding verse. It shall be unclean. In accordance with Num_19:22 A polluted human being communicated his pollution to all that he touched. It was owing to the defilement that accompanied contact with the dead that the later Jews used to whiten the sepulchres every year, that they might be seen and avoided. (Mat_23:27, and Lightfoot, "Her. Hebr." in loc. )
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 because of death
because of death
"because he has touched a dead body"
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So Haggai answered and said, "So it is ... is unclean
Haggai answers the priests with the words that Yahweh told Haggai to tell the priests. AT: "So Haggai answered and told them Yahweh's words: 'So it is ... is unclean"
So it is with this people and this nation before me
"I look at this people and this nation the same way." Yahweh reminds the priests that a clean thing that touches an unclean thing becomes unclean. He then reminds them that he thinks of them as unclean because they have been worshiping idols, and so everything they touch and make becomes unclean.
this is Yahweh's declaration
Yahweh speaks of himself by name to express the certainty of what he is declaring. See how you translated this in Haggai 1:9. AT: "this is what Yahweh has declared" or "this is what I, Yahweh, have declared" (See: First, Second, or Third Person)
translationWords
clean
die
people group
nation
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 2:13 Ceremonial uncleanness is transmitted much more easily than…
2:13 Ceremonial uncleanness is transmitted much more easily than ceremonial purity. Anyone touching a corpse became defiled and thus unclean. Anything touched by a ceremonially unclean person was also rendered impure (see Num 19:11-13, 22). Haggai applies this in Hag 2:14.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.