“ ‘Whomever he who has the discharge touches, without having rinsed his hands in water, he shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening.
Parallel Translations
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“ ‘Whomever he who has the discharge touches, without having rinsed his hands in water, he shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening.
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And whomsoever he toucheth that hath the issue, and hath not rinsed his hands in water, he shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even.
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And whomsoever he that hath the issue toucheth, without having rinsed his hands in water, he shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even.
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Explain this verse (8 sources)
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Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain This may be understood, either,
This may be understood, either,
1. Of the person touching, if he that hath an issue toucheth another with unwashen hands. Thus most take it. But why then should it be limited to his hands? for if he had touched him by any other part, as suppose by kissing him, he had defiled him, though his hands had been washed. Or rather,
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2. Of the person touched, to whom the washing of his hands is prescribed as an easier way of cleansing himself, if speedily used; but if that was neglected or delayed, a more laborious course was enjoined him. And thus the Syriac interpreter understands it.
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 And whomsoever he toucheth that hath the issue,.... Not…
And whomsoever he toucheth that hath the issue,.... Not only he that touched him that had the issue, but whomsoever, and indeed whatsoever he touched, as the Targum of Jonathan, the Septuagint, and Arabic versions, were unclean; See Gill on Lev 15:4,
and hath not rinsed his hands in water; which is to be understood, not of the man that is touched, but of him that toucheth; and is interpreted by the Jewish writers, generally, of bathing the whole body; according to Aben Ezra, the simple sense is, every clean person, whom he that hath an issue touches and hath rinsed his hands, he is indeed unclean, but not his garments; and if his hands are not rinsed his garments are unclean, and this is as he that touches all that is under him; wherefore it follows:
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he shall wash his clothes, &c. that is, if a man is touched, as the Targum of Jonathan, and not a thing, as directed and prescribed in the above cases instanced in; all which are designed to instruct men to abstain from conservation with impure persons in doctrine and practice.
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 And hath not rinsed - That is, the person…
And hath not rinsed - That is, the person touched, to whom the washing of his hands is prescribed, if speedily done; but if that was neglected, a more labourious course was enjoined.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 11. And whomsoever he toucheth] Here we find…
Verse 11. And whomsoever he toucheth] Here we find that the saliva, sitting on the same seat, lying on the same bed, riding on the same saddle, or simple contact, was sufficient to render the person unclean, meaning, possibly, in certain cases, to communicate the disorder; and it is well known that in all these ways the contagion of this disorder may be communicated. Is it not even possible that the effluvia from the body of an infected person may be the means of communicating the disease? Sydenham expressly says that it may be communicated by lactation, handling, the saliva, sweat, and by the breath itself, as well as by those grosser means of which there is no question. But the term unclean, in this and the following cases, is generally understood in a mere legal sense, the rendering a person unfit for sacred ordinances. And as there was a mild kind of gonorrhoea that was brought on by excessive fatigue and the like, it may be that kind only which the law has in view in the above ordinances.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Such a one; the person under the disorder, unless…
Such a one; the person under the disorder, unless he have washed his hands.
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).
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 11. Rinsed his hands — It is generally understood…
11. Rinsed his hands — It is generally understood that this act refers to the diseased man. The Greek and Latin versions convey this meaning. The Hebrew is doubtful. The Syriac refers the hand rinsing to the person touched, though it is strange that he should be cleansed by washing his hands when some other part was touched.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 11. without having rinsed his hands in water] This…
11. without having rinsed his hands in water] This is the only case mentioned in the law where a person who is unclean can, by washing his hands, avoid communicating uncleanness to another.
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 (11) And hath not rinsed his hands in water.—If…
(11) And hath not rinsed his hands in water.—If the patient happens to touch any one with his hands without having first washed his hands, the man who has thus been touched by the unwashen hands of the defiled invalid contracts pollution till sundown of the day on which he has been touched. He has to wash his clothes and immerse his whole body in water before he can partake of the privileges of the sanctuary. This is the only instance where the touch of the hand as imparting defilement is expressly mentioned, and where the washing of the hands alone is ordered in the Mosaic-Law to prevent the communication of pollution. The washing of the hands over the heifer, ordered in Deu_21:6, is of a different kind. It is meant to renounce any share in the guilt of the murder, or rather, to protest their innocence.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.