If a man lies with a woman and there is an emission of semen, they shall both bathe themselves in water, and be unclean until the evening.
Parallel Translations
-
If a man lies with a woman and there is an emission of semen, they shall both bathe themselves in water, and be unclean until the evening.
-
The woman also with whom man shall lie with seed of copulation, they shall both bathe themselves in water, and be unclean until the even.
-
The woman also with whom a man shall lie carnally, they shall both bathe themselves in water, and be unclean until the even.
Cross-references (12)
Passages linked to Leviticus 15:18 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Exodus 19:15 He said to the people, “Be ready by the third day. Don’t have sexual relations with a woman.”
- Leviticus 15:5 Whoever touches his bed shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening.
- 1 Samuel 21:4-5 The priest answered David, and said, “I have no common bread, but there is holy bread; if only the young men have kept themselves from women.” David answered the priest, and said to him, “Truly, women have been kept from us as usual these three days. When I came out, the vessels of the young men were holy, though it was only a common journey. How much more then today shall their vessels be holy?”
- Psalms 51:5 Behold, I was born in iniquity. My mother conceived me in sin.
- 1 Corinthians 6:12 “All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are expedient. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be brought under the power of anything.
- 1 Corinthians 6:18 Flee sexual immorality! “Every sin that a man does is outside the body,” but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body.
- Ephesians 4:17-19 This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardening of their hearts. They, having become callous, gave themselves up to lust, to work all uncleanness with greediness.
- Ephesians 5:3-11 But sexual immorality, and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be mentioned among you, as becomes saints; nor filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not appropriate, but rather giving of thanks. Know this for sure, that no sexually immoral person, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words. For because of these things, the wrath of God comes on the children of disobedience. Therefore don’t be partakers with them. For you were once darkness, but are now light in the Lord. Walk as children of light, for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth, proving what is well pleasing to the Lord. Have no fellowship with the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but rather even reprove them.
- 1 Thessalonians 4:3-5 For this is the will of God: your sanctification, that you abstain from sexual immorality, that each one of you know how to control his own body in sanctification and honor, not in the passion of lust, even as the Gentiles who don’t know God,
- 2 Timothy 2:22 Flee from youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
- Hebrews 13:4 Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the bed be undefiled; but God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers.
- 1 Peter 2:11 Beloved, I beg you as foreigners and pilgrims, to abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (10 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Private notes
Saved on this device only — never synced or sent anywhere.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Lev 15:18 The woman also with whom man shall…
Lev 15:18 The woman also with whom man shall lie [with] seed of copulation, they shall [both] bathe [themselves] in water, and be unclean until the even.
Ver. 18. With seed of copulation.] Though lawful in itself, as being the ordinance of God. {Gen 2:24} Sin is like copperas, {a} which will turn wine or milk into ink; or leaven, which turns a very passover into pollution.
Read full note →
{a} A name given from early times to the protosulphates of copper, iron, and zinc (distinguished as blue, green, and white copperas respectively); etymologically it belonged properly to the copper salt; but in English use, when undistinguished by attribute or context, it has always been most commonly, and is now exclusively, applied to green copperas, the proto-sulphate of iron or ferrous sulphate (Fe Son 4:1-16), also called green vitriol, used in dyeing, tanning, and making ink.
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 Man, or, the man, to wit, that had such…
Man, or, the man, to wit, that had such an issue, which is plainly to be understood out, of the whole context. For though in some special cases, relating to the worship of God, men were to forbear the use of the marriage-bed, as Exo 19:15; 1Sa 21:4; yet to affirm that the use of it in other cases did generally defile the persons, and make them unclean till even, is contrary to the whole current of Scripture, which affirms the marriage-bed to be undefiled, Heb 13:4, to the practice of the Jews, which is a good comment upon their own laws, and to the light of nature and reason.
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 The woman also with whom man shall lie with…
The woman also with whom man shall lie with seed of copulation,.... It seems to respect any congress of a man and woman, whether in fornication or adultery, or lawful marriage, and particularly the latter; for though marriage is honourable and holy, and carnal copulation in itself lawful, yet such is the sinfulness of nature, that as no act is performed without pollution, so neither that of generation, and by which the corruption of nature is propagated, and therefore required a ceremonial cleansing:
they shall both bathe themselves in water, and be unclean until the even; so Herodotus (f) reports, that as often as a Babylonian man lay with his wife, he had used to sit by consecrated incense, and the woman did the same: and in the morning they were both washed, and did not touch any vessel before they had washed themselves; and he says the Arabians did the like: and the same historian relates (g) of the Egyptians, that they never go into their temples from their wives unwashed; see Exo 19:15.
Read full note →
(f) Clio, sive, l. 1. c. 198. (g) Euterpe, sive, l. 2. c. 64.
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 A man - Or, The man, that had such…
A man - Or, The man, that had such an issue, which is plainly to be understood out of the whole context. For though in some special cases relating to the worship of God, men were to forbear the use of the marriage-bed, yet to affirm that the use of it in other cases did generally defile the persons, and make them unclean till even, is contrary to the whole current of scripture, which affirms the marriage-bed to be undefiled, Heb. xiii, 4, to the practice of the Jews, which is a good comment upon their own laws, and to the light of nature and reason.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 18. They shall both bathe themselves] What a…
Verse 18. They shall both bathe themselves] What a wonderful tendency had these ordinances to prevent all excesses! The pains which such persons must take, the separations which they must observe, and the privations which, in consequence, they must be exposed to in the way of commerce, traffic, &c., would prevent them from making an unlawful use of lawful things.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 18. They shall both bathe — There are two…
18. They shall both bathe — There are two opinions respecting this verse. The first is, that it relates to the same pollution as Lev_15:16; the second, that it ascribes ceremonial impurity to the most intimate association of matrimony. Keil dissents from the latter opinion on grounds which seem to us insufficient. The design of this statute is doubtless not only to deter from polygamy and unlawful sexual intercourse, but also to set up a safeguard against conjugal excess, which is a sin against the law of the Creator written on the human body and mind. This verse intimates that David, in Psa_51:5, did not use an Oriental exaggeration. Pravity attaches to man from his conception to his death, unless he be sanctified throughout his “whole spirit and soul and body,” (1Th_5:23,) through faith in Christ. Every outflow of nature, even under the holiest sanctions, is not only defiled but defiling. From an impure fountain all the streams are polluting. Circumcision seems to imply that the moral impurity with which the fall of Adam had stained humanity, had concentrated itself in the sexual organs.
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 18. As unclean they could not take part in…
18. As unclean they could not take part in the service of the sanctuary. Similar limitations are found Exo_19:15; 1Sa_21:5 f.
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 (18) The woman also with whom man shall lie.—Better,…
(18) The woman also with whom man shall lie.—Better, And if a man lie with a woman, that is, even when what is specified in Lev_15:16 takes place in intercourse between man and woman lawfully married, it pollutes both the husband and the wife. They have accordingly both to immerse their whole bodies, and remain unclean till sundown, and were debarred from the privileges of the sanctuary during that day. Hence abstinence from conjugal intercourse was regarded as a necessary preparation for the performance of sacred duties. He who had approached his wife could not draw nigh to God (Exo_19:15), and was not allowed to partake of sacred meals. (Comp. 1Sa_21:5-6.) The law of pollution was not designed to put a check upon marriage, since matrimony is a Divine institution (Gen_1:27-28; Gen_2:21-25), but it is intended to prevent husband and wife from making an immoderate use of their conjugal life, and thus to preserve them in health and vigour by prescribing such constant purifications after it. This is probably the reason why other nations of antiquity enacted similar laws. Thus the Hindoos and the Babylonians bathed after conjugal intercourse. The Egyptian priests abstained from it when they had to perform sacred duties, and the laity were not allowed to enter the precincts of the Temple unless they submitted to ablutions. Mahommed, for the same reason, enjoins lustrations upon all the faithful before reciting their prayers.
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 The third case of an issue. (cf. Exo_19:15 1Sa_21:5…
The third case of an issue. (cf. Exo_19:15 1Sa_21:5 1Co_7:5)
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 15:18 If the seminal emission involved sexual intercourse, both…
15:18 If the seminal emission involved sexual intercourse, both the man and the woman became unclean and had to wash and remain unclean until the next evening. Although it involved a bodily emission, sexual intercourse was not an infection or abnormality, and it required no sacrifices.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.