The Daily Audio Bible

Statute for Cleansing Bodily Discharges

15 Yahweh also spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, ² “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘^(A)When any man has a discharge from his ^[a]body, ^[b]his discharge is unclean. ³ This, moreover, shall be his uncleanness in his discharge: it is his uncleanness whether his body allows its discharge to flow or whether his body obstructs its discharge. ⁴ Every bed on which the person with the discharge lies becomes unclean, and everything on which he sits becomes unclean. ⁵ Anyone, moreover, who touches his bed shall wash his clothes and bathe in water and be unclean until evening; ⁶ and whoever sits on the thing on which the man with the discharge has been sitting shall wash his clothes and bathe in water and be unclean until evening. ⁷ Also whoever touches the ^[c]person with the discharge shall wash his clothes and bathe in water and be unclean until evening. ⁸ Or if the man with the discharge spits on one who is clean, he too shall wash his clothes and bathe in water and be unclean until evening. ⁹ Every saddle on which the person with the discharge rides becomes unclean. ¹⁰ Whoever then touches any of the things which were under him shall be unclean until evening, and he who carries them shall wash his clothes and bathe in water and be unclean until evening. ¹¹ Likewise, whomever the one with the discharge touches without having rinsed his hands in water shall wash his clothes and bathe in water and be unclean until evening. ¹² However, an ^(B)earthenware vessel which the person with the discharge touches shall be broken, and every wooden vessel shall be rinsed in water.

¹³ ‘Now when the man with the discharge becomes cleansed from his discharge, then he ^(C)shall count off for himself seven days for his cleansing; he shall then wash his clothes and bathe his body in ^[d]running water and will become clean. ¹⁴ Then on the eighth day he shall take for himself ^(D)two turtledoves or two young pigeons and come before Yahweh to the doorway of the tent of meeting and give them to the priest; ¹⁵ and the priest shall offer them, ^(E)one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering. So ^(F)the priest shall make atonement on his behalf before Yahweh because of his discharge.

¹⁶ ‘^(G)Now if a ^[e]man has a seminal emission, he shall bathe all his body in water and be unclean until evening. ¹⁷ As for any garment or any leather on which there is seminal emission, it shall be washed with water and be unclean until evening. ¹⁸ If there is a woman with whom a man lies so that there is a seminal emission, they shall both bathe in water and be ^(H)unclean until evening.

¹⁹ ‘^(I)If a woman has a discharge, and her discharge in her body is blood, she shall continue in her menstrual impurity for seven days; and whoever touches her shall be unclean until evening. ²⁰ Everything also on which she lies during her menstrual impurity shall be unclean, and everything on which she sits shall be unclean. ²¹ And anyone who touches her bed shall wash his clothes and bathe in water and be unclean until evening. ²² And whoever touches any thing on which she sits shall wash his clothes and bathe in water and be unclean until evening. ²³ Whether it be on the bed or on the thing on which she is sitting, when he touches it, he shall be unclean until evening. ^24 (J)If a man actually lies with her so that her menstrual impurity is on him, he shall be unclean seven days, and every bed on which he lies shall be unclean.

²⁵ ‘^(K)Now if a woman has a discharge of her blood many days, not at the period of her menstrual impurity, or if she has a discharge beyond ^[f]that period, all the days of her unclean discharge she shall continue as though ^[g]in her menstrual impurity; she is unclean. ²⁶ Any bed on which she lies all the days of her discharge shall be to her like ^[h]her bed at menstruation; and every thing on which she sits shall be unclean, like her uncleanness from her menstrual impurity. ²⁷ Likewise, whoever touches them shall be unclean and shall wash his clothes and bathe in water and be unclean until evening. ²⁸ Now if she becomes clean from her discharge, she shall count off for herself seven days; and afterward she will be clean. ²⁹ Then on the eighth day she shall take for herself two turtledoves or two young pigeons and bring them in to the priest, to the doorway of the tent of meeting. ³⁰ And the priest shall ^[i]offer the ^(L)one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering. So the priest shall make atonement on her behalf before Yahweh because of her unclean discharge.’

³¹ “Thus you shall keep the sons of Israel separated from their uncleanness, so that they will not die in their uncleanness by ^(M)making My ^[j]tabernacle that is among them unclean.” ³² This is the law for the one with a discharge, and for the man ^[k]who has a seminal emission so that he is unclean by it, ³³ and for the woman who is ill because of menstrual impurity, and for the one who has a discharge, whether a male or a female, or a man who lies with an unclean woman.

The Day of Atonement

16 Now Yahweh spoke to Moses after ^(N)the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they came near the presence of Yahweh and died. ² And Yahweh said to Moses:

“Tell your brother Aaron that he shall not enter ^(O)at any time into the holy place inside the veil, before the ^[l]mercy seat which is on the ark, so that he will not die; for ^(P)I will appear in the cloud over the mercy seat. ³ Aaron shall enter the holy place with this: with a bull from the herd for a ^(Q)sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering. ⁴ He shall put on the ^(R)holy linen tunic, and the linen undergarments shall be next to his ^[m]body, and he shall be girded with the linen sash and attired with the linen turban (these are holy garments). Then he shall ^(S)bathe his ^[n]body in water and put them on. ⁵ And he shall take from the congregation of the sons of Israel ^(T)two male goats for a sin offering and one ram for a burnt offering. ⁶ Then ^(U)Aaron shall bring near the bull for the sin offering which is for himself, that he may make atonement for himself and for his household. ⁷ And he shall take the two goats and present them before Yahweh at the doorway of the tent of meeting. ⁸ And Aaron shall cast lots for the two goats, one lot for Yahweh and the other lot for the ^[o]scapegoat. ⁹ Then Aaron shall bring near the goat on which the lot for Yahweh fell, and he shall offer it as a sin offering. ¹⁰ But the goat on which the lot for the ^[p]scapegoat fell shall be presented alive before Yahweh, to make ^(V)atonement upon it, to send it out into the wilderness as the ^[q]scapegoat.

¹¹ “Then Aaron shall bring near the bull of the sin offering, ^(W)which is for himself, and make atonement for himself and ^(X)for his household, and he shall slaughter the bull of the sin offering which is for himself. ¹² And he shall take a ^(Y)firepan full of coals of fire from upon the altar before Yahweh and ^[r]two handfuls of finely ground ^(Z)fragrant incense, and bring it inside the veil. ¹³ And he shall put the incense on the fire before Yahweh, that the cloud of incense may cover the ^(AA)mercy seat that is on the ark of the testimony, ^(AB)so that he will not die. ¹⁴ Moreover, ^(AC)he shall take some of the blood of the bull and sprinkle it ^(AD)with his finger on the mercy seat on the east side; also in front of the mercy seat he shall sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times.

¹⁵ “Then he shall slaughter the goat of the sin offering ^(AE)which is for the people and bring its blood inside the veil and do with its blood as he did with the blood of the bull. And he shall sprinkle it on the mercy seat and in front of the mercy seat. ^16 (AF)So he shall make atonement for the holy place because of the uncleanness of the sons of Israel and because of their transgressions in regard to all their sins; and thus he shall do for the tent of meeting which abides with them in the midst of their uncleanness. ¹⁷ Now when he goes in to make atonement in the holy place, no one shall be in the tent of meeting until he comes out, that he may make atonement for himself and for his household and for all the assembly of Israel. ¹⁸ Then he shall go out to the altar that is before Yahweh and make atonement for it. And he shall take some of the blood of the bull and of the blood of the goat, and ^(AG)put it on the horns of the altar on all sides. ^19 (AH)With his finger he shall sprinkle some of the blood on it seven times and cleanse it and set it apart as holy from the uncleanness of the sons of Israel.

²⁰ “And when he finishes making atonement for the holy place and the tent of meeting and the altar, he shall bring near the live goat. ²¹ Then Aaron shall lay both of his hands on the head of the live goat, and ^(AI)confess over it all the iniquities of the sons of Israel and all their transgressions ^[s]in regard to all their sins; and he shall lay them on the head of the goat and send it out into the wilderness by the hand of a man ready to do this. ²² And the goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to an isolated land; and he shall send out the goat in the wilderness.

²³ “Then Aaron shall come into the tent of meeting and take off ^(AJ)the linen garments which he put on when he went into the holy place and shall leave them there. ^24 (AK)And he shall bathe his ^[t]body with water in a holy place and put on ^(AL)his clothes and come forth, and offer his burnt offering and the burnt offering of the people and make atonement for himself and for the people. ²⁵ Then he shall offer up in smoke the fat of the sin offering on the altar. ²⁶ And the one who sent the goat out as the ^[u]scapegoat ^(AM)shall wash his clothes and bathe his ^[v]body with water; then afterward he shall come into the camp. ²⁷ But the bull of the sin offering and the goat of the sin offering, ^(AN)whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the holy place, shall be taken outside the camp, and they shall burn their hides, their flesh, and their refuse in the fire. ²⁸ Then the ^(AO)one who burns them shall wash his clothes and bathe his body with water, and afterward he shall come into the camp.

God’s Commandments, Man’s Traditions

7 ^(A)And the Pharisees and some of the scribes *gathered around Him when they had come ^(B)from Jerusalem, ² and had seen that some of His disciples were eating their bread with ^(C)defiled hands, that is, unwashed. ³ (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they ^[a]carefully wash their hands, thus observing the ^(D)tradition of the elders; ⁴ and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they ^[b]wash themselves; and there are many other things which they have received in order to observe, such as the washing of ^(E)cups and pitchers and copper pots.) ⁵ And the Pharisees and the scribes *asked Him, “Why do Your disciples not walk according to the ^(F)tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with ^(G)defiled hands?” ⁶ And He said to them, “Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written:

⁸ Leaving the commandment of God, you hold to the ^(J)tradition of men.”

⁹ And He was also saying to them, “You are good at setting aside the commandment of God in order to keep your ^(K)tradition. ¹⁰ For Moses said, ‘^(L)Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘^(M)He who speaks evil of father or mother, is to ^[c]be put to death’; ¹¹ but you say, ‘If a man says to his father or his mother, whatever you might benefit from me is ^(N)Corban (that is to say, ^[d]given to God),’ ¹² you no longer leave him to do anything for his father or his mother; ¹³ thus invalidating the word of God by your ^(O)tradition which you have handed down; and you do many things such as that.”

The Heart of Man

¹⁴ And after He called the crowd to Him again, He began saying to them, “Listen to Me, all of you, and understand: ¹⁵ there is nothing outside the man which can defile him if it goes into him; but the things which proceed out of the man are what defile the man. ^16 [e][And if anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.”]

¹⁷ And when He had left the crowd and entered ^(P)the house, ^(Q)His disciples were asking Him about the parable. ¹⁸ And He *said to them, “Are you lacking understanding in this way as well? Do you not ^[f]perceive that whatever goes into the man from outside cannot defile him, ¹⁹ because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach, and goes to the sewer?” (Thus He declared ^(R)all foods ^(S)clean.) ²⁰ And He was saying, “^(T)That which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man. ²¹ For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, sexual immoralities, thefts, murders, adulteries, ²² coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, ^[g](U)envy, slander, ^[h]pride, and foolishness. ²³ All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man.”