Imamat 15:3

15:3 Now this is his uncleanness in regard to his discharge ¹  – whether his body secretes his discharge or blocks his discharge, he is unclean. All the days that his body has a discharge or his body blocks his discharge, ²  this is his uncleanness. ³ 

Imamat 15:28

Purity Regulations from Female Bodily Discharges

15:28 “‘If ⁴  she becomes clean from her discharge, then she is to count off for herself seven days, and afterward she will be clean.

Imamat 15:33

15:33 the one who is sick in her menstruation, the one with a discharge, whether male or female, ⁵  and a man ⁶  who has sexual intercourse with an unclean woman.’”

Imamat 15:25

15:25 “‘When a woman’s discharge of blood flows ⁷  many days not at the time of her menstruation, or if it flows beyond the time of her menstruation, ⁸  all the days of her discharge of impurity will be like the days of her menstruation – she is unclean.

Imamat 15:2

15:2 “Speak to the Israelites and tell them, ‘When any man ⁹  has a discharge ¹⁰  from his body, ¹¹  his discharge is unclean.

Imamat 15:13

Purity Regulations for Male Bodily Discharges

15:13 “‘When the man with the discharge becomes clean from his discharge he is to count off for himself seven days for his purification, and he must wash his clothes, bathe in fresh water, ¹²  and be clean.

Imamat 15:15

15:15 and the priest is to make one of them a sin offering ¹³  and the other a burnt offering. ¹⁴  So the priest ¹⁵  is to make atonement for him before the Lord for ¹⁶  his discharge.

Imamat 15:19

Female Bodily Discharges

15:19 “‘When a woman has a discharge ¹⁷  and her discharge is blood from her body, ¹⁸  she is to be in her menstruation ¹⁹  seven days, and anyone who touches her will be unclean until evening.

Imamat 15:30

15:30 and the priest is to make one a sin offering and the other a burnt offering. ²⁰  So the priest ²¹  is to make atonement for her before the Lord from her discharge of impurity.

Imamat 15:26

15:26 Any bed she lies on all the days of her discharge will be to her like the bed of her menstruation, any furniture she sits on will be unclean like the impurity of her menstruation,

[15:3]  ¹ tn The LXX has “this the law of his uncleanness…” (cf. v. 32 and compare, e.g., 13:59; 14:2, 56).

[15:3]  ² tc Smr, LXX, and the Paleo-Hebrew Leviticus Scroll from Qumran (11QpaleoLev; Fragment G contains Lev 14:52-15:5 and 16:2-4, and agrees with the LXX of Lev 15:3b) are in essential (although not complete) agreement against the MT in Lev 15:3b and are to be preferred in this case. The shorter MT text has probably arisen due to a lengthy haplography. See K. A. Mathews, “The Leviticus Scroll (11QpaleoLev) and the Text of the Hebrew Bible,” CBQ 48 (1986): 177-78, 198; D. N. Freedman, “Variant Readings in the Leviticus Scroll from Qumran Cave 11,” CBQ 36 (1974): 528-29; D. N. Freedman and K. A. Mathews, The Paleo-Hebrew Leviticus Scroll, 32. The MT of Lev 15:3 reads: “Now this is his uncleanness in [regard to] his discharge – whether his body secretes his discharge or blocks his discharge, this is his uncleanness.” Smr adds after MT’s “blocks his discharge” the following: “he is unclean; all the days that his body has a discharge or his body blocks his discharge, this is his uncleanness.” Thus, the MT appears to skip from Smr טמא הוא “he is unclean” in the middle of the verse to יא/טמאתו הו “this is his uncleanness” at the end of the verse, leaving out “he is unclean; all the days that his body has a discharge or his body blocks his discharge” (cf. the BHS footnote). 11Q1 (paleoLev^a frag. G) is indeed fragmentary, but it does have ימי ז בו כל “…in him, all the days of the fl[ow],” supporting Smr and LXX tradition. The LXX adds after MT “blocks his discharge” the following: “all the days of the flow of his body, by which his body is affected by the flow,” followed by “it is his uncleanness” (i.e., the last two words of the MT).

[15:3]  sn The contrast between the dripping or flowing from the male sexual member as opposed to there being a blockage is important. One might not understand that even though a blockage actually causes a lack of discharge, it is still unclean.

[15:3]  ³ tn Heb “it is his uncleanness,” but the last clause recapitulates the effect of the first clause in this verse, both of which introduce the regulations for such uncleanness in the following verses. In other words, whether his discharge flows from his penis or is blocked in it, he is still unclean and must proceed according to the following regulations (vv. 4ff).

[15:28]  ⁴ tn Heb “And if…” Although this clause is parallel to v. 13 above, it begins with וְאִם (vÿ’im, “and if”) here rather than וְכִי (vÿkhi, “and when/if”) there.

[15:33]  ⁵ tn Heb “and the one with a discharge, his discharge to the male and the female.”

[15:33]  ⁶ tn Heb “and for a man.”

[15:25]  ⁷ tn Heb “And a woman when the flow of her blood flows.”

[15:25]  ⁸ tn Heb “in not the time of her menstruation or when it flows on her menstruation.”

[15:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “Man man.” The reduplication is a way of saying “any man” (cf. Lev 17:3; 22:18, etc.; see the distributive repetition of the noun in GKC 395-96 §123.c).

[15:2]  ¹⁰ tn The term “discharge” actually means “to flow,” whether referring to a full flow as at a spring of water (Ps 78:20 and parallels) or in reference to the promised land as “a land flowing with milk and honey” (Exod 3:8 and parallels).

[15:2]  ¹¹ tn Heb “man, man when there is a discharge from his flesh.” The repetition of the word “man” is distributive, meaning “any [or “every”] man” (GKC 395-96 §123.c). It is well-recognized that the term “flesh” (i.e., “body”) in this chapter refers regularly and euphemistically to the male and female genital members or areas of the body (HALOT 164 s.v. בָּשָׂר 5.b; see also, e.g., B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 93). The euphemism has been retained in this translation since it is, in fact, intended in the Hebrew text. Some English versions partially remove the euphemism (e.g., NAB “from his private parts”; NRSV “from his member”) while some remove it completely (e.g., NLT “a genital discharge”; TEV “from his penis”; CEV “with an infected penis”).

[15:13]  ¹² tn For the expression “fresh water” see the note on Lev 14:5 above.

[15:15]  ¹³ sn See the note on Lev 4:3 regarding the term “sin offering.”

[15:15]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and the priest shall make them one a sin offering and the one a burnt offering.” See the note on Lev 1:3 regarding the “burnt offering.”

[15:15]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “And the priest.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) can be considered to have resultative force here.

[15:15]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “from”; see the note on 4:26.

[15:19]  ¹⁷ tn See the note on Lev 15:2 above.

[15:19]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “blood shall be her discharge in her flesh.” The term “flesh” here refers euphemistically to the female sexual area (cf. the note on v. 2 above).

[15:19]  ¹⁹ tn See the note on Lev 12:2 and R. E. Averbeck, NIDOTTE 1:925-27.

[15:30]  ²⁰ tn Heb “And the priest shall make the one a sin offering and the one a burnt offering.”

[15:30]  ²¹ tn Heb “And the priest.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) can be considered to have resultative force here.