15:1 The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron: 15:2 “Speak to the Israelites and tell them, ‘When any man1 has a discharge2 from his body,3 his discharge is unclean. 15:3 Now this is his uncleanness in regard to his discharge4—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,5 this is his uncleanness.6
15:4 “‘Any bed the man with a discharge lies on will be unclean,7 and any furniture he sits on will be unclean.8 15:5 Anyone who touches his bed9 must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening.10 15:6 The one who sits on the furniture the man with a discharge sits on must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. 15:7 The one who touches the body11 of the man with a discharge must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. 15:8 If the man with a discharge spits on a clean person,12 that person must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. 15:9 Any means of riding13 the man with a discharge rides on will be unclean. 15:10 Anyone who touches anything that was under him14 will be unclean until evening, and the one who carries those items15 must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. 15:11 Anyone whom the man with the discharge touches without having rinsed his hands in water16 must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. 15:12 A clay vessel17 which the man with the discharge touches must be broken, and any wooden utensil must be rinsed in water.
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 garments, bathe in fresh water,18 and be clean. 15:14 Then on the eighth day he is to take for himself two turtledoves or two young pigeons,19 and he is to present himself20 before the Lord at the doorway of the Meeting Tent and give them to the priest, 15:15 and the priest is to make one of them a sin offering21 and the other a burnt offering.22 So the priest23 is to make atonement for him before the Lord for24 his discharge.
15:16 “‘When a man has a seminal emission,25 he must bathe his whole body in water26 and be unclean until evening, 15:17 and he must wash in water any clothing or leather that has semen on it, and it will be unclean until evening. 15:18 When a man has sexual relations with a woman and there is a seminal emission,27 they must bathe in water and be unclean until evening.
Female Bodily Discharges
15:19 “‘When a woman has a discharge28 and her discharge is blood from her body,29 she is to be in her menstruation30 seven days and anyone who touches her will be unclean until evening. 15:20 Anything on which she lies during her menstruation will be unclean, and anything on which she sits will be unclean. 15:21 Anyone who touches her bed must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. 15:22 Anyone who touches any furniture she sits on must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. 15:23 If there is something on the bed or on the furniture she sits on,31 when he touches it32 he will be unclean until evening, 15:24 and if a man actually has sexual relations with her so that her menstrual impurity touches him,33 then he will be unclean seven days and any bed he lies on will be unclean.
15:25 “‘When a woman’s discharge of blood flows34 many days not at the time of her menstruation, or if it flows beyond the time of her menstruation,35 all the days of her discharge of impurity will be like the days of her menstruation—she is unclean. 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, 15:27 and anyone who touches them will be unclean, and he must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening.36
Purity Regulations from Female Bodily Discharges
15:28 “‘If37 she becomes clean from her discharge, then she is to count off for herself seven days, and afterward she will be clean. 15:29 Then on the eighth day she must take for herself two turtledoves or two young pigeons38 and she must bring them to the priest at the doorway of the Meeting Tent, 15:30 and the priest is to make one a sin offering and the other a burnt offering.39 So the priest40 is to make atonement for her before the Lord from her discharge of impurity.
Summary of Purification Regulations for Bodily Discharges
15:31 “‘Thus you41 are to set the Israelites apart from their impurity so that they42 do not die in their impurity by defiling my tabernacle which is in their midst. 15:32 This is the law of the one with a discharge: the one who has a seminal emission43 and becomes unclean by it,44 15:33 the one who is sick in her menstruation, the one with a discharge, whether male or female,45 and a man46 who has sexual relations with an unclean woman.’”
The Day of Atonement