Numbers 19:11
in Numbers 19Whoever touches any dead body will be unclean for seven days.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
He that toucheth the dead body of any man shall be unclean seven days:
KJV
He that toucheth the dead body of any man shall be unclean seven days.
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This verse in Numbers 19
Commentary
6 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
One practical effect of attaching defilement to a dead body, and to all that touched it, etc., would be to insure early burial, and to correct a practice not uncommon in the East, of leaving the deal to be devoured by the wild beasts.
This site's exposition
He that toucheth the dead body of any man
on Numbers 19:11-12
Touching a dead body puts a man outside the camp life for seven days, and Barnes points at one practical effect, that bodies were buried early rather than left in the open for the beasts. The remedy runs on a clock, sprinkling on the third day and on the seventh, and the man who misses the third is still unclean on the seventh. Clarke works the Hebrew of purify himself, yithchatta bo, literally he shall sin himself with it, since the verb behind sin also carries the sense of removing sin and of making a sin offering.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
He that toucheth the dead body of any man,....
As the ashes of the heifer signified the merit of Christ, so the running water signified the power and grace of the blessed Spirit, who is compared to rivers of living water; and it is by his operation that the righteousness of Christ is applied to us for our cleansing.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
To afford the necessary supply of the cleansing mixture, the Jewish writers say that a red heifer was sacrificed every year, and that the ashes, mingled with the sprinkling ingredients, were distributed through all the cities and towns of Israel.
He that toucheth the dead body of any man shall be unclean seven days - How low does this lay man! He who touched a dead beast was only unclean for one day, Lev 11:24, Lev 11:27, Lev 11:39; but he who touches a dead man is unclean for seven days. This was certainly designed to mark the peculiar impurity of man, and to show his sinfulness - seven times worse than the vilest animal! O thou son of the morning, how art thou fallen!
The words behind it
8 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| הַנֹּגֵ֥עַ | hanogea' | the [one who] touches | H5060 → | 150 times |
| בְּמֵ֖ת | bemet | <in> a dead [body] | H4191 → | 839 times |
| לְכָל־ | lekhol | of every | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| נֶ֣פֶשׁ | nefesh | corpse of | H5315 → | 754 times |
| אָדָ֑ם | ʾadam | a person | H120 → | 551 times |
| וְטָמֵ֖א | vetame' | and he will be unclean | H2930 → | 162 times |
| שִׁבְעַ֥ת | shivat | seven | H7651 → | 394 times |
| יָמִֽים׃ | yamim | days | H3117 → | 2304 times |
הַנֹּגֵ֥עַthe [one who] touches
hanogea'H5060 →150 times
בְּמֵ֖ת<in> a dead [body]
bemetH4191 →839 times
לְכָל־of every
lekholH3605 →5413 times
נֶ֣פֶשׁcorpse of
nefeshH5315 →754 times
אָדָ֑םa person
ʾadamH120 →551 times
וְטָמֵ֖אand he will be unclean
vetame'H2930 →162 times
שִׁבְעַ֥תseven
shivatH7651 →394 times
יָמִֽים׃days
yamimH3117 →2304 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Numbers 19:16Anyone in the open field who touches someone who has been killed by the sword or has died of natural causes, or anyone who touches a human bone or a grave, will be unclean…
it leads to
- Numbers 31:19
All of you who have killed a person or touched the dead are to remain outside the camp for seven days. On the third day and the seventh day you are to purify both…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Matthew 23:27
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside, but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and every kind of impurity.
- Numbers 31:19
Through
Numbers 9:6But there were some men who were unclean due to a dead body, so they could not observe the Passover on that day. And they came before Moses and Aaron that same day
it leads to
- Numbers 5:2
“Command the Israelites to send away from the camp anyone with a skin disease, anyone who has a bodily discharge, and anyone who is defiled by a dead body.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Exodus 18:15
“Because the people come to me to inquire of God,” Moses replied.
- Numbers 27:2
the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, stood before Moses, Eleazar the priest, the leaders, and the whole congregation, and said,
- Numbers 5:2
Through
Leviticus 21:1Then the LORD said to Moses, “Speak to Aaron’s sons, the priests, and tell them that a priest is not to defile himself for a dead person among his people,
it leads to
- Ezekiel 44:25
A priest must not defile himself by going near a dead person. However, for a father, a mother, a son, a daughter, a brother, or an unmarried sister, he may do so,
- Ezekiel 44:25
Through
Numbers 5:2“Command the Israelites to send away from the camp anyone with a skin disease, anyone who has a bodily discharge, and anyone who is defiled by a dead body.
it leads to
- Leviticus 21:1
Then the LORD said to Moses, “Speak to Aaron’s sons, the priests, and tell them that a priest is not to defile himself for a dead person among his people,
- Leviticus 13:46
As long as he has the infection, he remains unclean. He must live alone in a place outside the camp.
- Leviticus 21:1
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies2
About Numbers
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.