Numbers 5:2
in Numbers 5“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.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Command the children of Israel, that they put out of the camp every leper, and every one that hath an issue, and whosoever is unclean by the dead:
KJV
Command the children of Israel, that they put out of the camp every leper, and every one that hath an issue, and whosoever is defiled by the dead:
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This verse in Numbers 5
Commentary
6 notes on this verseWhy did he command these men, and lepers, and those with gonorrhea, to dwell outside the camp?He teaches us great things from small things. For if one who touches a dead body is unclean, so much the more is one who kills a man, because …
This site's exposition
And the Lord spake unto Moses
on Numbers 5:1-3
The Lord spake unto Moses opens fifty-one passages in Numbers, more than in any other book. Chapters 1 to 4 set the camp in rings around the tent, and the first ruling after them names who may not stand inside those rings, the leper of Leviticus 13:46, the man with an issue of Leviticus 15, and anyone defiled by a dead body. The ground given in verse 3 is the dwelling itself, in the midst whereof I dwell, so the rule follows from where God has pitched rather than from the diseases. Deuteronomy 23:14 gives the same reason for the same rule.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
What does "unclean in soul" mean?The man who has touched a corpse or approached the bones of a dead man.
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Command the children of Israel,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
Put out of the camp every leper - According to the preceding plan, it is sufficiently evident that each camp had a space behind it, and on one side, whither the infected might be removed, and where probably convenient places were erected for the accommodation of the infected; for we cannot suppose that they were driven out into the naked wilderness. But the expulsion mentioned here was founded, 1. On a purely physical reason, viz., the diseases were contagious, and therefore there was a necessity of putting those afflicted by them apart, that the infection might not be communicated.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
They are generally obliged to wear a distinctive badge that people may know them at first sight and be warned to avoid them. Other means were adopted among the ancient Jews by putting their hand on their mouth and crying, "Unclean, unclean" [Le 13:45]. But their general treatment, as to exclusion from society, was the same as now described.
The words behind it
14 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| צַ֚ו | tzav | command | H6680 → | 494 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| בְּנֵ֣י | benei | [the] people of | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל | yisrael | Israel | H3478 → | 2507 times |
| וִֽישַׁלְּחוּ֙ | vishalechu | so they may send away | H7971 → | 845 times |
| מִן־ | min- | from | H4480 → | 1188 times |
| הַֽמַּחֲנֶ֔ה | hamachaneh | the camp | H4264 → | 215 times |
| כָּל־ | kol- | any | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| צָר֖וּעַ | tzarua' | [one who] has a skin disease | H6879 → | 20 times |
| וְכָל־ | vekhol | and any | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| זָ֑ב | zav | [one who] has a discharge | H2100 → | 42 times |
| וְכֹ֖ל | vekhol | and any | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| טָמֵ֥א | tame' | [person] unclean | H2931 → | 88 times |
| לָנָֽפֶשׁ׃ | lanafesh | to a corpse | H5315 → | 754 times |
צַ֚וcommand
tzavH6680 →494 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
בְּנֵ֣י[the] people of
beneiH1121 →4930 times
יִשְׂרָאֵ֔לIsrael
yisraelH3478 →2507 times
וִֽישַׁלְּחוּ֙so they may send away
vishalechuH7971 →845 times
מִן־from
min-H4480 →1188 times
הַֽמַּחֲנֶ֔הthe camp
hamachanehH4264 →215 times
כָּל־any
kol-H3605 →5413 times
צָר֖וּעַ[one who] has a skin disease
tzarua'H6879 →20 times
וְכָל־and any
vekholH3605 →5413 times
זָ֑ב[one who] has a discharge
zavH2100 →42 times
וְכֹ֖לand any
vekholH3605 →5413 times
טָמֵ֥א[person] unclean
tame'H2931 →88 times
לָנָֽפֶשׁ׃to a corpse
lanafeshH5315 →754 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 12:14But the LORD answered Moses, “If her father had but spit in her face, would she not have been in disgrace for seven days? Let her be confined outside the camp for seven days;…
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 25:9
his brother’s widow shall go up to him in the presence of the elders, remove his sandal, spit in his face, and declare, “This is what is done to the man who will not…
- Job 30:10
They abhor me and keep far from me; they do not hesitate to spit in my face.
- Numbers 5:2–3
“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.
- Isaiah 50:6
I offered My back to those who struck Me, and My cheeks to those who tore out My beard. I did not hide My face from scorn and spittle.
- Deuteronomy 25:9
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,
- Leviticus 19:28
You must not make any cuts in your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the LORD.
- Ezekiel 44:25
Through
Leviticus 13:46As long as he has the infection, he remains unclean. He must live alone in a place outside the camp.
it leads to
- 2 Kings 7:3
Now there were four men with leprosy at the entrance of the city gate, and they said to one another, “Why just sit here until we die?
- 2 Kings 15:5
And the LORD afflicted the king with leprosy until the day he died, so that he lived in a separate house while his son Jotham had charge of the palace and governed the people…
- 2 Kings 7:3
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Numbers
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; 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); Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch; Theodoret of Cyrus, QUESTIONS ON NUMBERS 8 and Theodoret of Cyrus, QUESTIONS ON NUMBERS 7.