56 Bible Verses about Holiness,  Worldly Separation

And ye shall not walk in the practices of the Gentiles which I shall cast out before you; for they committed all these things, and therefore I abhorred them. But I have said unto you, Ye shall possess their land, and I will give it unto you in possession of inheritance, a land that flows with milk and honey. I AM your God, who have separated you from the other peoples. Therefore, ye shall differentiate between clean animals and unclean and between unclean fowls and clean; and ye shall not defile your persons by animals or by fowl or by any manner of living thing that moves on the ground which I have separated from you as unclean.read more.
Ye must, therefore, be holy unto me, for I the LORD am holy and have separated you from the other peoples, that ye should be mine.

And he said unto him, If thy presence is not to go before us, do not bring us out of here. For in what shall it be known here that I have found grace in thy sight, I and thy people, but in that thou goest with us, and I and thy people will be separated from all the peoples that are upon the face of the earth?

Thus shall ye separate the sons of Israel from their uncleanness; and they shall not die for their uncleanness defiling my tabernacle that is among them.

For whoever shall commit any of these abominations, the persons that commit them shall be cut off from among his people. Keep, therefore, my ordinance that ye commit not any one of these abominable laws which were committed before you, and do not defile yourselves in them; I am the LORD your God.

When the LORD thy God shall bring thee into the land into which thou must enter to inherit it and has cast out many Gentiles before thee, the Hittite and the Girgashite and the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite, seven nations greater and mightier than thou; and when the LORD thy God shall deliver them before thee, thou shalt smite them and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them nor show mercy unto them. Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son.read more.
For they will turn away thy son from following me that they may serve other gods; and the anger of the LORD will be kindled upon you and destroy thee suddenly. But thus shall ye deal with them: ye shall destroy their altars and break down their images and cut down their groves and burn their graven images in the fire. For thou art a holy people unto the LORD thy God; the LORD thy God has chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, different from all the peoples that are upon the face of the earth.

When the host goes forth against thine enemies, then keep thyself from every evil thing. When there is among you any man that is not clean by reason of uncleanness that chances by night, then he shall go abroad out of the camp; he shall not come within the camp. And it shall be when evening comes, he shall wash himself with water, and when the sun is down, he shall come into the camp again.read more.
Thou shalt have a place also outside the camp where thou shalt go forth abroad; and thou shalt have a stake among thy weapons; and it shall be when thou wilt ease thyself abroad, thou shalt dig with it and shalt turn back and cover thy excrement; for the LORD thy God walks in the midst of thy camp to deliver thee and to give up thine enemies before thee; therefore, shall thy camp be holy: that he see no unclean thing in thee and turn away from thee.

Now when these things were done, the princes came to me, saying, The people of Israel and the priests and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites, doing according to their abominations, for they have taken of their daughters for themselves and for their sons, and the holy seed is mingled with the peoples of the lands; and the hand of the princes and of the governors has been foremost in this trespass.

Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out from there, touch no unclean thing; go ye out of the midst of her; be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the LORD.

This is the law of the animals and of the fowls and of every living creature that moves in the waters and of every animal that creeps upon the earth: to make a difference between the unclean and the clean and between the animals that may be eaten and the animals that may not be eaten.

And the LORD spoke unto Moses and to Aaron, saying unto them, Speak unto the sons of Israel, saying, These are the animals which ye shall eat among all the animals that are on the earth. Whatever divides the hoof and is clovenfooted and chews the cud, among the animals, that shall you eat.read more.
Nevertheless these shall ye not eat of those that chew the cud or of those that divide the hoof: the camel because it chews the cud but divides not the hoof; it is unclean unto you. And the coney because it chews the cud, but divides not the hoof: it is unclean unto you. And the hare because it chews the cud, but divides not the hoof: it is unclean unto you. And the swine though it divides the hoof and is clovenfooted, yet it chews not the cud: it is unclean to you. Of their flesh ye shall not eat, and their carcase you shall not touch: they are unclean to you. These shall you eat of all that are in the waters: whatever has fins and scales in the waters, in the seas, and in the rivers, those shall you eat. But all that have not fins and scales in the seas and in the rivers, of any reptile in the waters, and of any living thing which is in the waters, they shall be an abomination unto you; they shall be an abomination unto you; ye shall not eat of their flesh, and ye shall have their carcasses in abomination. Whatever has no fins nor scales in the waters, that shall be an abomination unto you. And these ye shall have in abomination among the fowls; they shall not be eaten, they shall be an abomination: the eagle, the ossifrage, the ospray, the vulture, and the kite according to his species, every raven according to his species, the owl, the night hawk, the cuckow, and the hawk according to his species; the little owl, the cormorant, the great owl, the swan, the pelican, the gier eagle, the stork, the heron according to her species, the lapwing, and the bat. Every flying insect that creeps, going upon all four, shall be an abomination unto you. Yet these may ye eat of every flying insect that goes upon all four, which have legs above their feet, to leap with them upon the earth; these of them ye may eat: the locust according to his species and the bald locust according to his species and the beetle according to his species and the grasshopper according to his species. But all other flying insects, which have four feet, shall be an abomination unto you.

Thou shalt not eat any abominable thing. These are the animals which ye shall eat: the ox, the sheep, and the goat, the hart and the roebuck and the buffalo and the wild goat and the unicorn (rhinoceros) and the wild ox and the mountain goat,read more.
and every animal that parts the hoof and cleaves the cleft into two claws and chews the cud among the beasts that ye shall eat. Nevertheless these ye shall not eat of those that chew the cud or of those that divide the cloven hoof: the camel and the hare and the coney, for they chew the cud, but do not divide the hoof; therefore they are unclean unto you; and the swine, because it divides the hoof, yet does not chew the cud, it is unclean unto you. Ye shall not eat of their flesh nor touch their dead carcase. These ye shall eat of all that are in the waters: all that have fins and scales shall ye eat, but whatever does not have fins and scales ye may not eat; it is unclean unto you. Of all clean birds ye shall eat. But these are they of which ye shall not eat: the eagle and the ossifrage and the ospray and the glede and the kite and the vulture after his kind and every raven after his kind and the owl and the night hawk and the cuckow and the hawk after his kind the little owl and the great owl and the swan and the pelican and the gier eagle and the cormorant and the stork and the heron after her kind and the lapwing and the bat. And every serpent that flies shall be unclean unto you; they shall not be eaten. But of all clean fowls ye may eat.

And when he had called all the people unto him, he said unto them, Hearken unto me every one of you and understand; there is nothing from outside the man that entering into him can defile him, but the things which come out of him, those are what defile the man. If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.read more.
And when he was entered into the house from the people, his disciples asked him concerning the parable. And he said unto them, Are ye so without understanding also? Do ye not understand that anything from outside that enters into the man cannot defile him? Because it enters not into his heart, but into the belly, and the man goes out to the privy and purges all foods.

But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean.

When a man shall have in the skin of his flesh a rising, a scab, or bright spot, and it is in the skin of his flesh like the plague of leprosy, then he shall be brought unto Aaron, the priest, or unto one of his sons, the priests, and the priest shall look on the plague in the skin of the flesh, and if the hair in the plague is turned white and the plague looks deeper than the skin of his flesh, it is a plague of leprosy; and the priest shall recognize him and pronounce him unclean.

This shall be the law of the leper in the day of his cleansing: He shall be brought unto the priest.

The garment also that the plague of leprosy is in, whether it is a woolen garment or a linen garment; whether it is in the warp or woof; of linen or of woolen; whether in a skin or in anything made of skin; and if the plague is greenish or reddish in the garment or in the skin, either in the warp or in the woof or in any thing of skin, it is a plague of leprosy and shall be shown unto the priest.

And the LORD spoke unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, When ye are entered into the land of Canaan, which I give to you in possession, and I put the plague of leprosy in a house of the land of your possession, the one that owns the house shall come and tell the priest, saying, Something like unto a plague has appeared in my house.read more.
Then the priest shall command that they empty the house before the priest goes into it to see the plague so that all that is in the house is not contaminated; and afterward the priest shall go in to recognize the house.

Speak unto the sons of Israel, saying, If a woman has conceived seed and gives birth to a man child, then she shall be unclean seven days; according to the days of the separation for her menses shall she be unclean.

Speak unto the sons of Israel and say unto them, Any man when his seed issues forth out of his flesh, he shall be unclean.

Likewise the person who touches any unclean thing, whether it is a carcase of an unclean beast or a carcase of unclean animal or the carcase of an unclean serpent, even if it is hidden from him, he shall be unclean and guilty. Or if he touches the uncleanness of man, whatever uncleanness it is that a man shall be defiled with, and it is hid from him, if afterward he should know of it, then he shall be guilty.

These are unclean to you among all the animals; whoever touches them, when they are dead, shall be unclean until the evening. And everything upon which any of them falls when they are dead shall be unclean, whether it be any vessel of wood or clothing or skin or sack, whatever instrument with which work is done, it must be put into water, and it shall be unclean until the evening; and thus it shall be cleansed. And every earthen vessel into which any of them falls, whatever is in it shall be unclean; and ye shall break the vessel.read more.
All food which may be eaten upon which shall come water from any such vessel shall be unclean; and any drink that may be drunk shall be unclean in every such vessel. And everything upon which any part of their carcase falls shall be unclean: the oven or the chimney shall be broken down, for they are unclean and shall be unclean unto you. Nevertheless a fountain or cistern where water is collected shall be clean; but that which touches their carcase shall be unclean. And if any part of their carcase falls upon any sown seed which is sown, it shall be clean. But if any water is put upon the seed and any part of their carcase falls thereon, it shall be unclean unto you. And if any animal of which ye may eat dies, he that touches the carcase thereof shall be unclean until the evening; and he that eats of the carcase of it shall wash his clothes and be unclean until the evening; likewise he that bears the carcase of it shall wash his clothes and be unclean until the evening.

And the LORD said unto Moses, Speak unto the priests, the sons of Aaron, and tell them to not be defiled for the dead among his people.

and this is that ye may discern between the holy and the profane and between the unclean and the clean and that ye may teach the sons of Israel all the statutes which the LORD has spoken unto them by the hand of Moses.

And they shall teach my people the difference between the holy and profane and teach them to discern between the clean and the unclean.

crying out, Men of Israel, help; this is the man that teaches everyone everywhere against the people and the law and this place and further brought Greeks also into the temple and has polluted this holy place.

We are ashamed, because we have heard the reproach; confusion has covered our faces; for strangers are come against the sanctuaries of the LORD's house.

And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying, Command the sons of Israel that they put out of the camp every leper and every one that has an issue and anyone who is defiled by the dead. Both male and female shall ye put out; ye shall put them outside the camp; that they not defile the camp of those among whom I dwell.

And Ezra, the priest, stood up, and said unto them, Ye have transgressed because ye have taken strange women, thus increasing the guiltiness of Israel. Now, therefore, make confession unto the LORD God of your fathers and do his will; and separate yourselves from the peoples of the lands and from the strange women.

And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the sons of Israel, saying, Ye shall eat no manner of fat, of ox or of sheep or of goat. And the fat of the beast that died of itself and the fat of that which is torn by beasts may be used in any other use, but ye shall not eat of it.read more.
For whosoever eats fat of an animal, of which an offering is made on fire unto the LORD, the person that eats it shall be cut off from his people. Moreover ye shall eat no manner of blood, whether it is of fowl or of beast, in any of your dwellings. Whatever person it is that eats any manner of blood, that person shall be cut off from his people.

And the leper in whom the plague is, his clothes shall be rent and his head uncovered, and he shall put a covering upon his upper lip and shall cry, Unclean, unclean. All the days in which the plague shall be in him he shall be defiled; he shall be unclean; he shall dwell alone; outside the camp shall his habitation be.

And when ye offer a sacrifice of peace unto the LORD, ye shall offer it of your own free will. It shall be eaten the same day ye offer it and on the next day, and any remaining until the third day shall be burnt in the fire. And if it is eaten at all on the third day, it is abominable; it shall not be accepted;read more.
and whoever eats it shall bear his iniquity because he has profaned the holiness of the LORD, and that person shall be cut off from among his people.

Whoever touches the dead body of anyone that is dead and does not remove the sin has defiled the tabernacle of the LORD; and that person shall be cut off from Israel; because the water of separation was not sprinkled upon him, he shall be unclean, and his uncleanness shall be upon him.

When there is among you any man that is not clean by reason of uncleanness that chances by night, then he shall go abroad out of the camp; he shall not come within the camp. And it shall be when evening comes, he shall wash himself with water, and when the sun is down, he shall come into the camp again. Thou shalt have a place also outside the camp where thou shalt go forth abroad;read more.
and thou shalt have a stake among thy weapons; and it shall be when thou wilt ease thyself abroad, thou shalt dig with it and shalt turn back and cover thy excrement; for the LORD thy God walks in the midst of thy camp to deliver thee and to give up thine enemies before thee; therefore, shall thy camp be holy: that he see no unclean thing in thee and turn away from thee.

And Uzziah, the king, was a leper unto the day of his death, and dwelt in a separate house, being a leper; for he was cut off from the house of the LORD; and Jotham, his son, was over the king's house, judging the people of the land.

And the person that eats of the flesh of the sacrifice of peace, which is of the LORD, being unclean, that person shall be cut off from his people. Moreover the person that shall touch any unclean thing, as the uncleanness of man or any unclean beast or any abominable unclean thing and eat of the flesh of the sacrifice of peace, which is of the LORD, that person shall be cut off from his people.

Say unto them, Any man of all your seed among your generations that goes in unto the holy things, which the children of Israel sanctify unto the LORD, having his uncleanness upon him, that soul shall be cut off from my presence. I am the LORD. Whatever man of the seed of Aaron who is a leper or has a running issue shall not eat of the holy things until he is clean. And whosoever touches any thing that is unclean by the dead or a man whose seed has gone out from him or the man who has touched any reptile, by which he shall be unclean, or a man of whom he shall become unclean, according to whatever uncleanness he has,read more.
the person who has touched any such shall be unclean until evening and shall not eat of the holy things until he has washed his flesh with water.

And the LORD spoke further unto Moses, saying, When any person commits a trespass and sins through ignorance, in the holy things of the LORD, then he shall bring for the expiation of his guilt unto the LORD a ram without blemish out of the flocks, in thy estimation of two shekels of silver, after the shekel of the sanctuary, for his guilt; And he shall pay for the sin that he has done in the holy thing and shall add the fifth part thereto and give it unto the priest; and the priest shall reconcile him with the ram of the expiation of his guilt, and he shall have forgiveness.

And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying, Speak unto Aaron and to his sons that they abstain from the holy things of the sons of Israel and that they not profane my holy name in those things which they sanctify unto me. I am the LORD.

And the LORD said unto Moses, Go unto the people and sanctify them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their clothes and be ready for the third day; for the third day the LORD will come down in the sight of all the people upon Mount Sinai. And thou shalt set bounds unto the people round about, saying, Take heed to yourselves that ye go not up into the mount or touch the border of it; whoever touches the mount shall surely die:read more.
Not a hand shall touch it, but that he shall surely be stoned or shot through; whether it be beast or man, it shall not live. When the jubilee sounds long, they shall come up to the mount.

And thou shalt make them linen underwear to cover their nakedness; they shall reach from the loins even unto the thighs; And they shall be upon Aaron and upon his sons when they enter into the tabernacle of the testimony or when they come near unto the altar to serve in the sanctuary that they not bear iniquity and die: This shall be a perpetual statute unto him and his seed after him.

Thou shalt also make a laver of brass, and its base also of brass, to wash with; and thou shalt place it between the tabernacle of the testimony and the altar, and thou shalt put water in it. And from it Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet. When they go into the tabernacle of the testimony, they shall wash with water that they not die, or when they come near to the altar to minister, to burn the offering unto the LORD that must be consumed by fire,read more.
they shall wash their hands and their feet, that they not die. And he and his seed shall have it as a perpetual statute throughout their generations.

Ye shall keep the sabbath therefore; for it is holy unto you; those that defile it shall surely be put to death; for whoever does any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Six days shall work be done; but the seventh, the sabbath of rest, shall be holy to the LORD; whoever does any work in the sabbath day shall surely be put to death.

And when Aaron and his sons have made an end of covering the sanctuary and all the vessels of the sanctuary when the camp is to set forward, after that, the sons of Kohath shall come to bear it, but they shall not touch any holy thing, lest they die. These things are the burden of the sons of Kohath in the tabernacle of the testimony.

He that despised the law of Moses died without mercy under two or three witnesses: Of how much greater punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who has trodden underfoot the Son of God and has counted the blood of the covenant, with which he was sanctified, an unholy thing and has done despite unto the Spirit of grace?

And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took each of them his censer and put fire therein and put incense thereon and offered strange fire before the LORD, which he had never commanded them. And there went out fire from the LORD and devoured them, and they died before the LORD.

Now Korah, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On, the son of Peleth, of the sons of Reuben, took men; and they rose up against Moses, with two hundred and fifty men of the sons of Israel, princes of the congregation, of the council, men of renown; and they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron and said unto them, We have had enough of you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them; why then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the LORD?read more.
And when Moses heard it, he fell upon his face; and he spoke unto Korah and unto all his company, saying, Tomorrow the LORD will show who are his and who is holy and will cause the one who is holy to come near unto him; the one whom he has chosen he will cause to come near unto him. Do this: Take censers, Korah, and all his company, and put fire in them and put incense in them before the LORD tomorrow; and it shall be that the man whom the LORD chooses, he shall be holy; this shall be enough for you, ye sons of Levi.

Then God smote those of Bethshemesh because they had looked at the ark of the LORD; he smote fifty thousand of the people and seventy principal men. And the people lamented because the LORD had smitten the people with such a great slaughter. And the men of Bethshemesh said, Who is able to stand before this holy LORD God? And to whom shall he go up from us?

And when they came to Nachon's threshingfloor, Uzzah put forth his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen shook it. And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Uzzah, and God smote him there for his effrontery, and there he died by the ark of God.

Her priests have violated my law by force and have profaned my holy things; they have made no difference between the holy and the profane, neither have they showed the difference between the unclean and the clean and have hid their eyes from my sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.

But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession and defrauded of the price, his wife also being aware of it, and brought a certain part and laid it at the apostles' feet. But Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan filled thy heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to defraud of the price of the land?read more.
Retaining it, was it not thy own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? Why hast thou conceived this thing in thy heart? Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God. Then Ananias, hearing these words, fell down and gave up the spirit; and great fear came on all those that heard these things. And the young men arose, wound him up, and carried him out and buried him. And it was about the space of three hours after, when his wife, not knowing what was done, came in. Then Peter answered unto her, Tell me whether ye sold the land for so much? And she said, Yes, for so much. Then Peter said unto her, How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of those who have buried thy husband are at the door and shall carry thee out. Then she fell down straightway at his feet and yielded up the spirit; and the young men came in and found her dead and, carrying her forth, buried her by her husband.

If ye were of the world, the world would love its own; but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore that desires to be a friend of the world, makes himself the enemy of God.

But ye are the chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, an acquired people, that ye should show forth the virtues of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvellous light. Ye who in the time past were not a people, but are now the people of God, who in the time past had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from the carnal desires which war against the soul

I have given them thy word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I do not pray that thou should take them out of the world, but that thou should keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

Nevertheless, the foundation of God stands sure, having this seal, The Lord knows those that are his. And, Let every one that names the name of Christ depart from iniquity.

The pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their tribulation and to keep thyself unspotted from this world.