56 Bible Verses about Holiness,  Worldly Separation

And you shall not walk in the ways of the nation which I cast out before you. For they committed all these things, and therefore I loathed them. But I have said to you, You shall inherit their land, and I, I am giving it to you to possess it, a land that flows with milk and honey. I am Jehovah your God, who has separated you from the nations. And you shall make a difference between clean animals and unclean, and between unclean fowls and clean. And you shall not defile your souls by beast, or by fowl, or by any kind of living thing that creeps on the ground, which I have separated from you as unclean.read more.
And you shall be holy to Me. For I, Jehovah, am holy, and have severed you from the nations, so that you should be Mine.

And he said to Him, If Your presence does not go with me, do not carry us up from here. For in what shall it be known that I and Your people have found grace in Your sight? Is it not in that You go with us? So we shall be separated, I and Your people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth.

So you shall separate the sons of Israel from their uncleanness, so that they do not die in their uncleanness when they defile My tabernacle that is among them.

For whoever shall commit any of these abominations, even the souls who commit them shall be cut off from among their people. And you shall keep My ordinance, so as not to do any of these abominable customs which were committed before you, and that you do not defile yourselves in them. I am Jehovah your God.

When Jehovah your God shall bring you into the land where you go to possess it, and has cast out many nations before you, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than you, and Jehovah your God shall deliver them before you, you shall crush them, completely destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them nor show mercy to them. Nor shall you make marriages with them. You shall not give your daughter to his son, nor shall you take his daughter to your son.read more.
For they will turn away your son from following Me, so that they may serve other gods. So the anger of Jehovah will be kindled against you and will destroy you suddenly. But you shall deal with them in this way: you shall destroy their altars and break down their images, and cut down their groves and burn their graven images with fire. For you are a holy people to Jehovah your God. Jehovah your God has chosen you to be a special people to Himself above all people that are upon the face of the earth.

When the army goes forth against your enemies, then keep yourself from every wicked thing. If there is among you any man who is not clean because of an accident at night, then he shall go outside the camp. He shall not come inside the camp. And it shall be as evening turns, he shall wash with water. And when the sun is down, he shall come into the the middle of the camp.read more.
You shall also have a place outside the camp where you shall go forth. And you shall have a paddle on your weapon. And it shall be, when you sit down outside, you shall dig with it, and shall turn back and cover that which comes from you. For Jehovah your God walks in the middle of your camp, to deliver you and to give up your enemies before you. Therefore your camp shall be holy, so that He may see no unclean thing in you and turn away from you.

And at the end of these things, the rulers came to me, saying, The people of Israel, and the priests and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the people of the lands. But they are doing according to their abominations, those of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites. For they have taken of their daughters for themselves and for their sons. So the holy seed has mixed themselves with the people of those lands. Yes, the hand of the leaders and overseers has been chief in this sin.

Turn! Turn! Go out from there! Touch not the unclean. Go out of her midst; purify yourself, bearers of the vessels of Jehovah.

This is the law of the animals, and of the fowl, and of every living creature that moves in the waters, and of every creature that swarms on the earth, to make a difference between the unclean and the clean, and between the creature that may be eaten and the creature that may not be eaten.

And Jehovah spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying to them, Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, These are the animals which you shall eat among all the animals that are in the earth. Whatever divides the hoof, and is cloven-footed, chewing the cud, among the animals, that you shall eat.read more.
Only, you shall not eat these of them that chew the cud, or of them that divide the hoof: the camel, for he chews the cud but does not divide the hoof; he is unclean to you. And the rock badger, because he chews the cud, but does not divide the hoof; he is unclean to you. And the hare, because he chews the cud but does not divide the hoof; he is unclean to you. And the swine, though he divides the hoof and is cloven-footed, yet he does not chew the cud; he is unclean to you. You shall not eat of their flesh, and you shall not touch their dead body. They are unclean to you. These you shall eat of all that are in the waters: whatever has fins and scales in the waters, in the seas, and in the rivers, them you shall eat. And all that have not fins and scales in the seas, and in the rivers, of all that move in the waters, and of any living thing that is in the waters, they shall be an abomination to you. They shall even be an abomination to you. You shall not eat of their flesh, but you shall have their carcasses in abomination. Whatever has no fins nor scales in the waters shall be an abomination to you. And you shall have these in abomination among the fowls. They shall not be eaten, they are an abomination: the eagle, and the black vulture, and the bearded vulture, and the kite, and the falcon, according to its kind; every raven according to its kind; and the ostrich, and the great owl, and the gull, and small hawks, according to its kind, and the little owl, and the cormorant, and the eared owl; and the barn owl, and the pelican, and the owl-vulture; and the stork, the heron according to its kind, and the hoopoe, and the bat. Every flying swarming creature going on all four, it is an abomination to you. Yet you may eat these of any flying swarming thing that goes on all four, those which have legs above their feet, to leap with on the earth. You may eat these of them: the locust after its kind, and the bald locust after its kind, and the long horned locust after its kind, and the short horned grasshopper after its kind. But every other flying swarming thing which has four feet shall be an abomination to you.

You shall not eat any hateful thing. These are the animals which you shall eat: the ox, the sheep, and the goat, the hart, and the gazelle, and the roe deer, and the wild goat, and the mountain goat, and the wild ox, and the mountain-sheep.read more.
And every animal that divides the hoof, and divides it into two hooves, and chews the cud among the animals, that you shall eat. But these you shall not eat, of those which chew the cud, or of those that divide the cloven hoof: the camel, and the hare, and the rock badger, for they chew the cud, but do not divide the hoof. They are unclean to you. And the swine, because it divides the hoof but does not chew the cud; it is unclean to you. You shall not eat of their flesh nor touch their dead body. These you shall eat of all that are in the waters: all that have fins and scales you shall eat. And whatever does not have fins and scales you shall not eat. It is unclean to you. You shall eat all clean birds. But you shall not eat of these: the eagle, and the ossifrage, and the osprey, and the hawk, and the falcon, and the vulture after its kind, and every raven after its kind, and the owl, and the night hawk, and the cuckoo, and the hawk after its kind, the little owl, and the great owl, and the swan, and the pelican, and the owl, and the cormorant, and the stork, and the heron after its kind, and the hoopoe, and the bat. And every creeping thing that flies is unclean to you. They shall not be eaten. You may eat all clean fowls.

And calling near all the crowd, He said to them, Listen to Me, every one of you, and understand. There is nothing from outside a man which entering into him can defile him. But the things which come out of him, those are the ones that defile the man. If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.read more.
And when He had entered into the house away from the crowd, His disciples asked Him concerning the parable. And He said to them, Are you also without understanding? Do you not perceive that whatever enters into the man from outside cannot defile him, because it does not enter into his heart, but into the belly, and goes out into the waste-bowl, purifying all food?

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

When a man has a rising in the skin of his flesh, or a scab or bright spot, and it is in the skin of his flesh like the plague of leprosy, then he shall be brought to Aaron the priest, or to 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 has turned white, and the plague in sight is deeper than the skin of his flesh, it is a plague of leprosy. And the priest shall look on him and shall pronounce him unclean.

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

And if there is any garment that has the plague of leprosy in it, in a wool garment or a linen garment, or in the warp or in the woof, of linen or of wool, or in a skin or in anything 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 anything of skin, it is a plague of leprosy. And it shall be seen by the priest.

And Jehovah spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, When you come into the land of Canaan which I give you for a possession, and I put the plague of leprosy in a house in the land of your possession, and if he that owns the house shall come and tell the priest, saying, A plague is seen by me in the house;read more.
then the priest shall command that they empty the house before the priest goes to see the plague, so that all that is in the house may not become unclean. And afterwards the priest shall go in to see the house.

Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, If a woman has conceived seed and has borne a male, then she shall be unclean seven days; as on the days of her menstrual impurity she shall be unclean.

Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, When any man has an issue from his flesh; he is unclean because of his issue.

Or if a soul touches any unclean thing, whether a dead body of an unclean beast, or a dead body of unclean cattle, or the dead body of unclean swarming things, and if it is hidden from him that he is unclean and guilty-- or if he touches the uncleanness of man, whatever uncleanness by which he is unclean, and it is hidden from him, and he knows, then he shall be guilty.

These are unclean to you among all that swarm. Whoever touches them when they are dead shall be unclean until the evening. And whatever shall fall on any of them when they are dead, shall be unclean, whether any vessel of wood, or clothing, or skin, or sack; whatever vessel in which work is done, it must be put into water, and it shall be unclean to the evening. So it shall be cleaned. And every earthen vessel in which any of them falls, whatever is in it shall be unclean. And you shall break it.read more.
Of all food which may be eaten, that on which such water comes shall be unclean. And all drink that may be drunk in every such vessel shall be unclean. And every thing on which any part of their dead body falls shall be unclean; whether it is the oven, or ranges for pots, they shall be broken down. They are unclean, and shall be unclean to you. But a fountain or pit, with a collection of water, shall be clean. But that which touches their dead body shall be unclean. And if any of their dead body falls on any sowing seed which is to be sown, it shall be clean. But if any water is put on the seed, and any part of the dead body falls on it, it shall be unclean to you. And if any animal among those you may eat dies, he that touches its dead body shall be unclean until the evening. And he that eats of its dead body shall wash his clothes and be unclean until the evening. He also that carries its body shall wash his clothes and be unclean until the evening.

And Jehovah said to Moses, Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them, There shall none be defiled for the dead among his people.

Even for a distinction between the holy and unholy, and between the unclean and clean and so that you may teach the sons of Israel all the statutes which Jehovah has spoken to them by the hand of Moses.

And they shall teach My people to discern between the holy and common, and between the unclean and the clean.

crying out, Men, Israelites, help! This is the man who teaches all everywhere against the people and the Law and this place. And even he brought Greeks into the temple and has polluted this holy place.

We have turned pale because we have heard reproach; shame has covered our faces, for foreigners have come into the holy places of Jehovah's house.

And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, Command the sons of Israel that they put out of the camp every leper and everyone that has an issue, and whoever is defiled by a dead body. You shall put out both male and female. You shall put them outside the camp so that they do not defile their camps in the midst of which I dwell.

And Ezra the priest stood up and said to them, You have sinned, and have taken strange women to increase the sin of Israel. And now confess to Jehovah, the God of your fathers, and do His pleasure. And separate yourselves from the people of the land, and from the strange women.

And Jehovah spoke to Moses saying, Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, You shall not eat any fat of ox, or of sheep, or of goat. And the fat of a dead body, and the fat of a thing torn, may be used in any other use. But you shall in no way eat it.read more.
For whoever eats the fat of the beast of which men offer an offering made by fire to Jehovah, even the soul that eats it shall be cut off from his people. And you shall not eat any blood, of fowl or of beast, in any of your dwellings. Any soul who eats any blood, even that soul shall be cut off from his people.

And as for the leper in whom the plague is, his clothes shall be torn, and his head shall be bare, and he shall put a covering on his upper lip, and shall cry, Unclean! Unclean! All the days in which the plague is in him he shall be defiled. He is unclean. He shall live alone. His dwelling shall be outside the camp.

And if you offer a sacrifice of peace offerings to Jehovah, you shall offer it of your own free will. It shall be eaten the same day you offer it, and on the next day. And if anything remains until the third day, it shall be burned 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 anyone that eats it shall bear his iniquity, because he has profaned the holy thing of Jehovah. And that soul shall be cut off from among his people.

Whoever touches the dead body of any man that is dead, and does not purify himself, defiles the tabernacle of Jehovah. And that soul shall be cut off from Israel. Because the water of separation was not sprinkled upon him, he shall be unclean. His uncleanness is still upon him.

If there is among you any man who is not clean because of an accident at night, then he shall go outside the camp. He shall not come inside the camp. And it shall be as evening turns, he shall wash with water. And when the sun is down, he shall come into the the middle of the camp. You shall also have a place outside the camp where you shall go forth.read more.
And you shall have a paddle on your weapon. And it shall be, when you sit down outside, you shall dig with it, and shall turn back and cover that which comes from you. For Jehovah your God walks in the middle of your camp, to deliver you and to give up your enemies before you. Therefore your camp shall be holy, so that He may see no unclean thing in you and turn away from you.

And Uzziah the king was a leper until the day of his death, and lived in a separate house a leper. For he was cut off from the house of Jehovah. And Jotham his son was over the king's house, judging the people of the land.

But the soul that eats of the flesh of the sacrifice of peace offerings that pertain to Jehovah, having his uncleanness on him, even that soul shall be cut off from his people. And the soul that shall touch any unclean thing, of the uncleanness of man, or any unclean animal, or an unclean abominable thing, and eat of the flesh of the sacrifice of peace offerings which pertain to Jehovah, even that soul shall be cut off from his people.

Say to them, Any man of all your seed among your generations who draws near to the holy things, which the sons of Israel set apart to Jehovah, if he has his uncleanness on him, that soul shall be cut off from My presence. I am Jehovah. Any man of the seed of Aaron who is leprous, or has an issue, he shall not eat of the holy things until he is clean. And he who touches any uncleanness of a person, or a man whose semen has gone out from him, or a man who touches any swarming thing by which he may be made unclean, or touches a man who is unclean to him, by any uncleanness he has,read more.
the soul which has touched it shall be unclean until evening. And he shall not eat of the holy things unless he washes his flesh with water.

And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, If a soul commits a trespass and sins through ignorance in the holy things of Jehovah, then he shall bring for his trespass to Jehovah a ram without blemish out of the flock, together with an amount set by you, by shekels of silver, after the shekel of the sanctuary, for a trespass offering. And he shall make it good in which he has sinned, in the holy thing, and he shall add the fifth part of it, and give it to the priest. And the priest shall make an atonement for him with the ram of the trespass offering, and it shall be forgiven him.

And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to Aaron and to his sons, that they set themselves apart from the holy things of the sons of Israel, and that they do not profane My holy name in what they devote to Me. I am Jehovah.

And Jehovah said to Moses, Go to 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 Jehovah will come down in the sight of all the people upon Mount Sinai. And you shall set bounds to the people round about, saying, Take heed to yourselves. Do not go up into the mountain, or touch the border of it. Whoever touches the mountain shall be surely put to death.read more.
There shall not be a hand to touch it, but that he shall surely be stoned or shot through; whether beast or man, it shall not live. When the trumpet sounds long, they shall come up to the mountain.

And you shall make them linen breeches to cover the naked flesh; from the loins even to the thighs they shall reach. And they shall be upon Aaron, and upon his sons, when they come in to the tabernacle of the congregation, or when they come near the altar to minister in the holy place; so that they do not bear iniquity, and die. It shall be a statute forever to him and his seed after him.

You shall also make a laver of bronze and its foot also of bronze, for washing. And you shall put it between the tabernacle of the congregation and the altar. And you shall put water in it, for Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet there. When they go into the tabernacle of the congregation, they shall wash with water so that they do not die. Or when they come near to the altar to minister, to burn an offering made by fire to Jehovah,read more.
they shall wash their hands and their feet, so that they do not die. And it shall be a statute forever to them, to him and to his seed throughout their generations.

You shall keep the Sabbath therefore, for it is holy to you. Everyone that defiles it shall surely be put to death. For whoever does any work in it, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Six days may work be done, but on the seventh is the sabbath of rest, holy to Jehovah. Whoever does any work in the Sabbath day, he 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, then after that the sons of Kohath shall come to carry it. But they shall not touch any holy thing lest they die. These are the burden of the sons of Kohath in the tabernacle of the congregation.

He who despised Moses' Law died without mercy on the word of two or three witnesses. Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy of punishment, the one who has trampled the Son of God, and who has counted the blood of the covenant with which he was sanctified an unholy thing, and has insulted the Spirit of grace?

And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it, and put incense on it, and offered strange fire before Jehovah, which He had not commanded them. And there went out fire from Jehovah and devoured them, and they died before Jehovah.

Now Korah, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, took both Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On, the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben; even they rose up before Moses with some of the sons of Israel, two hundred and fifty rulers of the assembly, elect men in the congregation, men who were well-known. And they gathered themselves against Moses and against Aaron, and said to them, You take too much upon you, since all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and Jehovah is among them. Why then do you lift yourselves up above the congregation of Jehovah?read more.
And Moses heard and fell on his face. And he spoke to Korah and to all his company, saying, Even tomorrow Jehovah will show who are His, and him who is holy, and will cause him to come near to Him; even him whom He has chosen, He will cause to come near to Him. Do this. Take fire-pans, Korah and all his company, and put fire in them, and put incense in them before Jehovah tomorrow. And it shall be the man whom Jehovah chooses, he shall be holy. You take too much upon you, sons of Levi!

And He struck the men of Beth-shemesh because they had looked into the ark of Jehovah. He even struck seventy among the people, including fifty chief men. And the people lamented because Jehovah had struck the people with a great slaughter. And the men of Beth-shemesh said, Who is able to stand before this holy Jehovah God? And to whom shall He go up from us?

And when they came to Nachon's threshing-floor, Uzzah reached out to the ark of God, and took hold of it; for the oxen upset it. And the anger of Jehovah was kindled against Uzzah. And God struck him there for the error. And he died there by the ark of God.

Her priests have broken My Law and have defiled My holy things. They have put no difference between the holy and the common, and have not taught between the unclean and the clean, and have hidden their eyes from My sabbaths, and I am defiled among them.

And a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession. And he kept back part of the price, his wife also knowing, and brought a certain part and laid it at the apostles' feet. But Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart for you to lie to the Holy Spirit, and to keep back part of the price of the land?read more.
While it remained, was it not your own? And after it was sold, was it not in your own authority? Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men, but to God. And hearing these words, Ananias fell down and expired. And great fear came on all those who heard these things. And the younger ones arose, wound him up, and carrying him out, they buried him. And it was about the space of three hours afterward, when his wife (not knowing what was done) came in. And Peter answered her, Tell me whether you sold the land for so much? And she said, Yes, for so much. Then Peter said to her, How is it that you have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door and they will carry you out. Then at once she fell down at his feet and expired. And the younger ones found her dead, and, carrying her out, buried her beside her husband.

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

Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever desires to be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.

But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for possession, so that you might speak of the praises of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; you who then were not a people, but now the people of God, those not pitied then, but now pitied. Dearly beloved, I exhort you as temporary residents and pilgrims to abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul,

I have given them Your 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 for You to take them out of the world, but for You to 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 knew those who are His." And, "Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity!"

Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit orphans and widows in their afflictions, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.