Reference: Bath, Bathing
Hastings
The latter term is most frequently used in our English Version in connexion with purification from ceremonial defilement
See Verses Found in Dictionary
And a daughter of Pharaoh cometh down to bathe at the River, and her damsels are walking by the side of the River, and she seeth the ark in the midst of the weeds, and sendeth her handmaid, and she taketh it,
and it cometh to pass, at evening-time, that David riseth from off his couch, and walketh up and down on the roof of the king's house, and seeth from the roof a woman bathing, and the woman is of very good appearance,
and one rinseth the chariot by the pool of Samaria, and the dogs lick his blood -- when the armour they had washed -- according to the word of Jehovah that He spake.
Dost thou not do this to thyself? By thy forsaking Jehovah thy God, At the time He is leading thee in the way?
But though thou dost wash with nitre, And dost multiply to thyself soap, Marked is thine iniquity before Me, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah.
Smith
Bath, Bathing.
This was a prescribed part of the Jewish ritual of purification in cases of accident, or of leprous or ordinary uncleanness,
Le 15; 16:28; 22:6; 19/7/type/ylt'>Nu 19:7,19; 2Sa 11:2,4; 2Ki 5:10
as also after mourning, which always implied defilement.
The eastern climate made bathing essential alike to health and pleasure, to which luxury added the use of perfumes.
Judith 10:3; Susan 17. The "pools," such as that of Siloam and Hezekiah,
2Ki 20:20; Ne 3:15-16; Isa 22:11; Joh 9:7
often sheltered by porticos,
Joh 5:2
are the first indications we have of public bathing accommodation.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
and the priest hath washed his garments, and hath bathed his flesh with water, and afterwards doth come in unto the camp, and the priest is unclean till the evening;
And the clean hath sprinkled it on the unclean on the third day, and on the seventh day, and hath cleansed him on the seventh day, and he hath washed his garments, and hath bathed with water, and hath been clean in the evening.
and thou hast bathed, and anointed thyself, and put thy garments upon thee, and gone down to the threshing-floor; let not thyself be known to the man till he complete to eat and to drink;
And the rest of the matters of Hezekiah, and all his might, and how he made the pool, and the conduit, and bringeth in the waters to the city, are they not written on the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Judah?
And the gate of the fountain hath Shallum son of Col-Hozeh, head of the district of Mizpah, strengthened: he doth build it, and cover it, and set up its doors, its locks, and its bars, and the wall of the pool of Siloah, to the garden of the king, and unto the steps that are going down from the city of David. After him hath Nehemiah son of Azbuk, head of the half of the district of Beth-Zur, strengthened, unto over-against the graves of David, and unto the pool that is made, and unto the house of the mighty ones.
And in the drawing nigh of the turn of each young woman to come in unto the king Ahasuerus, at the end of there being to her -- according to the law of the women -- twelve months, for so they fulfil the days of their purifications; six months with oil of myrrh, and six months with spices, and with the purifications of women,
And a ditch ye made between the two walls, For the waters of the old pool, And ye have not looked unto its Maker, And its Framer of old ye have not seen.
and there is in Jerusalem by the sheep -gate a pool that is called in Hebrew Bethesda, having five porches,
'Go away, wash at the pool of Siloam,' which is, interpreted, Sent. He went away, therefore, and did wash, and came seeing;