Reference: Clean And Unclean
American
Terms often used in the Bible in a ceremonial sense; assigned to certain animals, and to men in certain cases, by the law of Moses, Le 11-15; Nu 19; De 14. A distinction between clean and unclean animals existed before the deluge, Ge 7:2. The Mosaic law was not merely arbitrary, but grounded on reasons connected with animal sacrifices, with health, with the separation of the Jews from other nations, and their practice of moral purity, Le 11:43-45; 20:24-26; De 14:2-3,21. The ritual law was still observed in the time of Christ, but under the gospel is annulled, Ac 10:9-16.
Ceremonial uncleanness was contracted by the Jews in various ways, voluntarily and involuntarily. It was removed, usually at the evening of the same day, by bathing. In other cases a week, or even forty or fifty days, and some sacrificial offerings, were required.
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Of every clean beast you will take seven males and seven females, and of the beasts which are not clean, two, the male and his female;
You are not to make yourselves disgusting with anything which goes about flat on the earth; you may not make yourselves unclean with them, in such a way that you are not holy to me. For I am the Lord your God: for this reason, make and keep yourselves holy, for I am holy; you are not to make yourselves unclean with any sort of thing which goes about flat on the earth. read more. For I am the Lord, who took you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God; so be you holy, for I am holy.
But I have said to you, You will take their land and I will give it to you for your heritage, a land flowing with milk and honey: I am the Lord your God who have made you separate from all other peoples. So then, make division between the clean beast and the unclean, and between the clean bird and the unclean: do not make yourselves disgusting by any beast or bird or anything which goes flat on the earth, which has been marked by me as unclean for you. read more. And you are to be holy to me; for I the Lord am holy and have made you separate from the nations, so that you may be my people.
For you are a holy people to the Lord your God, and the Lord has taken you to be his special people out of all the nations on the face of the earth. No disgusting thing may be your food.
You may not have as food anything which has come to a natural death; the man from another country who is living with you may take it for food, or you may get a price for it from one of another nation; for you are a holy people to the Lord your God. The young goat is not to be cooked in its mother's milk.
Now the day after, when they were on their journey and were near the town, Peter went up to the top of the house for prayer, about the sixth hour: And he was in need of food: but while they were getting it ready, a deep sleep came on him; read more. And he saw the heavens opening, and a vessel coming down, like a great cloth let down on the earth, In which were all sorts of beasts and birds. And a voice came to him, saying, Come, Peter; take them for food. But Peter said, No, Lord; for I have never taken food which is common or unclean. And the voice came to him a second time, What God has made clean, do not you make common. And this was done three times: and then the vessel was taken back into heaven.
Hastings
CLEAN AND UNCLEAN
Introductory.
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But of the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God has said, If you take of it or put your hands on it, death will come to you.
Of every clean beast you will take seven males and seven females, and of the beasts which are not clean, two, the male and his female;
And Noah made an altar to the Lord, and from every clean beast and bird he made burned offerings on the altar.
Every living and moving thing will be food for you; I give them all to you as before I gave you all green things.
For this reason the children of Israel, even today, never take that muscle in the hollow of the leg as food, because the hollow of Jacob's leg was touched.
And he said to the people, Be ready by the third day: do not come near a woman.
And if you make me an altar of stone do not make it of cut stones: for the touch of an instrument will make it unclean.
You are to be holy men to me: the flesh of no animal whose death has been caused by the beasts of the field may be used for your food; it is to be given to the dogs.
The best of the first-fruits of your land are to be taken into the house of the Lord your God. The young goat is not to be cooked in its mother's milk
For seven days you are to make offerings for the altar and make it holy, so that it may become completely holy, and anything touching it will become holy.
Take the first-fruits of your land as an offering to the house of the Lord your God. Let not the young goat be cooked in its mother's milk
Six days let work be done, but the seventh day is to be a holy day to you, a Sabbath of rest to the Lord; whoever does any work on that day is to be put to death. No fire is to be lighted in any of your houses on the Sabbath day.
Anyone touching the flesh of it will be holy: and if any of the blood is dropped on any clothing, the thing on which the blood has been dropped is to be washed in a holy place.
And flesh touched by any unclean thing may not be taken for food: it is to be burned with fire; and as for the flesh of the peace-offerings, everyone who is clean may take it as food: But he who is unclean when he takes as food the flesh of the peace-offerings, which are the Lord's, will be cut off from his people.
For I am the Lord your God: for this reason, make and keep yourselves holy, for I am holy; you are not to make yourselves unclean with any sort of thing which goes about flat on the earth.
Say to the children of Israel: If a man has an unclean flow from his flesh, it will make him unclean. If the flow goes on or if the part is stopped up, to keep back the flow, he is still unclean. read more. Every bed on which he has been resting will be unclean, and everything on which he has been seated will be unclean. And anyone touching his bed is to have his clothing washed and his body bathed in water and be unclean till evening. And he who has been seated on anything on which the unclean man has been seated is to have his clothing washed and his body bathed in water and be unclean till evening. And anyone touching the flesh of the unclean man is to have his clothing washed and his body bathed in water and be unclean till evening. And if liquid from the mouth of the unclean man comes on to him who is clean, then he is to have his clothing washed and his body bathed in water and be unclean till evening. And any leather seat on a horse on which the unclean man has been seated will be unclean. And anyone touching anything which was under him will be unclean till the evening; anyone taking up any of these things is to have his clothing washed and his body bathed in water and be unclean till evening. And anyone on whom the unclean man puts his hands, without washing them in water, is to have his clothing washed and his body bathed in water and be unclean till evening. And any vessel of earth which has been touched by the unclean man will have to be broken and any vessel of wood washed. And when a man who has a flow from his body is made clean from it, he is to take seven days to make himself clean, washing his clothing and bathing his body in flowing water, and then he will be clean. And on the eighth day he is to take two doves or two young pigeons and come before the Lord to the door of the Tent of meeting and give them to the priest: And they are to be offered by the priest, one for a sin-offering and one for a burned offering, and the priest will take away his sin before the Lord on account of his flow. And if a man's seed goes out from him, then all his body will have to be bathed in water and he will be unclean till evening. And any clothing or skin on which the seed comes is to be washed with water and be unclean till evening. And if a man has sex relations with a woman and his seed goes out from him, the two of them will have to be bathed in water and will be unclean till evening. And if a woman has a flow of blood from her body, she will have to be kept separate for seven days, and anyone touching her will be unclean till evening. And everything on which she has been resting, while she is kept separate, will be unclean, and everything on which she has been seated will be unclean. And anyone touching her bed will have to have his clothing washed and his body bathed in water and be unclean till evening. And anyone touching anything on which she has been seated will have to have his clothing washed and his body bathed in water and be unclean till evening. Anyone touching anything on the bed or on the thing on which she has been seated, will be unclean till evening. And if any man has sex relations with her so that her blood comes on him, he will be unclean for seven days and every bed on which he has been resting will be unclean. And if a woman has a flow of blood for a long time, not at the time when she generally has it, or if the flow goes on longer than the normal time, she will be unclean while the flow of blood goes on, as she is at other normal times. Every bed on which she has been resting will be unclean, as at the times when she normally has a flow of blood, and everything on which she has been seated will be unclean, in the same way. And anyone touching these things will be unclean, and his clothing will have to be washed and his body bathed in water and he will be unclean till evening. But when her flow of blood is stopped, after seven days she will be clean. And on the eighth day let her get two doves or two young pigeons and take them to the priest to the door of the Tent of meeting, To be offered by the priest, one for a sin-offering and one for a burned offering; and the priest will take away her sin before the Lord on account of her unclean condition.
And anyone who takes as food anything which has come to a natural end, or anything which has been put to death by beasts, if he is one of you by birth, or of another nation, will have to have his clothing washed and his body bathed in water and be unclean till evening, and then he will be clean.
Keep my laws. Do not let your cattle have offspring by those of a different sort; do not put mixed seed into your field; do not put on a robe made of two sorts of cloth.
You may not make cuts in your flesh in respect for the dead, or have marks printed on your bodies: I am the Lord.
Say to them, If any man of all your seed through all your generations, being unclean, comes near the holy things which the children of Israel make holy to the Lord, he will be cut off from before me: I am the Lord.
And the Lord said to Moses, Say to the children of Israel, If a man or a woman takes an oath to keep himself separate and give himself to the Lord; read more. He is to keep himself from wine and strong drink, and take no mixed wine or strong drink or any drink made from grapes, or any grapes, green or dry. All the time he is separate he may take nothing made from the grape-vine, from its seeds to its skin. All the time he is under his oath let no blade come near his head; till the days while he is separate are ended he is holy and his hair may not be cut. All the time he is separate he may not come near any dead body. He may not make himself unclean for his father or his mother, his sister or his brother, if death comes to them; because he is under an oath to keep himself separate for God. All the time he is separate he is holy to the Lord. If death comes suddenly to a man at his side, so that he becomes unclean, let his hair be cut off on the day when he is made clean, on the seventh day. And on the eighth day let him take to the priest, at the door of the Tent of meeting, two doves or two young pigeons; And the priest will give one for a sin-offering and the other for a burned offering to take away the sin which came on him on account of the dead, and he will make his head holy that same day. And he will give to the Lord his days of being separate, offering a he-lamb of the first year as an offering for error: but the earlier days will be a loss, because he became unclean. And this is the law for him who is separate, when the necessary days are ended: he is to come to the door of the Tent of meeting, And make his offering to the Lord; one he-lamb of the first year, without a mark, for a burned offering, and one female lamb of the first year, without a mark, for a sin-offering, and one male sheep, without a mark, for peace-offerings, And a basket of unleavened bread, cakes of the best meal mixed with oil, and thin unleavened cakes covered with oil, with their meal offering and drink offerings. And the priest will take them before the Lord, and make his sin-offering and his burned offering; Giving the sheep of the peace-offerings, with the basket of unleavened bread; and at the same time, the priest will make his meal offering and his drink offering. Then let his long hair, the sign of his oath, be cut off at the door of the Tent of meeting, and let him put it on the fire on which the peace-offerings are burning. And the priest will take the cooked leg of the sheep and one unleavened cake and one thin cake out of the basket, and put them on the hands of the separate one after his hair has been cut, Waving them for a wave offering before the Lord; this is holy for the priest, together with the waved breast and the leg which is lifted up; after that, the man may take wine. This is the law for him who takes an oath to keep himself separate, and for his offering to the Lord on that account, in addition to what he may be able to get; this is the law of his oath, which he will have to keep.
And there were certain men who were unclean because of a dead body, so that they were not able to keep the Passover on that day; and they came before Moses and before Aaron on that day: And these men said to him, We have been made unclean by the dead body of a man; why may we not make the offering of the Lord at the regular time among the children of Israel? read more. And Moses said to them, Do nothing till the Lord gives me directions about you. And the Lord said to Moses, Say to the children of Israel, If any one of you or of your families is unclean because of a dead body, or is on a journey far away, still he is to keep the Passover to the Lord: In the second month, on the fourteenth day, in the evening, they are to keep it, taking it with unleavened bread and bitter-tasting plants; Nothing of it is to be kept till the morning, and no bone of it is to be broken: they are to keep it by the rules of the Passover.
Let her not be as one dead, whose flesh is half wasted when he comes out from the body of his mother.
Anyone touching a dead body will be unclean for seven days:
Anyone touching a dead body will be unclean for seven days:
You yourselves will have to keep outside the tent-circle for seven days, anyone of you who has put any person to death or come near a dead body; and on the third day and on the seventh day make yourselves and your prisoners clean. And every bit of clothing, and anything made of leather or goats' hair or wood, you are to make clean. read more. Then Eleazar the priest said to the men of war who had been to the fight, This is the rule of the law which the Lord has given to Moses: But gold and silver and brass and iron and tin and lead, And anything which may be heated, is to go through the fire and be made clean; but in addition it is to be put in the water of cleaning: and anything which may not go through the fire is to be put in the water. And on the seventh day, after washing your clothing, you will be clean, and then you may come into the tent-circle.
But see that you do not take the blood for food; for the blood is the life; and you may not make use of the life as food with the flesh.
You are the children of the Lord your God: you are not to make cuts on your bodies or take off the hair on your brows in honour of the dead;
These are the beasts which you may have for food: the ox, the sheep, and the goat;
You may not have as food anything which has come to a natural death; the man from another country who is living with you may take it for food, or you may get a price for it from one of another nation; for you are a holy people to the Lord your God. The young goat is not to be cooked in its mother's milk.
If, in the land which the Lord your God is giving you, you come across the dead body of a man in the open country, and you have no idea who has put him to death:
It is not right for a woman to be dressed in man's clothing, or for a man to put on a woman's robe: whoever does such things is disgusting to the Lord your God.
If you are building a house, make a railing for the roof, so that the blood of any man falling from it will not come on your house. Do not have your vine-garden planted with two sorts of seed: or all of it may become a loss, the seed you have put in as well as the increase. read more. Do not do your ploughing with an ox and an ass yoked together. Do not have clothing made of two sorts of thread, wool and linen together.
No man whose private parts have been wounded or cut off may come into the meeting of the Lord's people. One whose father and mother are not married may not come into the meeting of the Lord's people, or any of his family to the tenth generation. read more. No Ammonite or Moabite or any of their people to the tenth generation may come into the meeting of the Lord's people: Because they gave you no bread or water on your way, when you came out of Egypt: and they got Balaam, the son of Peor, from Pethor in Aram-naharaim to put curses on you But the Lord your God would not give ear to Balaam, but let the curse be changed into a blessing to you, because of his love for you. Do nothing for their peace or well-being for ever.
Let there be a place outside the tent-circle to which you may go; And have among your arms a spade; and when you have been to that place, let that which comes from you be covered up with earth: read more. For the Lord your God is walking among your tents, to keep you safe and to give up into your hands those who are fighting against you; then let your tents be holy, so that he may see no unclean thing among you, and be turned away from you
A newly married man will not have to go out with the army or undertake any business, but may be free for one year, living in his house for the comfort of his wife.
There you are to make an altar to the Lord your God, of stones on which no iron instrument has been used. You are to make the altar of the Lord your God of uncut stones; offering on it burned offerings to the Lord your God:
In the way ordered by Moses, the servant of the Lord, as it is recorded in the book of the law of Moses, an altar of uncut stones, untouched by any iron instrument: and on it they made burned offerings and peace-offerings to the Lord.
And put their army in position against them; and they took all the produce of the earth as far as Gaza, till there was no food in Israel, or any sheep or oxen or asses.
But the Lord sent destruction on seventy men of the people of Beth-shemesh for looking into the ark of the Lord; and great was the sorrow of the people for the destruction which the Lord had sent on them.
Then it was said to Saul, See, the people are sinning against the Lord, taking the blood with the flesh. And he said to those who gave him the news, Now let a great stone be rolled to me here.
And David in answer said to the priest, Certainly women have been kept from us; and as has been done before when I have gone out the arms of the young men were made holy, even though it was a common journey; how much more today will their arms be made holy.
And Uriah said to David, Israel and Judah with the ark are living in tents, and my lord Joab and the other servants of my lord are sleeping in the open field; and am I to go to my house and take food and drink, and go to bed with my wife? By the living Lord, and by the life of your soul, I will not do such a thing.
Then Naaman said, If you will not, then let there be given to your servant as much earth as two beasts are able to take on their backs; because from now on, your servant will make no offering or burned offering to other gods, but only to the Lord.
And they became very short of food in Samaria; for they kept it shut in till the price of an ass's head was eighty shekels of silver, and a small measure of doves' droppings was five shekels of silver.
Now there were four lepers seated at the doorway into the town: and they said to one another, Why are we waiting here for death?
And he took away the horses which the kings of Judah had given to the sun, at the way into the house of the Lord, by the room of Nathan-melech, the unsexed servant, which was in the outer part of the building, and the carriages of the sun he put on fire.
Awake! awake! put on your strength, O Zion; put on your beautiful robes, O Jerusalem, the holy town: for from now there will never again come into you the unclean and those without circumcision.
He who puts an ox to death puts a man to death; he who makes an offering of a lamb puts a dog to death; he who makes a meal offering makes an offering of pig's blood; he who makes an offering of perfumes for a sign gives worship to an image: as they have gone after their desires, and their soul takes pleasure in their disgusting things;
Then I said, Ah, Lord! see, my soul has never been unclean, and I have never taken as my food anything which has come to a natural death or has been broken by beasts, from the time when I was young even till now; no disgusting flesh has ever come into my mouth.
Her priests have been acting violently against my law; they have made my holy things unclean: they have made no division between what is holy and what is common, and they have not made it clear that the unclean is different from the clean, and their eyes have been shut to my Sabbaths, and I am not honoured among them.
For this cause say to them, This is what the Lord has said: You take your meat with the blood, your eyes are lifted up to your images, and you are takers of life: are you to have the land for your heritage?
To have let men from strange lands, without circumcision of heart or flesh, come into my holy place, making my house unclean; and to have made the offering of my food, even the fat and the blood; and in addition to all your disgusting ways, you have let my agreement be broken.
For this cause the Lord has said, No man from a strange land, without circumcision of heart and flesh, of all those who are living among the children of Israel, is to come into my holy place.
And when they come in by the doorways of the inner square, they are to be clothed in linen robes; there is to be no wool on them while they are doing my work in the doorway of the inner square and inside the house. They are to have linen head-dresses on their heads and linen trousers on their legs, and they are to have nothing round them to make their skin wet with heat. read more. And when they go out into the outer square to the people, they are to take off the robes in which they do the work of priests, and put them away in the holy rooms, and put on other clothing, so that the people may not be made holy by their robes.
They will have no resting-place in the Lord's land, but Ephraim will go back to Egypt, and they will take unclean food in Assyria. They will give no wine offering to the Lord, they will not make offerings ready for him; their bread will be like the bread of those in sorrow; all who take it will be unclean, because their bread will be only for their desire, it will not come into the house of the Lord.
Then Haggai said, Will any of these be made unclean by the touch of one who is unclean through touching a dead body? And the priests answering said, It will be made unclean.
And he got the people together and said to them, Give ear, and let my words be clear to you:
See that you say nothing to any man: but go and let the priest see you, and make yourself clean by an offering of the things ordered by Moses, for a witness to them.
And there came together to him the Pharisees and certain of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem, And had seen that some of his disciples took their bread with unclean, that is, unwashed, hands. read more. Now the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not take food without washing their hands with care, keeping the old rule which has been handed down to them: And when they come from the market-place, they take no food till their hands are washed; and a number of other orders there are, which have been handed down to them to keep--washings of cups and pots and brass vessels. And the Pharisees and the scribes put the question to him, Why do your disciples not keep the rules of the fathers, but take their bread with unwashed hands?
And to make an offering, as it is ordered in the law of the Lord, of two doves or other young birds.
And when the Pharisee saw it, he was surprised because he came to the meal without first washing himself.
But Peter said, No, Lord; for I have never taken food which is common or unclean.
But Peter said, No, Lord; for I have never taken food which is common or unclean.
To keep from things offered to false gods, and from blood, and from things put to death in ways which are against the law, and from the evil desires of the body; if you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. May you be happy.
Then Paul took the men, and on the day after, making himself clean with them, he went into the Temple, giving out the statement that the days necessary for making them clean were complete, till the offering was made for every one of them.
I am conscious of this, and am certain in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean in itself; but for the man in whose opinion it is unclean, for him it is unclean.
Do not let the work of God come to nothing on account of food. All things are certainly clean; but it is evil for that man who by taking food makes it hard for another.
For this reason let no man be your judge in any question of food or drink or feast days or new moons or Sabbaths:
If you were made free, by your death with Christ, from the rules of the world, why do you put yourselves under the authority of orders Which say there may be no touching, tasting, or taking in your hands, read more. (Rules which are all to come to an end with their use) after the orders and teaching of men?
To the clean in heart all things are clean: but to those who are unclean and without faith nothing is clean; they become unclean in mind and in thought.
Morish
See ANIMALS.