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 animal thou shalt take to thee seven pairs, the male and his female; but of animals that are not clean, two, the male and his female.
Ye shall not defile your souls with any reptile that creeps, neither shall ye contaminate yourselves with them, that ye should be unclean with them. For I am the LORD your God; ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy; for I am holy; neither shall ye defile your souls with any reptile that moves upon the earth. read more. For I am the LORD that causes you to come up out of the land of Egypt to be your God; ye shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.
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.
For thou art a holy people unto the LORD thy God, and the LORD has chosen thee to be a unique people unto himself from among all the peoples that are upon the face of the earth. Thou shalt not eat any abominable thing.
Ye shall not eat of any thing that died of itself; thou shalt give it unto the stranger that is in thy gates that he may eat it, or thou may sell it unto an alien; for thou art a holy people unto the LORD thy God. Thou shalt not cook a kid in his mother's milk.
On the morrow, as they went on their journey and drew near unto the city, Peter went up upon the housetop to pray about the sixth hour; and he became very hungry and would have eaten; but while they made ready, he fell into a rapture of understanding read more. and saw the heaven opened and a certain vessel descending unto him, as it had been a great sheet knit at the four corners and let down to the earth, in which were all manner of fourfooted beasts of the earth and wild beasts and reptiles and fowls of the air. And there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter, kill and eat. But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean. And the voice spoke unto him again the second time, That which God has cleansed, do not call common. This was done three times, and the vessel was received up again into heaven.
Hastings
CLEAN AND UNCLEAN
Introductory.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, Ye shall not eat of it; neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
Of every clean animal thou shalt take to thee seven pairs, the male and his female; but of animals that are not clean, two, the male and his female.
And Noah built an altar unto the LORD and took of every clean animal and of every clean fowl and offered burnt offerings on the altar.
Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you; even as the green grass I have given you all things.
Therefore the sons of Israel do not eat of the sinew which shrank, which is upon the hollow of the thigh, unto this day, because he touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh in the sinew that shrank.
And he said unto the people, Be ready against the third day; come not at your women.
And if thou wilt make me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stone; for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it.
And ye shall be holy men unto me; neither shall ye eat any flesh that is torn of beasts in the field; ye shall cast it to the dogs.
The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring into the house of the LORD thy God. Thou shalt not boil a kid in his mother's milk.
For seven days thou shalt reconcile the altar and sanctify it; and it shall be a most holy altar; whatever touches the altar shall be made holy.
Thus thou shalt consecrate them, and they shall be most holy; whatever touches them shall be sanctified.
The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring unto the house of the LORD thy God. Thou shalt not cook a kid in his mother's milk.
Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day shall be holy unto you, a sabbath of rest to the LORD; whoever does work therein shall die. Ye shall kindle no fire in any of your habitations upon the sabbath day.
Whatever shall touch the flesh thereof shall be sanctified; and when some of the blood thereof is sprinkled upon any garment, thou shalt wash whatever it was sprinkled on in the holy place.
And the flesh that touches any unclean thing shall not be eaten; it shall be burnt with fire; but every clean person shall eat of this flesh. 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.
For I am the LORD your God; ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy; for I am holy; neither shall ye defile your souls with any reptile that moves upon the earth.
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. And this shall be his uncleanness in his issue: whether his flesh drips because of his issue or his flesh is stopped because of his issue, he shall be unclean. read more. Every bed on which the one that has the issue lies shall be unclean; and everything upon which he sits shall be unclean. And whoever touches his bed shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening. And he that sits on any thing upon which the one that has the issue sat shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening. Likewise he that touches the flesh of the one that has the issue shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening. And if the one that has the issue spits upon him that is clean, then he shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening. And any saddle that he that has the issue rides upon shall be unclean. And whoever touches any thing that was under him shall be unclean until the evening, and he that bears any of those things shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening. And whoever the one that has the issue touches and has not washed his hands with water, he shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening. And the vessel of earth that the one that has the issue touches shall be broken, and every vessel of wood shall be washed with water. And when the one that has an issue is cleansed of his issue; then he shall number to himself seven days from his purification and wash his clothes and bathe his flesh in living water, and he shall be clean. And on the eighth day he shall take two turtledoves or two young pigeons and come before the LORD unto the door of the tabernacle of the testimony and give them unto the priest; and the priest shall offer the one as sin and the other as a burnt offering; and the priest shall reconcile him from his issue before the LORD. And the man, when his seed shall go forth from him, then shall wash all his flesh in water and be unclean until the evening. And every garment and every skin upon which the seed of a man has come shall be washed with water and be unclean until the evening. The woman also with whom the man shall have sexual contact with seed, they shall both bathe themselves in water and be unclean until the evening. And when the woman has an issue of blood and her issue is in her flesh, she shall be put apart seven days, and whoever touches her shall be unclean until the evening. And everything that she lies upon in her separation shall be unclean; everything also that she sits upon shall be unclean. And whoever touches her bed shall wash his clothes and bathe himself with water and be unclean until the evening. Also whoever touches any thing that she sat upon shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening. And if any thing was on the bed or on any thing upon which she sat, he that touches it shall be unclean until the evening. And if any man sleeps with her and her uncleanness comes upon him, he shall be unclean seven days; and any bed upon which he sleeps shall be unclean. And the woman when she has an issue of her blood many days out of the time of her separation or if it runs beyond the time of her separation, all the days of the issue of her uncleanness shall be as the days of her separation: she shall be unclean. Every bed upon which she sleeps all the days of her issue shall be unto her as the bed of her separation; and whatever she sits upon shall be unclean, as the uncleanness of her separation. Whoever touches these things shall be unclean and shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening. But when she is clean of her issue, then she shall number to herself seven days, and after that she shall be clean. And on the eighth day she shall take unto her two turtledoves or two young pigeons and bring them unto the priest, to the door of the tabernacle of the testimony; and the priest shall offer the one as sin and the other as a burnt offering; and the priest shall reconcile her before the LORD of the issue of her uncleanness.
And any person that eats that which died of itself or that which was torn by beasts whether it is a natural of your own country or a stranger, he shall both wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening; then he shall be clean.
Ye shall keep my statutes. Thou shalt not let thy animal join with a diverse kind for mixtures; thou shalt not sow thy field with mixture, neither shalt thou wear garments of a mixture of different things.
Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you. I am the LORD.
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.
And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the sons of Israel and say unto them, When either man or woman shall separate themselves to vow a vow of a Nazarite, to dedicate themselves unto the LORD, read more. they shall separate themselves from wine and strong drink and shall drink no vinegar of wine or vinegar of strong drink, neither shall they drink any liquor of grapes, nor eat moist grapes or dried. All the days of their Nazariteship they shall eat nothing that is made of the wine vine, from the kernels even to the husk. All the days of the vow of their Nazariteship no razor shall come upon their head, until the days are fulfilled of their separation unto the LORD; they shall be holy and shall let the locks of the hair of their head grow. All the days that they separate themselves unto the LORD they shall come in unto no dead body. They shall not make themselves unclean for their father or for their mother, for their brother or for their sister, when they die because the consecration of their God is upon their head. All the days of their Nazariteship they are holy unto the LORD. And if anyone dies very suddenly beside them, and they have defiled the head of their Nazariteship, then they shall shave their head in the day of their cleansing; on the seventh day shall they shave it. And on the eighth day they shall bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons to the priest to the door of the tabernacle of the testimony, and the priest shall offer the one as the sin and the other as a burnt offering and reconcile the one that sinned upon the dead and shall sanctify their head that same day. And they shall consecrate unto the LORD the days of their Nazariteship and shall bring a lamb of the first year for their guilt; but the days that were before shall be lost because their Nazariteship was defiled. This is, therefore, the law of the Nazarite, in the day in which their Nazariteship is fulfilled: they shall be brought unto the door of the tabernacle of the testimony; and they shall offer their offering unto the LORD, one he lamb of the first year without blemish for a burnt offering and one ewe lamb of the first year without blemish as the sin and one ram without blemish for peace offerings, and a basket of unleavened bread, cakes of fine flour mingled with oil and wafers of unleavened bread anointed with oil and their present and their drink offerings. And the priest shall bring them before the LORD and shall offer his sin and his burnt offering; and he shall offer the ram for a sacrifice of peace unto the LORD, with the basket of unleavened bread; the priest shall likewise offer his present and his drink offering. Then the Nazarite shall shave the head of their Nazariteship at the door of the tabernacle of the testimony and shall take the hair of the head of their Nazariteship and put it upon the fire which is under the sacrifice of the peace. Then the priest shall take the boiled shoulder of the ram and one unleavened cake out of the basket and one unleavened wafer and shall put them upon the hands of the Nazarite after their Nazariteship is shaven; and the priest shall wave them for a wave offering before the LORD, which shall be a holy thing of the priest, with the wave breast and heave shoulder; and after that the Nazarite shall drink wine. This is the law of the Nazarite who made a vow of their offering unto the LORD for their Nazariteship, beside that which their means allows, according to the vow which they vowed, so they must do according to the law of their Nazariteship.
And there were certain men, who were defiled by the dead body of a man, that they could not keep the passover on that day; and they came before Moses and before Aaron on that day; and those men said unto him, We are defiled by the dead body of a man; why are we kept back, that we may not offer an offering of the LORD in his appointed season among the sons of Israel? read more. And Moses said unto them, Wait, and I will hear what the LORD will command concerning you. And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the sons of Israel, saying, If any man of you or of your generations should be unclean by reason of a dead body or be on a journey afar off, yet he shall keep the passover unto the LORD. The fourteenth day of the second month, between the two evenings they shall keep it, and eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. They shall leave none of it unto the morning, nor break any bone of it; according to all the ordinance of the passover they shall keep it.
Let her not be as one dead, of whom the flesh is half consumed when he comes out of his mother's womb.
He that touches the dead body of any human person shall be unclean seven days.
He that touches the dead body of any human person shall be unclean seven days.
And ye must abide outside the camp seven days; and whoever has killed any person and whoever has touched any dead body ye shall remove the sin from them on the third and on the seventh day, both of yourselves and of your captives. Likewise remove all sin from all your clothing and all that is made of skins and all work of goats' hair and every vessel made of wood. read more. And Eleazar, the priest, said unto the men of war which went to the battle, This is the ordinance of the law which the LORD commanded Moses; certainly the gold and the silver, the brass, the iron, the tin, and the lead, every thing that may endure the fire, ye shall cause to pass through the fire, and it shall be clean; nevertheless, ye shall remove the sin with the water of separation; and all that does not endure the fire ye shall cause to go through the water. Ye shall also wash your clothes on the seventh day, and ye shall be clean, and afterwards ye shall come into the camp.
Only be sure not to eat the blood; for the blood is the soul (or the life), and thou art not to eat the soul with its flesh.
Ye are the sons of the LORD your God: ye shall not cut yourselves nor make any baldness over your eyes for the dead.
Ye shall not eat of any thing that died of itself; thou shalt give it unto the stranger that is in thy gates that he may eat it, or thou may sell it unto an alien; for thou art a holy people unto the LORD thy God. Thou shalt not cook a kid in his mother's milk.
When one is found dead in the land which the LORD thy God gives thee to inherit, lying in the field, and it is not known who has slain him,
The woman shall not wear that which pertains unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman's garment; for all that do so are abomination unto the LORD thy God.
When thou shall build a new house, then thou shalt make a parapet for thy roof that thou not bring blood upon thine house if anyone should fall from there. Thou shalt not sow thy vineyard with mixture lest the fullness of thy seed which thou hast sown and the fruit of thy vineyard be defiled. read more. Thou shalt not plow with an ox and an ass together. Thou shalt not wear a garment of mixture, as of woolen and linen together.
He that is wounded in the stones or is castrated shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD. A bastard shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD; even to his tenth generation shall he not enter into the congregation of the LORD. read more. An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD; even to their tenth generation shall they not enter into the congregation of the LORD for ever, because they did not meet you with bread and with water in the way when ye came forth out of Egypt and because they hired against thee Balaam, the son of Beor of Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse thee. Nevertheless the LORD thy God would not hearken unto Balaam, but the LORD thy God turned the curse into a blessing unto thee because the LORD thy God loved thee. Thou shalt not seek their peace nor their prosperity all thy days for ever.
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; read more. 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.
When a man has taken a new wife, he shall not go out to war, neither shall he be charged with any business; but he shall be free at home one year and shall cheer up his wife whom he has taken.
And there shalt thou build an altar unto the LORD thy God, an altar of stones; thou shalt not lift up any iron tool upon them. Thou shalt build the altar of the LORD thy God of whole stones, and thou shalt offer burnt offerings upon it unto the LORD thy God;
as Moses, the slave, of the LORD had commanded the sons of Israel, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses, an altar of whole stones, over which no one lifted up any iron tool; and they offered burnt offerings upon it unto the LORD and sacrificed peace offerings.
and encamp against them and destroy the fruits of the earth as far as Gaza, and they would leave nothing to eat in Israel neither sheep nor ox nor ass.
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.
Then they told Saul, saying, Behold, the people sin against the LORD in that they eat with the blood. And he said, Ye have transgressed; roll a great stone unto me this day.
And David answered the priest and said unto him, Of a truth women have been kept from us since yesterday and the day before yesterday since I came out, and the vessels of the young men were holy although the way is profane; how much more that today it shall be sanctified with the vessels.
And Uriah said unto David, The ark and Israel and Judah abide in tents, and my lord Joab and the slaves of my lord, are encamped in the open fields; shall I then go into my house, to eat and to drink and to lie with my wife? By thy life and by the life of thy soul, I will not do this thing.
Then Naaman said, Shall there not then, I pray thee, be given to thy slave two mules' burden of earth? For from now one thy slave will offer neither burnt offering nor sacrifice unto other gods, but unto the LORD.
And there was a great famine in Samaria as they besieged it until an ass's head was sold for eighty pieces of silver and the fourth part of a cab of dove's dung for five pieces of silver.
And there were four leprous men at the entrance of the gate, who said one to another, Why shall we stay here until we die?
And he took away the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun, at the entrance of the house of the LORD, by the chamber of Nathanmelech, the chamberlain who was in charge of the Parbar, and burned the chariots of the sun with fire.
Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city: for from now on the uncircumcised and the unclean shall no longer come into thee.
He that kills an ox is as if he slew a man; he that sacrifices a lamb as if he cut off a dog's neck; he that offers an oblation as if he offered swine's blood; he that burns incense as if he blessed iniquity. They have chosen their own ways, and their soul delights in their abominations.
Then said I, Ah Lord GOD! behold, my soul is not defiled: for from my youth up even until now have I not eaten of that which dies of itself, or is torn in pieces; neither has abominable flesh come into my mouth.
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.
Therefore say unto them, Thus hath the Lord GOD said; Ye eat with the blood and lift up your eyes toward your idols and shed blood, and shall ye possess this land?
In that ye have brought into my sanctuary strangers, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh to be in my sanctuary to pollute it, even my house, when ye offer my bread, the fat and the blood, and they have broken my covenant because of all your abominations.
Thus hath the Lord GOD said; No son of a stranger, uncircumcised in heart nor uncircumcised in flesh shall enter into my sanctuary, of any sons of strangers that are among the sons of Israel.
And it shall come to pass, that when they enter in at the gates of the inner court, they shall be clothed with linen garments; and no wool shall come upon them, while they minister in the gates of the inner court and within. They shall have linen bonnets upon their heads and shall have linen underwear upon their loins; they shall not gird themselves with any thing that causes sweat. read more. And when they go forth into the outer court, even into the outer court to the people, they shall put off their garments in which they ministered and lay them in the chambers of the sanctuary, and they shall put on other garments; and they shall not sanctify the people with their garments.
They shall not remain in the land of the LORD; but Ephraim shall return to Egypt and to Assyria where they shall eat unclean food. They shall not pour out wine unto the LORD, neither shall he take pleasure in their sacrifices; as the bread of mourners shall they be unto them; all that eat thereof shall be polluted; for their bread shall not enter into the house of the LORD because of their soul.
Then Haggai said, If one that is unclean by a dead body touches any of these, shall it be unclean? And the priests answered and said, It shall be unclean.
And calling the multitude unto him, he said unto them, Hear and understand:
and said unto him, See thou say nothing to any man, but go, show thyself to the priest, and offer for thy cleansing those things which Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them.
Then came together unto him the Pharisees and some of the scribes, who had come from Jerusalem, who upon seeing some of his disciples eat bread with common, that is to say, with unwashed, hands, they condemned them. read more. (For the Pharisees and all the Jews, unless they wash their hands often, eat not, holding the tradition of the elders. And when they come from the market, unless they wash, they eat not. And there are many other things which they took upon themselves to hold such as the washing of cups and pots, brasen vessels and of tables.) Then the Pharisees and scribes asked him, Why do thy disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders but eat bread with unwashed hands?
and to offer a sacrifice according to that which is said in the law of the Lord, A pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.
And when the Pharisee saw it, he marvelled that he had not first washed before dinner.
But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean.
But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean.
that ye abstain from foods offered to idols and from blood and from things strangled and from fornication; from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Fare ye well.
Then Paul took the men and the next day, purifying himself with them, entered into the temple to signify the accomplishment of the days of purification until an offering should be offered for each one of them.
I know and trust in the Lord Jesus that for his sake there is nothing unclean, but to him that esteems any thing to be unclean, to him it is unclean.
Because of food, do not destroy the work of God. All things indeed are clean, but it is evil for that man who eats with offense.
Let no one therefore judge you in food or in drink or in respect of a feast day or of the new moon or of the sabbath days,
For if ye are dead with the Christ to the elements of the world, why, as though living unto the world, do ye decree rites, touch not; taste not; handle not? read more. Which all perish with the using, because they are the commandments and doctrines of men,
For unto the pure all things are pure, but unto those that are defiled and unfaithful, nothing is pure, but even their soul and conscience is defiled.
Morish
See ANIMALS.