56 Bible Verses about Holiness,  Worldly Separation

You are not to live by the customs of the nations, whom I've cast away right in front of you. Because they did all of these things, I detested them. But I've promised you that you'll inherit the land that I'm about to give you as your permanent possession a land flowing with milk and honey. "I am your God. I've separated you from the people. You are to differentiate between the clean animal and the unclean and between the unclean bird and the clean. You are not to make yourselves detestable on account of any animal, bird, or any creeping creature of the ground that I've separated for you as unclean.read more.
"You are to be holy toward me, because I, the LORD, am holy. I've separated you from among the people to be mine.

Then Moses told the LORD, "If your presence does not go with us, don't bring us up from here. Otherwise, how shall it be known that your people and I have received favor from you, unless you go with us and that we, your people and I, are distinguished from all the people on the surface of the earth?"

"So separate the Israelis from their uncleanness so that they won't die in their uncleanness if they defile my tent that is in their midst.

Anyone who does any of these detestable things whoever the person may be is to be eliminated from contact with his people. Therefore, keep my injunctions so that you won't practice these detestable things that have been done before you, and so that you won't be defiled in them. I am the LORD."

"When the LORD your God brings you into the land that you are entering to possess, he will drive out many nations before you: the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, seven nations who are more numerous and stronger than you. So when the LORD your God delivers them to you and you have defeated them, then utterly destroy them. You are not to make any covenant with them nor be gracious to them. You are not to intermarry with them. You are not to give your daughters to their sons nor take their daughters for your sons, read more.
because they will turn your children from me to serve other gods so that the LORD's anger blazes against you and swiftly destroys you by fire. This is what you are to do to them: tear down their altars, break their pillars, cut down their ritual pillars, and burn their carved idols in fire, because you are a holy people to the LORD your God. The LORD your God chose you to be his people, his treasured possession from all the nations on the face of the earth."

"When you are encamped for battle against your enemies, be on guard against every form of impropriety. If someone among you becomes unclean due to nocturnal emissions, he must leave the camp and stay outside. As evening approaches, he must wash himself with water. Then at sunset, he may return to the camp.read more.
"Choose a place outside the camp for a latrine. Include a spade among your equipment so that when you squat to relieve yourself, you can dig a hole and then cover your excrement. For the LORD your God is on the move within your camp to deliver you and to hand your enemies over to you. Therefore your camp must be holy so that he will not see anything indecent among you and turn away from you."

After these things occurred, certain officials approached me and said "The people of Israel, the priests, and the descendants of Levi have not separated themselves from the people of the lands or from the detestable behavior of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites, because they and their sons have married foreign women. As a result, the holy people have mingled themselves among the nations of these lands. As a matter of fact, the senior officials and the rulers have been foremost in this sin."

"Depart! Depart! Go out from there; touch no unclean thing; go out from the midst of her; purify yourselves, you who carry the vessels of the LORD.

This is the law concerning animals, every living creature that moves on the waters or swarms on land. You are to differentiate between the clean and unclean, between the living creature that can be eaten and the living creature that is not to be eaten."

The LORD told Moses and Aaron, "Tell the Israelis that these are the living creatures that you may eat among the animals of the earth: You may eat any animal that has divided hooves with cloven feet and that ruminates its cud, read more.
except you are not to eat the following animals that have divided hooves or ruminate their cud: the camel (because it chews the cud but doesn't have divided hooves, it is to be unclean for you), the rock badger (because it chews its cud but its hooves aren't divided, it is to be unclean for you), the hare (because it chews its cud, but its hooves aren't divided, it is to be unclean for you), and the pig (because it has divided hooves and is therefore cloven-footed, but it doesn't ruminate its cud, it is to be unclean for you). You are not to eat their flesh or even touch their carcasses. They are to be unclean for you." "You may eat anything that lives in the water that is, you may eat anything that has fins and scales either from the seas or from the rivers. But anything that doesn't have fins or scales whether from the seas or the rivers any of the swarming creatures and living creatures in the waters are detestable for you. They are to remain detestable for you. You are not to eat of their meat and you are to detest their carcasses. Anything that doesn't have fins or scales in the waters is a detestable thing for you." "These are detestable things for you among winged creatures that you are not to eat, because they are detestable for you: the eagle, vulture, osprey, red kite, falcons of any kind, every kind of raven, ostrich, nighthawk, seagull, hawks of every kind, owls, cormorants, the ibis, water-hens, pelicans, carrion, storks, herons of every kind, the hoopoe, bata, and any winged insect that crawls on four legs is detestable for you. However, you may eat winged creatures that crawl on four legs that extend over its head and by which it hops on the ground. These creatures that you may eat include the locust of any kind, the bald locust of any kind, the cricket of any kind, and the grasshopper of any kind. But any other winged insect that has four legs is detestable for you

"You must not eat any detestable food. These are the animals that you may eat: ox, sheep, goat, deer, gazelle, roebuck, wild goat, ibex, antelope, and mountain sheep. read more.
You may eat every animal with a divided hoof those with split cloven hooves that chews the cud. However, you must not eat these animals that chew the cud or have a divided hoof: the camel, hare, and rock badger. Even though they chew the cud, their hooves are not divided. Therefore they are unclean for you. And also the pig, because even though its hoof is divided, it does not chew the cud. It is therefore unclean for you. You must not eat their meat or even touch their carcasses. "You may choose to eat from these creatures in the water: you may eat anything with fin and scale, but you may not eat anything without fin and scale, since it is unclean to you. "You may eat all clean birds. But you must not eat from any of these: the eagle, vulture, osprey, buzzard, any kind of kite, any kind of raven, the ostrich, night hawk, seagull, any kind of falcon, the little owl, the great owl, the horned owl, the pelican, the carrion vulture, the cormorant, the stork, any kind of heron, the hoopoe, and the bat. Any winged, swarming insect is unclean to you. They must not be eaten. You may eat every bird that is clean.

Then he called to the crowd again and told them, "Listen to me, all of you, and understand! Nothing that goes into a person from the outside can make him unclean. It's what comes out of a person that makes a person unclean. If anyone has ears to hear, let him listen!"read more.
When he had left the crowd and gone home, his disciples began asking him about the parable. He asked them, "Are you so ignorant? Don't you know that nothing that goes into a person from the outside can make him unclean? Because it doesn't go into his heart but into his stomach, and then into the sewer, thereby expelling all foods."

But Peter said, "Absolutely not, Lord, for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean!"

"When a person has a swelling or a scab in the skin on his body that turns white in appearance and appears to be more extensive than skin deep, he is to be brought to Aaron the priest or to one of his sons among the priests. The priest is to examine the skin rash on the body. If the hair on the skin rash has turned white and its appearance is deeper than the skin of his body, it's an infectious skin disease. When the priest has examined it, then he is to declare him unclean.

"This is the law concerning those who have infectious skin diseases, after they have been cleansed:

"When clothing becomes infected with a contagion whether the clothing is wool or linen in woven or knitted material, in leather, or with any article containing leather, if the contagion is greenish or reddish in the clothing, leather, woven material, knitted material, or with any article containing leather, it's a fungal infection and is to be shown to the priest.

The LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron: "When you enter the land of Canaan that I'm about to give you as your own possession, and if I put a contagion in a house in the land that you possess, then the owner of the house is to approach the priest and tell him, "There appears to be a contagion in the house.'read more.
"The priest is to command that the house be cleared before he comes to examine the contagion so that not everything in the house becomes unclean. After this, the priest is to enter the house and examine it.

"Tell the Israelis that a woman who conceives and bears a son is unclean for seven days. Just like the days of her menstruation, she is unclean.

"Tell the Israelis that when a man has a discharge from his body, his discharge is unclean,

"When a person has touched a ceremonially unclean thing inadvertently, such as the carcass of an unclean animal, or some unclean creeping thing, he will be unclean and guilty nevertheless. When he inadvertently touches the uncleanness of a human being, whatever his uncleanness that made him unclean may be, when he himself comes to know about it, he will be guilty.

These are unclean for you among the swarming creatures, so anyone who touches them when they're dead becomes unclean until evening. Furthermore, anything on which they fall when they're dead becomes unclean, whether on an article of wood, clothing, skin, or a sack. And any vessel used for any work is to be washed in water, because it has become unclean until evening. Any earthen vessel into which any of these things fall becomes unclean, along with everything in it. You are to destroy it, along with all its contents."read more.
"Any food that may be eaten, but into which water has soaked, becomes unclean. Any drink that may be drunk in any of these vessels becomes unclean, and anything into which their carcass falls becomes unclean. An oven or stove is to be broken in pieces. They're unclean and therefore unclean for you. "A spring or a cistern that holds water is clean, but whoever touches the carcass of an unclean animal will be unclean. If their carcass falls on a seed, which is for sowing, what is to be sown is clean. But if water is put on the seed and part of their carcass falls on it, then it has become unclean for you. "If any of the animals that you may eat dies, the one who touches its carcass becomes unclean until evening. The one who eats from its carcass is to wash his clothes, because he has become unclean until evening. Even the one who carries the carcass is to wash his clothes, because he has become unclean until evening."

The LORD told Moses, "Speak to the priests, Aaron's sons, and tell them that no priest is to defile himself on account of the dead among his people,

You are to differentiate between what's sacred and common and between what's unclean and clean. You are to teach the Israelis all the statutes that the LORD commanded you by the authority of Moses."

"They are to teach my people how to discern what is holy in contrast to what is common, showing them how to discern between what is unclean and clean.

yelling, "Men of Israel, help! This is the man who teaches everyone everywhere to turn against our people, the Law, and this place. More than that, he has even brought Greeks into the Temple and desecrated this Holy Place."

We have been put to shame because we have heard insults. Disgrace has covered our faces because foreigners have come into the Holy Places of the LORD's house.

The LORD told Moses, "Command the Israelis to send outside the encampment every leper, everyone who has a discharge, and whoever is ritually defiled by contact with a corpse. Whether male or female, send them outside the camp so that they won't defile their camp, because I live among them."

Ezra the priest stood up and spoke to them, "You have sinned by marrying foreign wives, thereby increasing the transgressions of Israel. Now confess this to the LORD God of your ancestors, and separate yourselves from the nations of the land and from foreign wives."

The LORD told Moses, "Tell the Israelis, "You are not to eat the fat of an ox, a lamb, or a goat. The carcass of an animal that died of its own and an animal torn by wild beast may be used for any purpose except for eating. read more.
Anyone who eats the fat of an animal that has been offered by fire to the LORD is to be eliminated from contact with his people. You are not to eat any form of blood in any of your dwellings, whether it's from birds or animals. Any person who eats any form of blood is to be eliminated from contact with his people.'"

The person with the infectious skin disease is to tear his garments and loosen his hair. He is to cover his mustache and shout out, "Unclean! Unclean!' The whole time that the skin rash infects him, he will be unclean. He is to live by himself in a home outside the encampment."

"When you offer a peace offering to the LORD, you are to offer it for your acceptance. Your sacrifice is to be eaten on that day and the next day. Anything that remains to the third day is to be incinerated. If it is eaten on the third day, it's unclean. It won't be accepted. read more.
Anyone who eats it will bear the punishment of his sin, since he will have defiled himself regarding the LORD's holy things. That person is to be eliminated from contact with his people."

Anyone who comes in contact with a dead person (that is, with the corpse of a human being who has died), but who does not purify himself, defiles the LORD's tent. That person is to be eliminated from Israel, because the water of impurity wasn't sprinkled on him. He remains unclean and his uncleanness will remain with him.

If someone among you becomes unclean due to nocturnal emissions, he must leave the camp and stay outside. As evening approaches, he must wash himself with water. Then at sunset, he may return to the camp. "Choose a place outside the camp for a latrine. read more.
Include a spade among your equipment so that when you squat to relieve yourself, you can dig a hole and then cover your excrement. For the LORD your God is on the move within your camp to deliver you and to hand your enemies over to you. Therefore your camp must be holy so that he will not see anything indecent among you and turn away from you."

King Uzziah remained a leper until the day he died. Because he was a leper, he lived in a separate residence and remained disqualified to enter the LORD's Temple. His son Jotham served in the royal palace, judging the people of the land.

But the person who eats meat from the sacrifice that belongs to the LORD, while still affected by his uncleanness, is to be eliminated from contact with his people. Any person who touches a ceremonially unclean thing whether the uncleanness pertains to human beings, animals, or to creeping things and then eats from the meat of peace offerings that belongs to the LORD is to be eliminated from contact with his people."

Tell them that whoever among your descendants throughout your generations approaches the sacred things that the Israelis had consecrated to the LORD while still remaining unclean is to be eliminated from my presence. I am the LORD. If one of Aaron's descendants has an infectious skin disease or a discharge, he is not to eat anything sacred until he has been cleansed. Anyone who touches an unclean thing on account of the dead, or who has a seminal discharge, or who becomes unclean by touching a creeping creature or another human being, whatever the uncleanness may be read more.
such a person who comes in contact with anything like this will become unclean until evening. As a result, he is not to eat the sacred things unless he has bathed himself with water.

The LORD told Moses, "When a person commits a truly treacherous act and sins inadvertently concerning the sacred things of the LORD, then he is to bring a trespass offering to the LORD from the flock as compensation for his guilt. It is to be a ram without defect, estimated as to its value in silver shekels, according to the sanctuary shekel. He is to compensate for whatever sin he had committed concerning the sacred things of the LORD, add a fifth part to it, and give it to the priest. The priest is to make atonement for him with the ram as a sin offering and he'll be forgiven.

Later on, the LORD told Moses, "Tell Aaron and his sons that they are to separate themselves for the sacred things of the Israelis and that they are not to defile my holy name. I am the LORD.

The LORD told Moses, "Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow. They must wash their clothes, and be ready for the third day, for on the third day the LORD will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. You are to set boundaries for the people all around: "Be very careful that you don't go up on the mountain or touch the side of it. Anyone who touches the mountain is certainly to be put to death. read more.
No hand is to touch that person, but he is certainly to be stoned or shot; whether animal or person, he is not to live.' They are to approach the mountain only when the ram's horn sounds a long blast."

"You are to make linen undergarments for them to cover their naked flesh, and they are to reach from the loins to the thighs. They shall be on Aaron and his sons when they enter the Tent of Meeting or when they approach the altar to minister in the Holy Place so they don't incur guilt and die. This is to be a perpetual ordinance for him and for his descendants after him."

"You are to make a bronze basin with a bronze base for washing. You are to pace it between the Tent of Meeting and the altar, put water in it, and Aaron and his sons are to wash their hands and their feet from it. When they enter the Tent of Meeting or when they approach the altar to minister to make an offering by fire to the LORD, they are to wash with water so they don't die. read more.
They are to wash their hands and their feet so that they don't die, and it is to be for them a perpetual ordinance for Aaron and his seed from generation to generation."

You are to observe the Sabbath, because it's holy for you. Whoever profanes it is certainly to die; indeed, whoever does work on it is to be cut off from among his people. Work may be done for six days, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of complete rest, holy to the LORD. Whoever does work on the Sabbath is certainly to die.

"When Aaron and his sons have finished covering the sanctuary and all the utensils of the sanctuary, and the camp is about to travel, then the descendants of Kohath are to come and carry them, but they are not to touch the most sacred objects, so they won't die. These are the duties of the descendants of Kohath at the Tent of Meeting."

Anyone who violates the Law of Moses dies without mercy "on the testimony of two or three witnesses." How much more severe a punishment do you think that person deserves who tramples on God's Son, treats as common the blood of the covenant by which it was sanctified, and insults the Spirit of grace?

Aaron's sons Nadab and Abihu each took his own censer, placed fire in it, covered it with incense, and brought it into the LORD's presence as unauthorized fire that he had never prescribed for them. As a result, fire came out from the LORD's presence and incinerated them. They died while in the LORD's presence.

Now Izhar's son Korah, the grandson of Kohath, a descendant of Levi, along with Eliab's sons Dathan and Abiram, and Peleth's son On, a descendant of Reuben, took charge of a rebellion against Moses, along with 250 community leaders, Israelis who were famous men and representatives from the assembly. They gathered together against Moses and Aaron and told them, "You have appropriated too much for yourselves from the entire congregation, since all of them are holy, and the LORD is among them, too. Why do you exalt yourselves over the LORD's assembly?"read more.
When Moses heard this, he fell on his face. Then he addressed Korah and his entire company, "In the morning, may the LORD reveal who belongs to him and who is holy. May he cause that person to approach him. May he cause to approach him the one whom he has chosen. Korah, you and your entire company are to bring censers and put fire and incense in them in the LORD's presence tomorrow. It will be that the man whom the LORD chooses will be holy. You're taking too much for yourselves, you descendants of Levi."

God struck down the men of Beth-shemesh because they had looked into the Ark of the LORD. He struck down 50,070 men among the people, and the people mourned because the LORD struck down the people with a great slaughter. The men of Beth-shemesh asked themselves, "Who can stand in the presence of the LORD, this holy God? And to whom will the Ark go from here?"

When they arrived at Nacon's threshing floor, Uzzah reached out and grabbed the Ark of God because the oxen had stumbled. Just then, the anger of the LORD blazed against Uzzah, and God struck him down right there because of his failure, and he died there beside the Ark of God.

Her priests have violated my Law and profaned my sacred things. They didn't differentiate between what's sacred and what's common. They didn't instruct others to discern clean from unclean things. They refused to keep my Sabbaths.

But then a man named Ananias, with the consent of his wife Sapphira, sold some property. With his wife's full knowledge, he kept back some of the money for himself and brought the remainder and laid it at the apostles' feet. Peter asked, "Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart so that you should lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back some of the money you got for the land? read more.
As long as it remained unsold, wasn't it your own? And after it was sold, wasn't the money at your disposal? So how could you have thought of doing what you did? You didn't lie only to men, but also to God!" When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and died. And great fear seized everyone who heard about it. The young men got up, wrapped him up, carried him outside, and buried him. After an interval of about three hours, Ananias' wife came in, not knowing what had happened. So Peter asked her, "Tell me, did you sell the land for that price?" She answered, "Yes, that was the price." "How could you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord?" Peter asked her. "Listen! The feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and these men will carry you outside as well." She instantly fell down at Peter's feet and died. When the young men came in, they found her dead. So they carried her out and buried her next to her husband.

If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as one of its own. But because you do not belong to the world and I have chosen you out of it, the world hates you.

You adulterers! Don't you know that friendship with the world means hostility with God? So whoever wants to be a friend of this world is an enemy of God.

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people to be his very own and to proclaim the wonderful deeds of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God. Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Dear friends, I urge you as aliens and exiles to keep on abstaining from the desires of the flesh that wage war against the soul.

I have given them your word, and the world has hated them, because they do not belong to the world, just as I don't belong to the world. I'm not asking you to take them out of the world but to protect them from the evil one. They don't belong to the world, just as I don't belong to the world.

However, God's solid foundation still stands. It has this inscription on it: "The Lord knows those who belong to him," and "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord must turn away from evil."

A religion that is pure and stainless according to God the Father is this: to take care of orphans and widows who are suffering, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.