56 Bible Verses about Holiness,  Worldly Separation

And you shall not follow the statutes of the nation that I am driving out {from before you}, because they did all these things, and I detested them. So I said to you, "You yourselves shall take possession of their land, and I myself shall give it to you to possess it--a land flowing with milk and honey"; I [am] Yahweh your God, who {has set you apart} from the nations. And you shall distinguish between the clean and the unclean animal and between the unclean and the clean bird; and you shall not defile yourselves with the animal or with the bird or with anything that moves along the ground that I have set apart for you {as unclean}.read more.
And you shall be holy for me, because I, Yahweh, [am] holy, and I have singled you out from the nations to be mine.

And he said to him, "If your presence [is] not going, do not bring us up from here. And by what will it be known then that I have found favor in your eyes, I and your people? Is it not by your going with us? And [so] we will be distinguished, I and your people, from all the people who [are] on the face of the ground."

"And you shall keep the {Israelites} separate from their uncleanness so that they might not die because of their uncleanness by their making my tabernacle, which [is] in their midst, unclean.

Indeed, anyone who does any of these detestable things, even those persons who do so shall be cut off from the midst of their people. Thus you shall keep my obligation to not do any of the statutes {regarding} the detestable things that they did {before you}, so that you will not make yourselves unclean by them; I [am] Yahweh your God.'"

"When Yahweh your God brings you into the land that you [are] about to enter {into it} to take possession of it, and he drives out many nations {before you}, the Hittites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, seven nations mightier and more numerous than you, and Yahweh your God will give them {over to you} and you defeat them, you must {utterly destroy them}; you shall not make a covenant with them, and you shall not show mercy [to them]. And you shall not intermarry with them; you shall not give your daughter to their son; and you shall not take his daughter for your son.read more.
For their sons and daughters will cause your son to turn away {from following me}, and [so] they will serve other gods, and {the anger of Yahweh would be kindled} against you, and he would quickly destroy you. But this is what you must do to them: you shall break down their altars, and their stone pillars you shall smash, and their Asherah poles you shall hew down, and you shall burn their idols with fire. For you [are] a holy people for Yahweh your God; Yahweh your God has chosen you to be for him a people, a treasured possession from [among] all the peoples that [are] on the face of the earth.

"If you go out to encamp against your enemies, then you shall guard against [doing] anything evil. "If [there] is among you a man that is not clean because of a seminal emission {during the night}, he shall go outside the camp; he shall not come within the camp. {And then} toward the {coming} of the evening, he shall bathe with water, and at the going down of the sun, he may come to the midst of the camp.read more.
"And there shall be for you a designated place outside the camp; {and you shall go there to relieve yourself}, and a digging tool shall [be included] in addition to your [other] utensils for yourself; {and then} {when you relieve yourself} outside [the camp] you shall dig with it, and [then] you shall turn, and you shall cover your excrement. For Yahweh your God [is] walking about in the midst of your camp to deliver you and {to hand your enemies over to you before you}, and so let your camp be holy, so that he shall not see in it {anything indecent}, and he shall turn away {from going with you}.

After finishing these things the officials approached me saying, "The people of Israel, the priests, and the Levites have not separated from the people of the lands with their detestable things, and from the Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, Ammonites, Moabites, Egyptians, and Amorites. For they have taken from their daughters for themselves and their sons. So the holy seed has mixed itself with the peoples of the lands, and the hand of the officials and prefects were foremost in this sin.

Depart, depart, go out from there! You must not touch any unclean thing. Go out from the midst of it, keep clean, you who carry the vessels of Yahweh.

" 'This is the regulation of the animals and the birds and all living creatures that move along in the water and {concerning} all the creatures that swarm on the land, to distinguish between the unclean and the clean and between the animal that is to be eaten and the animal that must not be eaten.'"

Then Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying to them, "Speak to the {Israelites}, saying, 'These [are] the animals that you may eat from all the animals that [are] on the land: Any among the animals that has a divided hoof and has a split cleft in [the] hoof, such you may eat.read more.
However, these you may not eat from those that chew the cud and from those that have a divided hoof: the camel, because it [is] a chewer of cud but it does not have a hoof that is divided--it [is] unclean for you; and the coney, because it [is] a chewer of cud but it does not have a hoof that is divided--it [is] unclean for you; and the hare, because it [is] a chewer of cud but it does not have a hoof that is divided--it [is] unclean for you; and the pig, because it has a divided hoof and has a split cleft in the hoof but it does not chew cud--it [is] unclean for you. You must not eat from their meat, and you must not touch their dead body--they are unclean for you. " 'These you may eat from all that [are] in the water: any in the water that has a fin and scales, [whether] in the seas or in the streams--such you may eat. But any that does not have a fin and scales, [whether] in the seas or in the streams, {among} all the water's swarmers among all the living creatures that [are] in the water--they [are] a detestable thing to you. And they shall be detestable to you; you must not eat from their meat, and you must detest their dead body. Any that does not have a fin and scales in the water--it [is] a detestable thing to you. " 'And these you must detest from the birds; they must not be eaten--they [are] detestable: the eagle and the vulture and the short-toed eagle, and the red kite and the black kite according to its kind, every crow according to its kind, and {the ostrich} and the short-eared owl and the seagull and the hawk according to its kind, and the little owl and the cormorant and the great owl, and the barn owl and the desert owl and the carrion vulture, and the stork, the heron according to its kind and the hoopoe and the bat. " 'Any {winged insect} that walks on [all] fours [is] detestable to you. Only this may you eat from any of {the winged insects} that walk on [all] fours--[that] which has jointed legs above its feet for leaping upon the land. {From these} you may eat the locust according to its kind and the bald locust according to its kind and the cricket according to its kind and the grasshopper according to its kind. But any [other] {winged insect} that has four legs [is] detestable to you.

You shall not eat any detestable thing. These are the animals you may eat: ox, {sheep, goats}, deer, gazelle, roebuck, wild goat, ibex, antelope, and mountain sheep.read more.
And any animal having a split hoof and [so] {a dividing of the hoof into two parts} {and that chews the cud} among the animals--that [animal] you may eat. Only these you may not eat from {those chewing the cud} and from {those having a division of the hoof}: the camel and the hare and the coney, because {they chew the cud}, but they [do] not divide the hoof; they are [therefore] unclean for you. And [also] the pig {because it has a division of the hoof} {but does not chew the cud}; it [is] unclean for you; from their meat you shall not eat, and you shall not touch their {carcasses}. "This [is what] you shall eat from all that [is] in the water: {everything} {that has fins and scales} you may eat. But {anything that does not have} fins and scales, you may not eat, [for] it [is] unclean for you. "All [of] [the] birds [that] [are] clean you may eat. Now these [are] the ones you shall not eat {any of them}: the eagle and the vulture and the short-toed eagle, and the red kite and the black kite or {any kind of falcon}, and any [kind] of crow according to its kind, and the {ostrich} and the short-eared owl and the seagull and the hawk according to its kind, the little owl and the great owl and the barn owl, and the desert owl and the carrion vulture and the cormorant, and the stork and the heron according to its kind and the hoopoe and the bat. And [also] all [of] {the winged insects}; they [are] unclean for you; you shall not eat [them]. You may eat any clean bird.

And summoning the crowd again, he said to them, "Listen to me, all [of you], and understand: There is nothing outside of a person that is able to defile him [by] going into him. But the things that go out of a person are the things that defile a person." And when he entered into the house away from the crowd, his disciples asked him about the parable.read more.
And he said to them, "So are you also without understanding? Do you not understand that everything [that is] outside that goes into a person [is] not able to defile him? For it does not enter into his heart but into his stomach, and goes out into the latrine"--[thus] declaring all foods clean.

But Peter said, "Certainly not, Lord! For I have never eaten anything common and unclean!"

"When a {person} has on his body's skin a swelling or an epidermal eruption or a spot and it becomes an infectious skin disease on his body's skin, then he shall be brought to Aaron the priest or to one of his sons the priests. And the priest shall examine the infection on his body's skin, and [if] [the] hair in the infection turns white and the appearance of the infection [is] deeper than his body's skin, it [is] an infectious skin disease, and the priest shall examine it, and he shall declare him unclean.

"This is the regulation of the person afflicted with a skin disease {at the time of} his cleansing. And he shall be brought to the priest,

"And when the garment {has} an infectious skin disease on it, on a wool garment or on a linen garment, or on woven material or on a linen fabric, or on wool or on leather or on any work of leather, and [if] the infection is yellowish green or reddish on the garment or on the leather or on the woven material or on the fabric or on any leather object, it [is] an infectious skin disease and it shall be shown [to] the priest.

Then Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, "When you come into the land of Canaan, which I [am about to] give to you [as your] possession, and I put {mildew} in a house [in] the land of your possession, then the one who {owns the house} shall come and tell the priest, saying, 'It appears to me [that] an infection [is] in the house.'read more.
And the priest shall [issue a] command, and they shall clear out the house before the priest comes to examine the infection, so that all that [is] in the house might not become unclean; and {afterward} the priest shall go to examine the house.

"Speak to the {Israelites}, saying, 'When a woman becomes pregnant and she gives birth to a male, then she shall be unclean seven days--as [in] the time of her menstrual bleeding, she shall become unclean.

"Speak to the {Israelites}, and you shall say to them, '{Any man} when a fluid discharge occurs from his body, his fluid discharge [is] unclean.

Or if a person touches anything unclean, {whether} an unclean [wild] animal's dead body or an unclean domestic animal's dead body or an unclean swarmer's dead body, but {he is unaware of it}, he [is] unclean and he is guilty. Or when he touches human uncleanness, {namely} any uncleanness of his by which he might become unclean, but {he is unaware of it}, and he himself finds out, then he will be guilty.

These [are] the unclean for you among all the swarmers; anyone who touches them at their death shall become unclean until the evening. And anything on which {one of them} falls at their death shall become unclean: any object of wood or garment or skin or sackcloth--any object that has performed work--must be placed in water, and it shall be unclean until the evening, and [then] it shall be clean. And any clay vessel into which it falls shall become unclean, and you must break it.read more.
Any of the food that could be eaten on which water [from such a vessel] comes shall become unclean, and any liquid that could be drunk in any [such] vessel shall become unclean. And anything on which {one of their dead bodies} falls shall become unclean: an oven or a stove must be broken--they [are] unclean and shall be unclean for you. Surely a spring or a cistern collecting water shall be clean, but that which touches their dead body shall become unclean. And when {one of their dead bodies} falls on any {seed for sowing}, it [is] clean. But when water is put on [the] seed and {one of their dead bodies} falls on it, it [is] unclean for you. " 'And when {one of the animals} dies that is for you to eat, the one who touches its dead body shall become unclean until the evening. And the one who eats {some of} its dead body must wash his garments, and he shall be unclean until the evening; and the one who carries its dead body must wash his garments, and he shall be unclean until the evening.

Then Yahweh said to Moses, "Speak to the priests, Aaron's sons, and say to them, 'One must not make himself unclean for a dead person among his [own] people,

and to distinguish between the holy and the unholy, as well as between the unclean and the clean, and to teach the {Israelites} all the rules that Yahweh has spoken to them {through} Moses."

And they will teach my people [the difference] between what is holy and what is unholy, and [the difference] between unclean and clean they must show them.

shouting, "Israelite men, help! This is the man who is teaching everyone everywhere against the people and the law and this place! And furthermore he also brought Greeks into the temple, and has defiled this holy place!"

We are ashamed, for we have heard taunts, disgrace covers our faces, for strangers have come to the holy places of the house of Yahweh.

Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, "Command the {Israelites}: they must send everyone from the camp who is afflicted with a rash, everyone with a fluid discharge, and everyone unclean through [contact with] a corpse. You will send away {both male and female}; you will send them {outside the camp}. They must not make unclean their camps where I [am] dwelling in their midst."

Then Ezra the priest stood up and said to them, "You have broke faith and married foreign women, increasing the guilt of Israel. Now make a confession to Yahweh the God of your ancestors and do his will. Separate yourselves from the peoples of the land and from the foreign women."

Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, "Speak to the {Israelites}, saying, 'You must not eat any fat of ox, or sheep, or goat; and a dead body's fat or mangled carcass's fat may be used for any {purpose}, but you certainly must not eat it.read more.
When anyone eats fat from the domestic animal from which he presented an offering made by fire for Yahweh, then that person who ate shall be cut off from his people. And in any of your dwellings, you must not eat any blood {belonging to} birds or domestic animals. Any person who eats any blood, that person shall be cut off from his people.'"

"As for the person who is afflicted with a skin disease, his garments must be torn and his {hair} must [be allowed to] hang loosely, and he must cover [his] upper lip, and he must call out, 'Unclean! Unclean!' [For] all [the] days [during] which the infection [is] on him, he shall be unclean; he must live alone; his dwelling [must be] {outside the camp}."

" 'And when you sacrifice a sacrifice of fellowship offerings to Yahweh, you must sacrifice it for your acceptance. It must be eaten on the day of your sacrifice and the next day; but the remainder must be burned up in the fire by the third day. And if it is indeed eaten on the third day, it [is] unclean meat; it shall not be regarded as accepted.read more.
And the one who eats it shall bear his guilt, because he has profaned Yahweh's holiness, and that person shall be cut off from his people.

Anyone who touches a corpse, the person of a human being who died, and does not purify himself, defiles the tabernacle of Yahweh, and that person will be cut off from Israel because the waters of impurity were not sprinkled on him. He will still be unclean, and uncleanness [is] on him.

"If [there] is among you a man that is not clean because of a seminal emission {during the night}, he shall go outside the camp; he shall not come within the camp. {And then} toward the {coming} of the evening, he shall bathe with water, and at the going down of the sun, he may come to the midst of the camp. "And there shall be for you a designated place outside the camp; {and you shall go there to relieve yourself},read more.
and a digging tool shall [be included] in addition to your [other] utensils for yourself; {and then} {when you relieve yourself} outside [the camp] you shall dig with it, and [then] you shall turn, and you shall cover your excrement. For Yahweh your God [is] walking about in the midst of your camp to deliver you and {to hand your enemies over to you before you}, and so let your camp be holy, so that he shall not see in it {anything indecent}, and he shall turn away {from going with you}.

So King Uzziah was leprous until the day of his death, and he lived in a separate house as a leper, for he was cut off from the house of Yahweh. And Jotham his son [was] over the house of the king, judging the people of the land.

And the person who eats meat from the fellowship offerings' sacrifice, which [is] for Yahweh, and whose uncleanness [is] upon him--that person shall be cut off from his people. And when a person touches anything unclean, [whether] human uncleanness or an unclean animal or any unclean detestable thing, and he eats from the meat of the fellowship offerings' sacrifice, which [is] for Yahweh, then that person shall be cut off from his people.'"

"Say to them, 'Throughout your generations, any man from any of your offspring who comes near the votive offerings that the {Israelites} consecrate to Yahweh with his uncleanness on him, that person shall be cut off from {before me}; I [am] Yahweh. " '{Anyone} from Aaron's offspring, if he [is] afflicted with a skin disease or a fluid discharge, shall not eat in the sanctuary {until} he is clean; and the one who touches any unclean person or a man from whom an emission of semen goes out, or a man who touches any swarmer that is unclean for him or [who touches] a person who is unclean for him {due to} whatever his uncleanness,read more.
a person who touches such a thing shall be unclean until the evening, and he shall not eat from the votive offerings, except [when] he washes his body with water

Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, "When a person {displays infidelity} and he sins in an unintentional wrong {in any of} Yahweh's holy things, then he shall bring his guilt offering to Yahweh: a ram without defect from the flock as a guilt offering by your valuation [in] silver shekels according to the sanctuary shekel. And he shall make restitution [for] what he sinned {because of} a holy thing and shall add one-fifth of {its value} onto it and shall give it to the priest. The priest shall make atonement for him with the ram of the guilt offering, and he will be forgiven.

Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, "Tell Aaron and his sons that they must deal respectfully with the {Israelites}' votive offerings, and they must not profane my holy name, which they are consecrating to me; I [am] Yahweh.

And Yahweh said to Moses, "Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow. They must wash their clothes, and they must be prepared for the third day, because on the third day, Yahweh will go down on Mount Sinai before the eyes of all the people. And you must set limits [for] the people all around, saying, 'Guard yourselves {against} going up to the mountain and touching its edge. Anyone touching the mountain will certainly be put to death.read more.
Not a hand will touch it, because he will certainly be stoned or certainly be shot; whether an animal or a man, he will not live.' At the blowing of the ram's horn they may go up to the mountain."

And make for them undergarments of linen to cover naked flesh; they will be from loins to thigh. And they will be on Aaron and on his sons when they come to the tent of assembly or when they approach the altar to serve in the sanctuary, so that they will not bear guilt and die. [It is] a lasting statute for him and for his offspring after him.

"And you will make a basin of bronze and its bronze stand for washing, and you will put it between the tent of assembly and the altar, and you will put water there. And Aaron and his sons will wash their hands and their feet with it. When they come to the tent of assembly, they will wash with water so that they do not die, or when they approach the altar to serve by turning to smoke an offering made by fire to Yahweh.read more.
And they will wash their hands and their feet so that they do not die, and it will be a lasting rule for them--to him and to his offspring throughout their generations.

And you must keep the Sabbath, because it is holy for you; defilers of it will surely be put to death, because anyone who does work on it--that person will be cut off from among his people. [On] six days work can be done, and on the seventh {is a Sabbath of complete rest}, {a holy day} for Yahweh; anyone doing work on the Sabbath day will surely be put to death.

And when Aaron and his sons have finished covering the sanctuary and all the vessels of the sanctuary when the camp sets out, the descendants of Kohath will come after to carry [these], but they must not touch the sanctuary, or they will die. These [are] the load of the descendants of Kohath in the tent of assembly.

Anyone who rejected the law of Moses dies without mercy on [the testimony of] two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment do you think the person will be considered worthy of who treats with disdain the Son of God and who considers ordinary the blood of the covenant by which he was made holy and who insults the Spirit of grace?

And Aaron's sons Nadab and Abihu each took his censer, and they put fire in them and placed incense on it; then they presented {before} Yahweh illegitimate fire, which he had not commanded them. So fire went out {from before} Yahweh, and it consumed them so that they died {before} Yahweh.

Now Korah son of Izhar, son of Kohath, son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth, the descendants of Reuben, took two hundred and fifty men from the {Israelites}, leaders of the community summoned from the assembly, {renowned men}, and {they confronted} Moses. They were assembled in front of Moses and Aaron, and they said to them, "{You take too much upon yourselves}! All of the community is holy, every one of them, and Yahweh [is] in their midst, so why do you raise yourselves over the assembly of Yahweh?"read more.
When Moses heard [this], he fell on his face. And he said to Korah and to his entire company, saying, "[Tomorrow] morning Yahweh will make known who [is] his and [who] is holy, and he will bring him near to him, whomever he chooses he will bring near to him. Do this: take for yourselves censers, Korah and all of your company; tomorrow put fire in them and place incense on them {before} Yahweh; the man whom Yahweh chooses [will be] the holy [one]. You take too much upon yourselves, sons of Levi!"

He struck seventy men among the men of Beth Shemesh because they looked into the ark of Yahweh. So the people mourned because Yahweh had struck a great blow among the people. Then the men of Beth Shemesh asked, "Who [is] able to stand before Yahweh, this holy God? And to whom shall it go up from us?"

When they came to the threshing floor of Nakon, Uzza reached out to the ark of God and took hold of [it], because the oxen had stumbled. {Then the anger of Yahweh was kindled} against Uzza, and God struck him down there because of the indiscretion, and he died there beside the ark of God.

Its priests treat my law violently, and they profane my holy objects; they do not distinguish between holy object and what is unholy, or between the clean and the unclean. They do not teach the difference, and they hide their eyes from my Sabbaths, and [so] I am profaned in the midst of them.

Now a certain man {named} Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, and he kept back for himself [some] of the proceeds, and [his] wife was aware of [it]. And he brought a certain part [and] placed [it] at the feet of the apostles. But Peter said, "Ananias, for what [reason] has Satan filled your heart, [that] you lied to the Holy Spirit and kept back for yourself [some] of the proceeds of the piece of land?read more.
[When it] remained to you, did it not remain [yours]? And [when it] was sold, was it at your disposal? How [is it] that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to people, but to God!" And [when] Ananias heard these words, he fell down [and] died. And great fear came on all those who heard about [it]. So the young men stood up, wrapped him up, and carried [him] out [and] buried [him]. And it happened that [there was] an interval of about three hours, and his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. And Peter said to her, "Tell me whether you [both] were paid this much [for] the piece of land." And she said, "Yes, this much." So Peter [said] to her, "How [is it] that it was agreed by you [two] to test the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of those who buried your husband [are] at the door, and they will carry you out!" And immediately she fell down at his feet and died. So [when] the young men came in, they found her dead, and carried [her] out [and] buried [her] with her husband.

If you were of the world, the world would love its own. But because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, for this [reason] the world hates you.

Adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wants to be a friend of the world makes [himself] an enemy of God.

But you [are] a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for [God's] possession, so that you may proclaim the virtues of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light, who once [were] not a people, but now [are] the people of God, the ones [who were] not shown mercy, but now are shown mercy. Dear friends, I urge [you] as foreigners and temporary residents to abstain from fleshly desires which wage war against your soul,

I have given them your word, and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.

However, the solid foundation of God stands firm, having this seal: "The Lord knows those who are his," and "Everyone who names the name of the Lord must abstain from unrighteousness."

Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to look after orphans and widows in their affliction, [and] to keep oneself unstained by the world.