17 Bible Verses about Hygiene

Or when there is a person who touches anything ceremonially unclean, whether the carcass of an unclean wild animal, or the carcass of an unclean domesticated animal, or the carcass of an unclean creeping thing, even if he did not realize it, but he himself has become unclean and is guilty; or when he touches human uncleanness with regard to anything by which he can become unclean, even if he did not realize it, but he himself has later come to know it and is guilty;

The meat which touches anything ceremonially unclean must not be eaten; it must be burned up in the fire. As for ceremonially clean meat, everyone who is ceremonially clean may eat the meat. The person who eats meat from the peace offering sacrifice which belongs to the Lord while his uncleanness persists will be cut off from his people. When a person touches anything unclean (whether human uncleanness, or an unclean animal, or an unclean detestable creature) and eats some of the meat of the peace offering sacrifice which belongs to the Lord, that person will be cut off from his people.'"

"'By these you defile yourselves; anyone who touches their carcass will be unclean until the evening, and anyone who carries their carcass must wash his clothes and will be unclean until the evening. "'All animals that divide the hoof but it is not completely split in two and do not chew the cud are unclean to you; anyone who touches them becomes unclean.read more.
All that walk on their paws among all the creatures that walk on all fours are unclean to you. Anyone who touches their carcass will be unclean until the evening, and the one who carries their carcass must wash his clothes and be unclean until the evening; they are unclean to you. "'Now this is what is unclean to you among the swarming things that swarm on the land: the rat, the mouse, the large lizard of any kind, the Mediterranean gecko, the spotted lizard, the wall gecko, the skink, and the chameleon. These are the ones that are unclean to you among all the swarming things. Anyone who touches them when they die will be unclean until evening. Also, anything they fall on when they die will become unclean -- any wood vessel or garment or article of leather or sackcloth. Any such vessel with which work is done must be immersed in water and will be unclean until the evening. Then it will become clean. As for any clay vessel they fall into, everything in it will become unclean and you must break it. Any food that may be eaten which becomes soaked with water will become unclean. Anything drinkable in any such vessel will become unclean. Anything their carcass may fall on will become unclean. An oven or small stove must be smashed to pieces; they are unclean, and they will stay unclean to you. However, a spring or a cistern which collects water will be clean, but one who touches their carcass will be unclean. Now, if such a carcass falls on any sowing seed which is to be sown, it is clean, but if water is put on the seed and such a carcass falls on it, it is unclean to you. "'Now if an animal that you may eat dies, whoever touches its carcass will be unclean until the evening. One who eats from its carcass must wash his clothes and be unclean until the evening, and whoever carries its carcass must wash his clothes and be unclean until the evening. Every swarming thing that swarms on the land is detestable; it must not be eaten. You must not eat anything that crawls on its belly or anything that walks on all fours or on any number of legs of all the swarming things that swarm on the land, because they are detestable. Do not make yourselves detestable by any of the swarming things. You must not defile yourselves by them and become unclean by them, for I am the Lord your God and you are to sanctify yourselves and be holy because I am holy. You must not defile yourselves by any of the swarming things that creep on the ground, for I am the Lord who brought you up from the land of Egypt to be your God, and you are to be holy because I am holy. This is the law of the land animals, the birds, all the living creatures that move in the water, and all the creatures that swarm on the land, to distinguish between the unclean and the clean, between the living creatures that may be eaten and the living creatures that must not be eaten.'"

The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron: "When someone has a swelling or a scab or a bright spot on the skin of his body that may become a diseased infection, he must be brought to Aaron the priest or one of his sons, the priests. The priest must then examine the infection on the skin of the body, and if the hair in the infection has turned white and the infection appears to be deeper than the skin of the body, then it is a diseased infection, so when the priest examines it he must pronounce the person unclean.

The Lord spoke to Moses: "This is the law of the diseased person on the day of his purification, when he is brought to the priest. The priest is to go outside the camp and examine the infection. If the infection of the diseased person has been healed,read more.
then the priest will command that two live clean birds, a piece of cedar wood, a scrap of crimson fabric, and some twigs of hyssop be taken up for the one being cleansed. The priest will then command that one bird be slaughtered into a clay vessel over fresh water. Then he is to take the live bird along with the piece of cedar wood, the scrap of crimson fabric, and the twigs of hyssop, and he is to dip them and the live bird in the blood of the bird slaughtered over the fresh water, and sprinkle it seven times on the one being cleansed from the disease, pronounce him clean, and send the live bird away over the open countryside. "The one being cleansed must then wash his clothes, shave off all his hair, and bathe in water, and so be clean. Then afterward he may enter the camp, but he must live outside his tent seven days.

The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron: "Speak to the Israelites and tell them, 'When any man has a discharge from his body, his discharge is unclean. Now this is his uncleanness in regard to his discharge -- whether his body secretes his discharge or blocks his discharge, he is unclean. All the days that his body has a discharge or his body blocks his discharge, this is his uncleanness.read more.
"'Any bed the man with a discharge lies on will be unclean, and any furniture he sits on will be unclean. Anyone who touches his bed must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. The one who sits on the furniture the man with a discharge sits on must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. The one who touches the body of the man with a discharge must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. If the man with a discharge spits on a person who is ceremonially clean, that person must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. Any means of riding the man with a discharge rides on will be unclean. Anyone who touches anything that was under him will be unclean until evening, and the one who carries those items must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. Anyone whom the man with the discharge touches without having rinsed his hands in water must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. A clay vessel which the man with the discharge touches must be broken, and any wooden utensil must be rinsed in water. "'When the man with the discharge becomes clean from his discharge he is to count off for himself seven days for his purification, and he must wash his clothes, bathe in fresh water, and be clean.

No man from the descendants of Aaron who is diseased or has a discharge may eat the holy offerings until he becomes clean. The one who touches anything made unclean by contact with a dead person, or a man who has a seminal emission, or a man who touches a swarming thing by which he becomes unclean, or touches a person by which he becomes unclean, whatever that person's impurity -- the person who touches any of these will be unclean until evening and must not eat from the holy offerings unless he has bathed his body in water.read more.
When the sun goes down he will be clean, and afterward he may eat from the holy offerings, because they are his food. He must not eat an animal that has died of natural causes or an animal torn by beasts and thus become unclean by it. I am the Lord.

It happened that some men who were ceremonially defiled by the dead body of a man could not keep the Passover on that day, so they came before Moses and before Aaron on that day. And those men said to him, "We are ceremonially defiled by the dead body of a man; why are we kept back from offering the Lord's offering at its appointed time among the Israelites?" So Moses said to them, "Remain here and I will hear what the Lord will command concerning you."read more.
The Lord spoke to Moses: "Tell the Israelites, 'If any of you or of your posterity become ceremonially defiled by touching a dead body, or are on a journey far away, then he may observe the Passover to the Lord.

The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron: "This is the ordinance of the law which the Lord has commanded: 'Instruct the Israelites to bring you a red heifer without blemish, which has no defect and has never carried a yoke. You must give it to Eleazar the priest so that he can take it outside the camp, and it must be slaughtered before him.read more.
Eleazar the priest is to take some of its blood with his finger, and sprinkle some of the blood seven times directly in front of the tent of meeting. Then the heifer must be burned in his sight -- its skin, its flesh, its blood, and its offal is to be burned. And the priest must take cedar wood, hyssop, and scarlet wool and throw them into the midst of the fire where the heifer is burning. Then the priest must wash his clothes and bathe himself in water, and afterward he may come into the camp, but the priest will be ceremonially unclean until evening. The one who burns it must wash his clothes in water and bathe himself in water. He will be ceremonially unclean until evening. "'Then a man who is ceremonially clean must gather up the ashes of the red heifer and put them in a ceremonially clean place outside the camp. They must be kept for the community of the Israelites for use in the water of purification -- it is a purification for sin. The one who gathers the ashes of the heifer must wash his clothes and be ceremonially unclean until evening. This will be a permanent ordinance both for the Israelites and the resident foreigner who lives among them. "'Whoever touches the corpse of any person will be ceremonially unclean seven days. He must purify himself with water on the third day and on the seventh day, and so will be clean. But if he does not purify himself on the third day and the seventh day, then he will not be clean. Anyone who touches the corpse of any dead person and does not purify himself defiles the tabernacle of the Lord. And that person must be cut off from Israel, because the water of purification was not sprinkled on him. He will be unclean; his uncleanness remains on him. "'This is the law: When a man dies in a tent, anyone who comes into the tent and all who are in the tent will be ceremonially unclean seven days. And every open container that has no covering fastened on it is unclean. And whoever touches the body of someone killed with a sword in the open fields, or the body of someone who died of natural causes, or a human bone, or a grave, will be unclean seven days. "'For a ceremonially unclean person you must take some of the ashes of the heifer burnt for purification from sin and pour fresh running water over them in a vessel. Then a ceremonially clean person must take hyssop, dip it in the water, and sprinkle it on the tent, on all its furnishings, and on the people who were there, or on the one who touched a bone, or one killed, or one who died, or a grave. And the clean person must sprinkle the unclean on the third day and on the seventh day; and on the seventh day he must purify him, and then he must wash his clothes, and bathe in water, and he will be clean in the evening. But the man who is unclean and does not purify himself, that person must be cut off from among the community, because he has polluted the sanctuary of the Lord; the water of purification was not sprinkled on him, so he is unclean. "'So this will be a perpetual ordinance for them: The one who sprinkles the water of purification must wash his clothes, and the one who touches the water of purification will be unclean until evening. And whatever the unclean person touches will be unclean, and the person who touches it will be unclean until evening.'"

"Any of you who has killed anyone or touched any of the dead, remain outside the camp for seven days; purify yourselves and your captives on the third day, and on the seventh day. You must purify each garment and everything that is made of skin, everything made of goat's hair, and everything made of wood."

If a person commits a sin punishable by death and is executed, and you hang the corpse on a tree, his body must not remain all night on the tree; instead you must make certain you bury him that same day, for the one who is left exposed on a tree is cursed by God. You must not defile your land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.

If there is someone among you who is impure because of some nocturnal emission, he must leave the camp; he may not reenter it immediately. When evening arrives he must wash himself with water and then at sunset he may reenter the camp.

Be careful during an outbreak of leprosy to follow precisely all that the Levitical priests instruct you; as I have commanded them, so you should do.

King Uzziah suffered from a skin disease until the day he died. He lived in separate quarters, afflicted by a skin disease and banned from the Lord's temple. His son Jotham was in charge of the palace and ruled over the people of the land.

"Woe to you, experts in the law and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup, so that the outside may become clean too!

Now the Pharisees and some of the experts in the law who came from Jerusalem gathered around him. And they saw that some of Jesus' disciples ate their bread with unclean hands, that is, unwashed. (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they perform a ritual washing, holding fast to the tradition of the elders.read more.
And when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. They hold fast to many other traditions: the washing of cups, pots, kettles, and dining couches.) The Pharisees and the experts in the law asked him, "Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with unwashed hands?" He said to them, "Isaiah prophesied correctly about you hypocrites, as it is written: 'This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. They worship me in vain, teaching as doctrine the commandments of men.' Having no regard for the command of God, you hold fast to human tradition."

As he was entering a village, ten men with leprosy met him. They stood at a distance,