11 Bible Verses about Ritual Washing

I answered him, "You know, my lord." He said to me: "These are the people who are coming through the great persecution, who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

Blessed are those who wash their robes, so as to have a right to the tree of life and to enter the gates of the city.

Since then, my brothers, we have free access to the real sanctuary through the blood of Jesus, the new and living way which He opened for us, through the curtain, that is, His physical nature, and since in Him we have a Great Priest over the house of God,read more.
let us continue to draw near to God with sincere hearts and perfect faith; with our hearts cleansed from the sense of sin, and our bodies bathed in clean water;

Then He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel which was around His waist. Thus He came to Simon Peter. Peter said to Him, "Lord, are you going to wash my feet?" Jesus answered him, "You do not now understand what I am doing, but by-and-by you will learn."read more.
Peter said to Him, "You must never wash my feet!" Jesus answered, "Unless I do wash you, you can have no share with me." Simon Peter said to Him, "Lord, do not stop with my feet, then, but wash my hands and face too!" Jesus said to him, "Anyone who has taken a bath has no need of washing anything but his feet, but he is clean all over. And you are now clean, though not all of you are."

Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Get your hands clean, you sinners. Get your hearts purified, you double-minded.

Now in accordance with the custom of purification practiced by the Jews, six stone water jars were standing there, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons.

Then a discussion came up between John's disciples and a Jew about purification.

Then some Pharisees and scribes from Jerusalem came to Jesus, and asked Him, "Why do your disciples break the rules handed down by our forefathers? For they do not practice washing their hands when they take their meals." But He answered, "Why do you too break God's command for the sake of the rules that have been handed down to you?read more.
For God said, 'Honor your father and mother,' and 'Whoever curses his father or mother must certainly be put to death.' But you say, 'Whoever tells his father or mother, "Everything I have that might be used for helping you, is devoted to God," is under no obligation at all to help his parent.' So you have set aside what God has said for the sake of what has been handed down to you. You hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied beautifully about you, when he said: "'This people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far, far away from me; Their worship of me is an empty show; the things they teach are only men's precepts.'" And He called the people to Him and said, "Listen to this and learn it! It is not what goes into a man's mouth that makes him foul; no, it is what comes out of a man's mouth that makes him foul."

The Pharisees met about Him, and also some scribes who had come from Jerusalem. They had noticed that some of His disciples were in the habit of eating their meals without first giving their hands a ceremonial washing to make them clean. For the Pharisees and all the Jews practice the customs handed down to them from their forefathers,read more.
and will never eat until they have carefully washed their hands, and they never eat anything brought from the market until they wash it; and they have many other religious practices which they got from their forefathers, as the washing of cups, pitchers, and pans. And so the Pharisees and the scribes asked Him, "Why is it that your disciples do not practice the customs handed down from our forefathers, but eat their meals without purifying their hands?" But He answered them, "Isaiah beautifully prophesied about you hypocrites; as the Scripture says: "'This people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far, far away from me; Their worship of me is but an empty show; the things they teach are but men's precepts.' "You give up what God has commanded, you cling to what men hand down. You are fine teachers to cancel what God commanded, in order to keep what men have handed down! For Moses said, 'Honor your father and your mother,' and again, 'Whoever curses his father or mother must certainly be put to death,' but you say if a man tells his father or mother, 'Everything I have that may be of use to you is Corban,' that is, consecrated to God, you let him off from doing anything more for his father or mother; and so you set aside what God has said by what you have handed down. You have many other practices like these." Again He called the people to Him and said, "Listen to me, all of you, and understand. Nothing that goes into a man from the outside can make him foul, but the things that come from the inside of a man are the things that make him foul." Omitted Text. Now when He had left the crowd and gone home, His disciples were asking Him the meaning of this story. And He answered them, "Are you too without understanding yet? Do you not know that nothing from the outside that goes into a man can make him foul, because it does not reach his heart but only his stomach, and then passes off into the waste?" In thus speaking He made all foods clean. He kept on saying, "The thing that comes from the inside of a man is the thing that makes him foul, for from the inside, that is, from the hearts of men, designs for doing evil come, sexual immorality, stealing, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, abusiveness, haughtiness, thoughtlessness. All these evils come from the inside of a man and make him foul."

When He had said this, a Pharisee asked Him to lunch at his house, and He went in and took His place at table. The Pharisee noticed that He did not first wash before lunch, and was surprised. But the Lord said to him, "Now you Pharisees have the habit of cleaning the outside of your cups and dishes, but inside you yourselves are full of greed and wickedness.read more.
You fools! Did not the One who made the outside make the inside too? But dedicate once for all your inner self, and at once you will have everything clean.

With these arrangements completed in this way, the priests in conducting their official services regularly go into the outer part of the tent of worship; but into the second or inner part nobody but the high priest may go, and he only once a year, and never without blood which he offers for himself and for the sins committed in ignorance by the people. By this the Holy Spirit was showing that there was as yet no access to the real sanctuary while the outer tent was still in existence,read more.
for it is merely a symbol of the present time in connection with which gifts and sacrifices are repeatedly offered though they cannot make the conscience of the worshiper perfect, since they deal only with food and drink and various washings, that is, with mere material regulations which are in force only until the time of setting things straight. But when Christ came as the High Priest of good things that have already taken place, He went by way of that greater and more perfect tent of worship, not made by human hands, that is, not belonging to this material creation, and not with blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He once for all went into the real sanctuary and secured our eternal redemption. For if the blood of bulls and goats and a heifer's ashes sprinkling those who are ceremonially unclean purifies them with physical cleansing, how much more surely will the blood of Christ, who with an eternal Spirit gave Himself a spotless offering to God, purify your consciences from works that mean mere death, to serve the ever living God?