As for any earthenware vessel into which one of them may fall, whatever is in it becomes unclean and you shall break the vessel.
Parallel translations
- WEB Every earthen vessel, into which any of them falls, all that is in it shall be unclean, and you shall break it.
- KJV And every earthen vessel, whereinto any of them falleth, whatsoever is in it shall be unclean; and ye shall break it.
- BSB If any of them falls into a clay pot, everything in it will be unclean; you must break the pot.
- ESV And if any of them falls into any earthenware vessel, all that is in it shall be unclean, and you shall break it.
- NKJV Any earthen vessel into which any of them falls you shall break; and whatever is in it shall be unclean:
- NLT “If such an animal falls into a clay pot, everything in the pot will be defiled, and the pot must be smashed.
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
An earthen pot that a carcass falls into must be broken. Porous clay could not be cleansed, so it had to be destroyed.
Overview
Unlike washable items, an earthenware vessel that is contaminated must be smashed, for it absorbed the defilement permanently. This vivid measure underscored how seriously God regards purity in the lives of His people. The fragile clay vessel also pictures human frailty, a reminder that we hold treasure in jars of clay, dependent on God's power and not our own (2 Corinthians 4:7).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Lev 6:28But the earthen vessel in which it is boiled shall be broken; and if it is boiled in a bronze vessel, it shall be scoured, and rinsed in water.
- Lev 15:12“‘The earthen vessel, which he who has the discharge touches, shall be broken; and every vessel of wood shall be rinsed in water.
- Jer 48:38On all the housetops of Moab, and in its streets, there is lamentation everywhere; for I have broken Moab like a vessel in which no one delights,” says Yahweh.
- 2 Cor 5:1–8For we know that if the earthly house of our tent is dissolved, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal, in the heavens.
- Phil 3:21who will change the body of our humiliation to be conformed to the body of his glory, according to the working by which he is able even to subject all things to himself.
- Lev 11:35Everything whereupon part of their carcass falls shall be unclean; whether oven, or range for pots, it shall be broken in pieces: they are unclean, and shall be unclean to you.
- Lev 14:45He shall break down the house, its stones, and its timber, and all the house’s mortar. He shall carry them out of the city into an unclean place.
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Christ at the center
Every sacrifice, every priest, and every day of atonement points beyond itself to the one perfect offering and the great High Priest who, by his own blood, makes the unclean holy once for all.
How Leviticus 11:33 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.