If a man lies with a woman and there is an emission of semen, both must bathe with water, and they will remain unclean until evening.
Parallel translations
- WEB If a man lies with a woman and there is an emission of semen, they shall both bathe themselves in water, and be unclean until the evening.
- KJV The woman also with whom man shall lie with seed of copulation, they shall both bathe themselves in water, and be unclean until the even.
- NKJV Also, when a woman lies with a man, and there is an emission of semen, they shall bathe in water, and be unclean until evening.
- NASB If a man sleeps with a woman so that there is a seminal emission, they shall both bathe in water and be unclean until evening.
- NLT After a man and a woman have sexual intercourse, they must each bathe in water, and they will remain unclean until the next evening.
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
After marital relations, both husband and wife bathe and are unclean until evening. Sexual intimacy brought temporary ceremonial uncleanness, though not moral fault.
Overview
Marital relations within God's design render both partners ceremonially unclean until evening, requiring bathing. This was not a condemnation of marriage, which Scripture honors, but a marker that even good and ordinary human life stands apart from the holy sphere of worship. It underscores that fitness to approach God comes not from ourselves but from His provision in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- 1 Cor 6:18Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a man can commit is outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body.
- Exod 19:15“Be prepared for the third day,” he said to the people. “Do not draw near to a woman.”
- 1 Cor 6:12“Everything is permissible for me,” but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible for me,” but I will not be mastered by anything.
- 2 Tim 2:22Flee from youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, together with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
- Heb 13:4Marriage should be honored by all and the marriage bed kept undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers.
- Eph 5:3–11But among you, as is proper among the saints, there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed.
- 1 Sam 21:4–5“There is no common bread on hand,” the priest replied, “but there is some consecrated bread—provided that the young men have kept themselves from women.”
- Eph 4:17–19So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking.
- 1 Pet 2:11Beloved, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from the desires of the flesh, which war against your soul.
- Ps 51:5Surely I was brought forth in iniquity; I was sinful when my mother conceived me.
- Lev 15:5Anyone who touches his bed must wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will be unclean until evening.
- 1 Th 4:3–5For it is God’s will that you should be holy: You must abstain from sexual immorality;
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 15:18 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.