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.
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.
- BSB 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.
- 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.
- 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 sexual immorality! “Every sin that a man does is outside the body,” but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body.
- Exod 19:15He said to the people, “Be ready by the third day. Don’t have sexual relations with a woman.”
- 1 Cor 6:12“All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are expedient. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be brought under the power of anything.
- 2 Tim 2:22Flee from youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
- Heb 13:4Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the bed be undefiled: but God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers.
- Eph 5:3–11But sexual immorality, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not even be mentioned among you, as becomes saints;
- 1 Sam 21:4–5The priest answered David, and said, “I have no common bread, but there is holy bread; if only the young men have kept themselves from women.”
- Eph 4:17–19This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind,
- 1 Pet 2:11Beloved, I beg you as foreigners and pilgrims, to abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;
- Ps 51:5Behold, I was born in iniquity. In sin my mother conceived me.
- Lev 15:5Whoever touches his bed shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening.
- 1 Th 4:3–5For this is the will of God: your sanctification, that you 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.