And this shall be his uncleanness in his issue: whether his flesh run with his issue, or his flesh be stopped from his issue, it is his uncleanness.
Parallel translations
- WEB This shall be his uncleanness in his discharge: whether his body runs with his discharge, or his body has stopped from his discharge, it is his uncleanness.
- BSB This uncleanness is from his discharge, whether his body allows the discharge to flow or blocks it. So his discharge will bring about uncleanness.
- NKJV And this shall be his uncleanness in regard to his discharge—whether his body runs with his discharge, or his body is stopped up by his discharge, it is his uncleanness.
- NASB This, moreover, shall be his uncleanness in his discharge: it is his uncleanness whether his body allows its discharge to flow or whether his body obstructs its discharge.
- NLT This defilement is caused by his discharge, whether the discharge continues or stops. In either case the man is unclean.
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
The discharge makes a man unclean whether it flows or is blocked. This clarifies that the condition itself, not just its activity, conveys impurity.
Overview
The verse defines the uncleanness precisely: whether the body runs with the discharge or is stopped up, the man remains unclean. Such thoroughness left no loophole and reinforced that impurity clings until proper cleansing comes. It pictures how sin's defilement persists by its very presence, requiring the decisive purification God alone provides.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 3
- Ezek 16:26Thou hast also committed fornication with the Egyptians thy neighbours, great of flesh; and hast increased thy whoredoms, to provoke me to anger.
- Lev 12:3And in the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised.
- Ezek 23:20For she doted upon their paramours, whose flesh is as the flesh of asses, and whose issue is like the issue of horses.
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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 15:3 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.