Whoever touches any dead body will be unclean for seven days.
Parallel translations
- WEB “He who touches the dead body of any man shall be unclean seven days.
- KJV He that toucheth the dead body of any man shall be unclean seven days.
- NKJV ‘He who touches the dead body of anyone shall be unclean seven days.
- NASB ‘The one who touches the dead body of any person will also be unclean for seven days.
- NLT “All those who touch a dead human body will be ceremonially unclean for seven days.
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
Anyone who touched a human corpse became unclean for seven days, marking death as a serious source of defilement.
Overview
Contact with death, the great consequence of sin, rendered a person ceremonially unclean for a full week. This law set death apart as deeply defiling, separating it from the holy presence of God. It reflects the biblical truth that death is an intruder and enemy, and it heightens longing for the One who conquers death.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Num 5:2“Command the Israelites to send away from the camp anyone with a skin disease, anyone who has a bodily discharge, and anyone who is defiled by a dead body.
- Num 31:19All of you who have killed a person or touched the dead are to remain outside the camp for seven days. On the third day and the seventh day you are to purify both yourselves and your captives.
- Lev 21:1Then the LORD said to Moses, “Speak to Aaron’s sons, the priests, and tell them that a priest is not to defile himself for a dead person among his people,
- Lev 21:11He must not go near any dead body; he must not defile himself, even for his father or mother.
- Num 9:10“Tell the Israelites: ‘When any one of you or your descendants is unclean because of a dead body, or is away on a journey, he may still observe the Passover to the LORD.
- Num 19:16Anyone in the open field who touches someone who has been killed by the sword or has died of natural causes, or anyone who touches a human bone or a grave, will be unclean for seven days.
- Rom 5:12Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, so also death was passed on to all men, because all sinned.
- Num 9:6But there were some men who were unclean due to a dead body, so they could not observe the Passover on that day. And they came before Moses and Aaron that same day
- Heb 9:14how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself unblemished to God, purify our consciences from works of death, so that we may serve the living God!
- 2 Cor 6:17“Therefore come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.”
- Lam 4:14They wandered blind in the streets, defiled by this blood, so that no one dared to touch their garments.
- Eph 2:1And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,
- Hag 2:13So Haggai asked, “If one who is defiled by contact with a corpse touches any of these, does it become defiled?” “Yes, it becomes defiled,” the priests answered.
- Lev 11:31These animals are unclean for you among all the crawling creatures. Whoever touches them when they are dead shall be unclean until evening.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Commentaries & study tools
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Christ at the center
In the wilderness Christ is the water from the rock, the bronze serpent lifted up that the dying might look and live (John 3:14), and the star and scepter that Balaam saw rising out of Jacob.
How Numbers 19:11 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.