Anything the unclean person touches will become unclean, and anyone who touches it will be unclean until evening.”
Parallel translations
- WEB “Whatever the unclean person touches shall be unclean; and the soul that touches it shall be unclean until evening.”
- KJV And whatsoever the unclean person toucheth shall be unclean; and the soul that toucheth it shall be unclean until even.
- NKJV Whatever the unclean person touches shall be unclean; and the person who touches it shall be unclean until evening.’ ”
- NASB Furthermore, anything that the unclean person touches will be unclean; and the person who touches it will be unclean until evening.’ ”
- NLT Anything and anyone that a defiled person touches will be ceremonially unclean until 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
Uncleanness spread by contact, defiling whatever and whoever the unclean person touched until evening. Impurity was contagious, but holiness had to be deliberately applied.
Overview
This closing principle shows the pervasive, spreading nature of ritual defilement under the law. Sin and death contaminate readily, while purity must be granted from outside. In Jesus the order is reversed: His holiness is communicated to the unclean who come to Him, healing rather than being defiled.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- 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 7:19Meat that touches anything unclean must not be eaten; it is to be burned up. As for any other meat, anyone who is ceremonially clean may eat it.
- Matt 15:19–20For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, and slander.
- Mark 7:21–23For from within the hearts of men come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery,
- Lev 5:2Or if a person touches anything unclean—whether the carcass of any unclean wild animal or livestock or crawling creature—even if he is unaware of it, he is unclean and guilty.
- Lev 15:5Anyone who touches his bed must wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will be unclean until evening.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Commentaries & study tools
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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 19:22 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.