And whatsoever the unclean person toucheth shall be unclean; and the soul that toucheth it shall be unclean until even.
Parallel translations
- WEB “Whatever the unclean person touches shall be unclean; and the soul that touches it shall be unclean until evening.”
- BSB Anything the unclean person touches will become unclean, and anyone who touches it will be unclean until evening.”
- 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 2:13Then said Haggai, If one that is unclean by a dead body touch any of these, shall it be unclean? And the priests answered and said, It shall be unclean.
- Lev 7:19And the flesh that toucheth any unclean thing shall not be eaten; it shall be burnt with fire: and as for the flesh, all that be clean shall eat thereof.
- Matt 15:19–20For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:
- Mark 7:21–23For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,
- Lev 5:2Or if a soul touch any unclean thing, whether it be a carcase of an unclean beast, or a carcase of unclean cattle, or the carcase of unclean creeping things, and if it be hidden from him; he also shall be unclean, and guilty.
- Lev 15:5And whosoever toucheth his bed shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 19:22 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.