“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.
Parallel translations
- WEB “Command the children of Israel that they put out of the camp every leper, and everyone who has an issue, and whoever is unclean by the dead.
- KJV Command the children of Israel, that they put out of the camp every leper, and every one that hath an issue, and whosoever is defiled by the dead:
- NKJV “Command the children of Israel that they put out of the camp every leper, everyone who has a discharge, and whoever becomes defiled by a corpse.
- NASB “Command the sons of Israel that they send away from the camp everyone with leprosy, everyone having a discharge, and everyone who is unclean because of contact with a dead person.
- NLT “Command the people of Israel to remove from the camp anyone who has a skin disease or a discharge, or who has become ceremonially unclean by touching a dead person.
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
God commands that those with serious ceremonial uncleanness—leprosy, discharges, or contact with the dead—be put outside the camp. Holiness required separation from defilement.
Overview
These conditions rendered a person ritually unclean, and their removal preserved the purity of the camp where God dwelt. The law was not chiefly about hygiene but about the symbolism of sin, disease, and death being incompatible with God's holy presence. This points to humanity's deeper need for cleansing, met in Christ, who touched lepers and the dead and made the unclean whole (Mark 1:41).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Lev 13:46As long as he has the infection, he remains unclean. He must live alone in a place outside the camp.
- 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,
- Num 12:14But the LORD answered Moses, “If her father had but spit in her face, would she not have been in disgrace for seven days? Let her be confined outside the camp for seven days; after that she may be brought back in.”
- Num 9:6–10But 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
- 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 15:2–27“Say to the Israelites, ‘When any man has a bodily discharge, the discharge is unclean.
- Deut 24:8–9In cases of infectious skin diseases, be careful to diligently follow everything the Levitical priests instruct you. Be careful to do as I have commanded them.
- 2 Kgs 7:3Now there were four men with leprosy at the entrance of the city gate, and they said to one another, “Why just sit here until we die?
- Num 19:11–16Whoever touches any dead body will be unclean for seven days.
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 5:2 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
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