You must send away male and female alike; send them outside the camp so they will not defile their camp, where I dwell among them.”
Parallel translations
- WEB Both you shall put male and female outside of the camp; that they not defile their camp, in the middle of which I dwell.”
- KJV Both male and female shall ye put out, without the camp shall ye put them; that they defile not their camps, in the midst whereof I dwell.
- NKJV You shall put out both male and female; you shall put them outside the camp, that they may not defile their camps in the midst of which I dwell.”
- NASB You shall send away both male and female; you shall send them outside the camp so that they do not defile their camp where I dwell in their midst.”
- NLT This command applies to men and women alike. Remove them so they will not defile the camp in which I live among them.”
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
Both men and women were to be put outside so the camp where God dwells would not be defiled. God's dwelling among His people demanded purity from all alike.
Overview
The law applied without partiality, since the issue was the holiness of the camp, not the status of the person. The stated reason—'in the middle of which I dwell'—reveals that God's presence is the heart of the matter. This anticipates the New Testament truth that God's people are His temple, called to purity because His Spirit dwells among them (1 Corinthians 3:16).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 16
- Deut 23:14For the LORD your God walks throughout your camp to protect you and deliver your enemies to you. Your camp must be holy, lest He see anything unclean among you and turn away from you.
- Lev 26:11–12And I will make My dwelling place among you, and My soul will not despise you.
- Rev 21:3And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying: “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man, and He will dwell with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them as their God.
- Ps 68:18You have ascended on high; You have led captives away. You have received gifts from men, even from the rebellious, that the LORD God may dwell there.
- Num 35:34Do not defile the land where you live and where I dwell. For I, the LORD, dwell among the Israelites.”
- 2 Th 3:6Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to keep away from any brother who leads an undisciplined life that is not in keeping with the tradition you received from us.
- Heb 12:15–16See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God, and that no root of bitterness springs up to cause trouble and defile many.
- Isa 12:6Cry out and sing, O citizen of Zion, for great among you is the Holy One of Israel.”
- Titus 3:10Reject a divisive man after a first and second admonition,
- Rev 21:27But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who practices an abomination or a lie, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.
- 1 Kgs 7:3The house was roofed with cedar above the beams that rested on the pillars—forty-five beams, fifteen per row.
- 2 Cor 6:16–17What agreement can exist between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will dwell with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be My people.”
- 1 Cor 5:7–13Get rid of the old leaven, that you may be a new unleavened batch, as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.
- Num 19:22Anything the unclean person touches will become unclean, and anyone who touches it will be unclean until evening.”
- 2 Jn 1:10–11If anyone comes to you but does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your home or even greet him.
- Hag 2:13–14So 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.
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 5:3 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.