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Read the Bible

Easy-to-Read Version

Numbers 19:11

Those who touch a dead body will be unclean for seven days.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Defilement;   Mourning;   Sanitation;   Water;   Thompson Chain Reference - Bodies, Dead;   Dead Bodies;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Dead, the;   Defilement;   Purifications or Baptisms;   Red Heifer, the;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Ashes;   Burial;   Clean and Unclean;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Funeral;   Uncleanness;   Water;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Clean, Unclean;   Funeral;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Purification;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Burial;   Nazarite;   Numbers, the Book of;   Tabernacle;   Unclean and Clean;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Purity-Purification;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Clean and Unclean;   Colours;   Medicine;   Numbers, Book of;   Red Heifer;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Bier;   Following;   Tiberias ;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Atonement;   Heifer, Red;   Water of Separation;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Ashes;   Burial;   Clean and unclean;   Covenant;   Smith Bible Dictionary - Uncleanness;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Bier;   Body;   Stranger and Sojourner (in the Old Testament);   Uncleanness;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Ancestor Worship;   Burial;   Hafá¹­arah;   Law, Reading from the;   Moses;   Red Heifer;  

Parallel Translations

Hebrew Names Version
He who touches the dead body of any man shall be unclean seven days:
King James Version
He that toucheth the dead body of any man shall be unclean seven days.
Lexham English Bible
"‘The one who touches a corpse of any person will be unclean for seven days.
English Standard Version
"Whoever touches the dead body of any person shall be unclean seven days.
New Century Version
"Those who touch a dead person's body will be unclean for seven days.
New English Translation
"‘Whoever touches the corpse of any person will be ceremonially unclean seven days.
Amplified Bible
'The one who touches the dead body of any person shall be unclean for seven days.
New American Standard Bible
'The one who touches the dead body of any person will also be unclean for seven days.
Geneva Bible (1587)
Hee that toucheth the dead body of any man, shalbe vncleane euen seuen dayes.
Legacy Standard Bible
‘The one who touches the corpse of any person shall be unclean for seven days.
Contemporary English Version
The Lord said: If you touch a dead body, you will be unclean for seven days.
Complete Jewish Bible
"Anyone who touches a corpse, no matter whose dead body it is, will be unclean for seven days.
Darby Translation
He that toucheth a dead person, any dead body of a man, shall be unclean seven days.
George Lamsa Translation
He who touches the dead body of any man shall be unclean seven days.
Good News Translation
Those who touch a corpse are ritually unclean for seven days.
Christian Standard Bible®
“The person who touches any human corpse will be unclean for seven days.
Literal Translation
He that touches the dead body of any man shall be unclean seven days.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Who so now toucheth a deed ma, shal be vncleane seuen dayes:
American Standard Version
He that toucheth the dead body of any man shall be unclean seven days:
Bible in Basic English
Anyone touching a dead body will be unclean for seven days:
Bishop's Bible (1568)
He that toucheth the dead body of any man, shalbe vncleane seuen dayes.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
He that toucheth the dead, even any man's dead body, shall be unclean seven days;
King James Version (1611)
He that toucheth the dead body of any man, shall bee vncleane seuen dayes.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
He that touches the dead body of any man, shall be unclean seven days.
English Revised Version
He that toucheth the dead body of any man shall be unclean seven days:
Berean Standard Bible
Whoever touches any dead body will be unclean for seven days.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
He that touchith a deed bodi of man, and is vncleene for this bi seuene daies,
Young's Literal Translation
`He who is coming against the dead body of any man -- is unclean seven days;
Update Bible Version
He that touches any dead body of man shall be unclean seven days:
Webster's Bible Translation
He that toucheth the dead body of any man shall be unclean seven days.
World English Bible
He who touches the dead body of any man shall be unclean seven days:
New King James Version
"He who touches the dead body of anyone shall be unclean seven days.
New Living Translation
"All those who touch a dead human body will be ceremonially unclean for seven days.
New Life Bible
"The one who touches the dead body of any person will be unclean for seven days.
New Revised Standard
Those who touch the dead body of any human being shall be unclean seven days.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
He that toucheth the dead, even any human person, shall be unclean seven days.
Douay-Rheims Bible
He that toucheth the corpse of a man, and is therefore unclean seven days,
Revised Standard Version
"He who touches the dead body of any person shall be unclean seven days;
THE MESSAGE
"Anyone who touches a dead body is ritually unclean for seven days. He must purify himself with the Water-of-Cleansing on the third day; on the seventh day he will be clean. But if he doesn't follow the procedures for the third and seventh days, he won't be clean. Anyone who touches the dead body of anyone and doesn't get cleansed desecrates God 's Dwelling and is to be excommunicated. For as long as the Water-of-Cleansing has not been sprinkled on him, he remains ritually unclean.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
'The one who touches the corpse of any person shall be unclean for seven days.

Contextual Overview

11 Those who touch a dead body will be unclean for seven days. 12 They must wash themselves with the special water on the third day and again on the seventh day. If they don't do this, they will remain unclean. 13 Those who touch the body of someone who has died are unclean. If they stay unclean and then go to the Lord 's Holy Tent, they make it unclean. So they must be separated from the Israelites. Because the special water was not thrown on them, they remain unclean. 14 "This is the rule about those who die in their tents: If someone dies in the tent, everyone in the tent will be unclean for seven days. 15 And every jar or pot without a lid becomes unclean. 16 If there is a dead body out in a field, whether the person died in battle or for some other reason, whoever touches that dead body, or its bones, or even its grave will be unclean for seven days. 17 "If you have become unclean, someone must use the ashes from the burned cow to make you clean again. They must pour fresh water over the ashes into a jar. 18 That clean person must take a hyssop branch and dip it into the water. The clean person must sprinkle it over the tent, the dishes, and any people who were in the tent. That clean person must do this for anyone who touches a dead body, its bones, or even a grave. 19 "Then that clean person must sprinkle this water on you on the third day and again on the seventh day. On the seventh day you will become clean. You must wash your clothes in water and you will become clean in the evening. 20 "Whoever becomes unclean and does not become clean must be separated from the community. If an unclean person is not sprinkled with that special water and does not become clean, that person might make the Lord 's Holy Tent unclean.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

toucheth the dead: He who touched a dead beast was only unclean for one day - Leviticus 11:12, Leviticus 11:27, Leviticus 11:39, but he who touches a dead man is unclean for seven days. This was certainly designed to show the peculiar impurity and sinfulness of man, and the hatefulness of sin, seven times worse than the vilest animal! Numbers 19:16, Numbers 5:2, Numbers 9:6, Numbers 9:10, Numbers 31:19, Leviticus 11:31, Leviticus 21:1, Leviticus 21:11, Lamentations 4:14, Haggai 2:13, Romans 5:12, 2 Corinthians 6:17, Ephesians 2:1, Hebrews 9:14

man: Heb. soul of man

Reciprocal: Genesis 50:10 - seven days Leviticus 5:2 - touch Leviticus 5:3 - the uncleanness Leviticus 7:19 - General Leviticus 7:21 - the uncleanness Leviticus 15:13 - seven days Leviticus 22:4 - unclean Numbers 6:6 - he shall come Numbers 31:13 - without the camp 2 Chronicles 35:6 - sanctify Isaiah 65:4 - remain Ezekiel 39:14 - they shall Ezekiel 44:26 - General Hosea 9:4 - as

Cross-References

Genesis 19:28
Abraham looked down into the valley toward the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. He saw clouds of smoke rising from the land, like smoke from a furnace.
Genesis 19:29
God destroyed the cities in the valley, but he remembered what Abraham had said. So God sent Lot away from those cities before destroying them.
2 Kings 6:18
These horses and chariots of fire came down to Elisha. He prayed to the Lord and said, "I pray that you will cause these people to become blind." So God did what Elisha asked. He caused the Aramean army to become blind.
Ecclesiastes 10:15
Fools aren't smart enough to find their way home, so they must work hard all their lives.
Isaiah 57:10
All of them made you tired, but you never gave up. You found new strength, because you enjoyed them.
Jeremiah 2:36
You go from one place to another looking for help, always changing your mind. But Egypt will also disappoint you, just as Assyria did.
Acts 13:11
Now the Lord will touch you and you will be blind. For a time you will not be able to see anything—not even the light from the sun." Then everything became dark for Elymas. He walked around lost. He was trying to find someone to lead him by the hand.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

He that toucheth the dead body of any man,.... A man and not a beast, as Aben Ezra observes; for he that touched the dead body of a beast was unclean only until evening, Leviticus 11:24; any man, Jew or Gentile, as the same writer notes: this is instanced in, as being the principal pollution, though not the only one, yet so some think, for which the water of purification made of the ashes of the burnt heifer was appointed:

shall be unclean seven days; the reason of which is, because death is the fruit of sin, which is of a defiling nature, and to show that all that are dead in sins are defiled and defiling, and are not to be touched, or to have communion and fellowship held with them but to be abstained from.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

One practical effect of attaching defilement to a dead body, and to all that touched it, etc., would be to insure early burial, and to correct a practice not uncommon in the East, of leaving the deal to be devoured by the wild beasts.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Numbers 19:11. He that toucheth the dead body of any man shall be unclean seven days. — How low does this lay man! He who touched a dead beast was only unclean for one day, Leviticus 11:24; Leviticus 11:27; Leviticus 11:39; but he who touches a dead man is unclean for seven days. This was certainly designed to mark the peculiar impurity of man, and to show his sinfulness - seven times worse than the vilest animal! O thou son of the morning, how art thou fallen!


 
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