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Leviticus

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Chapter 15

1 The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron: 2 “Speak to the Israelites and tell them, ‘When any man has a discharge from his body, his discharge is unclean. 3 Now this is his uncleanness in regard to his discharge—whether his body secretes his discharge or blocks his discharge, he is unclean. All the days that his body has a discharge or his body blocks his discharge, this is his uncleanness. 4 “‘Any bed the man with a discharge lies on will be unclean, and any furniture he sits on will be unclean. 5 Anyone who touches his bed must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. 6 The one who sits on the furniture the man with a discharge sits on must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. 7 The one who touches the body of the man with a discharge must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. 8 If the man with a discharge spits on a person who is ceremonially clean, that person must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. 9 Any means of riding that the man with a discharge rides on will be unclean. 10 Anyone who touches anything that was under him will be unclean until evening, and the one who carries those items must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. 11 Anyone whom the man with the discharge touches without having rinsed his hands in water must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. 12 A clay vessel which the man with the discharge touches must be broken, and any wooden utensil must be rinsed in water. 13 “‘When the man with the discharge becomes clean from his discharge, he is to count off for himself seven days for his purification, and he must wash his clothes, bathe in fresh water, and be clean. 14 Then on the eighth day he is to take for himself two turtledoves or two young pigeons, and he is to present himself before the Lord at the entrance of the Meeting Tent and give them to the priest, 15 and the priest is to make one of them a sin offering and the other a burnt offering. So the priest is to make atonement for him before the Lord for his discharge. 16 “‘When a man has a seminal emission, he must bathe his whole body in water and be unclean until evening, 17 and he must wash in water any clothing or leather that has semen on it, and it will be unclean until evening. 18 As for a woman whom a man goes to bed with, then has a seminal emission, they must bathe in water and be unclean until evening. 19 “‘When a woman has a discharge and her discharge is blood from her body, she is to be in her menstruation seven days, and anyone who touches her will be unclean until evening.⁠ 20 Anything she lies on during her menstruation will be unclean, and anything she sits on will be unclean. 21 Anyone who touches her bed must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. 22 Anyone who touches any furniture she sits on must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. 23 If there is something on the bed or on the furniture she sits on, when he touches it, he will be unclean until evening, 24 and if a man actually goes to bed with her so that her menstrual impurity touches him, then he will be unclean seven days, and any bed he lies on will be unclean. 25 “‘When a woman’s discharge of blood flows many days not at the time of her menstruation, or if it flows beyond the time of her menstruation, all the days of her discharge of impurity will be like the days of her menstruation—she is unclean. 26 Any bed she lies on all the days of her discharge will be to her like the bed of her menstruation, any furniture she sits on will be unclean like the impurity of her menstruation, 27 and anyone who touches them will be unclean, and he must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. 28 “‘If she becomes clean from her discharge, then she is to count off for herself seven days, and afterward she will be clean. 29 Then on the eighth day she must take for herself two turtledoves or two young pigeons, and she must bring them to the priest at the entrance of the Meeting Tent, 30 and the priest is to make one a sin offering and the other a burnt offering. So the priest is to make atonement for her before the Lord from her discharge of impurity. 31 “‘Thus you are to set the Israelites apart from their impurity so that they do not die in their impurity by defiling my tabernacle which is in their midst.⁠ 32 This is the law for the one with a discharge: for the one who has a seminal emission and becomes unclean by it, 33 for the one who is sick in her menstruation, for the one with a discharge, whether male or female, and for a man who goes to bed with an unclean woman.’”⁠

Texts in conversation

Compare Leviticus 15:19 and Ezekiel 18:6

Hebrew Bible

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Summary

Leviticus says that sex during menstruation creates ritual impurity that requires temporary cleansing. Ezekiel later describes it as a moral offense included with crimes deserving death, showing how categories of impurity and morality could overlap.

Passages

Leviticus 15:19

Hebrew Bible
17 and he must wash in water any clothing or leather that has semen on it, and it will be unclean until evening. 18 As for a woman whom a man goes to bed with, then has a seminal emission, they must bathe in water and be unclean until evening. 19 “‘When a woman has a discharge and her discharge is blood from her body, she is to be in her menstruation seven days, and anyone who touches her will be unclean until evening. 20 Anything she lies on during her menstruation will be unclean, and anything she sits on will be unclean. 21 Anyone who touches her bed must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Leviticus

Ezekiel 18:6

Hebrew Bible
5 “Suppose a man is righteous. He practices what is just and right; 6 does not eat pagan sacrifices on the mountains or pray to the idols of the house of Israel; does not defile his neighbor’s wife; does not approach a woman for marital relations during her period; 7 does not oppress anyone, but gives the debtor back whatever was given in pledge; does not commit robbery, but gives his bread to the hungry and clothes the naked; 8 does not engage in usury or charge interest, but refrains from wrongdoing; promotes true justice between men; 9 and follows my statutes and observes my regulations by carrying them out. That man is righteous; he will certainly live, declares the Sovereign Lord.
600–501 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Ezekiel

References

"... From the Exile onwards some ‘ritual’ offences come to be treated as on a par with ‘moral’ ones even by prophets: this can be clearly seen in the list in Ezekiel 18 ... Sexual relations with a menstruating woman are a particularly interesting case, since in some places in the law they seem to incur ritual impurity (Leviticus 15:19–24), but in others are treated as a crime deserving the death penalty (Ezekiel 18:6, and perhaps implied in Leviticus 18:19; 20:18), so that we hardly know whether to classify the issue as one of morality or of ritual purity - another reminder that these two categories are mutually porous in the Old Testament. One can make other tentative alignments. The wisdom literature in general seems to belong with Deuteronomic/Deuteronomistic thinking where the ritual/moral contrast is concerned ..."
John Barton, Ethics in Ancient Israel (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014), 192–193.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Leviticus 15:19 and Ezekiel 18:6

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