Leviticus 22 · Verse 4

Leviticus 22:4

What man soever of the seed of Aaron is a leper, or hath a running issue; he shall not eat of the holy things, until he be clean. And whoso toucheth any thing that is unclean by the dead, or a man whose seed goeth from him;
Leviticus 22:4, King James Version

Leviticus 22:4 in other translations

BSBIf a descendant of Aaron has a skin disease or a discharge, he may not eat the sacred offerings until he is clean. Whoever touches anything defiled by a corpse or by a man who has an emission of semen,
WEB“‘Whoever of the offspring of Aaron is a leper or has a discharge shall not eat of the holy things until he is clean. Whoever touches anything that is unclean by the dead, or a man who has a seminal emission,
ASVWhat man soever of the seed of Aaron is a leper, or hath an issue; he shall not eat of the holy things, until he be clean. And whoso toucheth anything that is unclean by the dead, or a man whose seed goeth from him;
YLT‘Any man of the seed of Aaron, and is leprous or hath an issue--of the holy things he doth not eat till that he is clean; and he who is coming against any uncleanness of a person, or a man whose seed of copulation goeth out from him,
DARBYWhatsoever man of the seed of Aaron is a leper, or hath a flux, he shall not eat of the holy things, until he is clean. And he that toucheth any one that is unclean by a dead person, or a man whose seed of copulation hath passed from him;
BBENo man of the seed of Aaron who is a leper, or who has a flow from his body, may take of the holy food till he is clean. And any man touching anything which is unclean because of the dead, or any man whose seed goes from him;
WebsterWhatever man of the seed of Aaron is a leper, or hath a running issue; he shall not eat of the holy things, until he is clean. And whoever toucheth any thing that is unclean by the dead, or a man whose seed goeth from him;

What does Leviticus 22:4 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Leviticus 22:4-6
4-6. wash his flesh with water--Any Israelite who had contracted a defilement of such a nature as debarred him from the enjoyment of his wonted privileges, and had been legally cleansed from the disqualifying impurity, was bound to indicate his state of recovery by the immersion of his whole person in water. Although all ceremonial impurity formed a ground of exclusion, there were degrees of impurity which entailed a longer or shorter period of excommunication, and for the removal of which different rites required to be observed according to the trivial or the malignant nature of the case. A person who came inadvertently into contact with an unclean animal was rendered unclean for a specified period; and then, at the expiry of that term, he washed, in token of his recovered purity. But a leper was unclean so long as he remained subject to that disease, and on his convalescence, he also washed, not to cleanse himself, for the water was ineffectual for that purpose, but to signify that he was clean. Not a single case is recorded of a leper being restored to communion by the use of water; it served only as an outward and visible sign that such a restoration was to be made. The Book of Leviticus abounds with examples which show that in all the ceremonial washings, as uncleanness meant loss of privileges, so baptism with water indicated a restoration to those privileges. There was no exemption; for as the unclean Israelite was exiled from the congregation, so the unclean priest was disqualified from executing his sacred functions in the sanctuary; and in the case of both, the same observance was required--a formal intimation of their being readmitted to forfeited privileges was intimated by the appointed rite of baptism. If any one neglected or refused to perform the washing, he disobeyed a positive precept, and he remained in his uncleanness; he forbore to avail himself of this privilege, and was therefore said to be "cut off" from the presence of the Lord.

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 4 Is a leper, or hath a running issue - See the case of the leper treated at large in the notes on Leviticus 13 (note) and Leviticus 14 (note); and for other uncleannesses, see the notes on Leviticus 15 (note).

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Leviticus 22:4 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

אִ֣ישׁ'isha manH376
אִ֞ישׁ'isha manH376
מִזֶּ֣רַעmi.Ze.ra'from [the] offspring ofH2233
אַהֲרֹ֗ן'a.ha.RonAaronH175
וְה֤וּאve.Hu'and heH1931
צָר֙וּעַ֙tza.Ru.a'[is] having a serious skin diseaseH6879
א֣וֹ'oorH176
זָ֔בZav[is] dischargingH2100
בַּקֳּדָשִׁים֙ba.ko.da.Shimin the holy thingsH6944
לֹ֣אlo'notH3808
יֹאכַ֔לyo.Khalhe will eatH398
עַ֖ד'aduntilH5704
אֲשֶׁ֣ר'a.SherthatH834
יִטְהָ֑רyit.Harhe will be pureH2891
וְהַנֹּגֵ֙עַ֙ve.ha.no.Ge.a'and who [-ever] touchesH5060
בְּכָל\־be.khol<in> anyH3605
טְמֵא\־te.me'-[thing] unclean ofH2931
נֶ֔פֶשׁNe.fesha corpseH5315
א֣וֹ'oorH176
אִ֔ישׁ'IshanyoneH376
אֲשֶׁר\־'a.Sher-whomH834
תֵּצֵ֥אte.Tze'it will go outH3318
מִמֶּ֖נּוּmi.Me.nufrom himH4480
שִׁכְבַת\־shikh.vat-a laying ofH7902
זָֽרַע\׃Za.ra'seedH2233

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Leviticus 22:4

  • Leviticus 15:2-3

    Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When any man hath a running issue out of his flesh, because of his issue he is unclean. And this shall be his uncleanness in his issue: whether his flesh run with his issue, or his flesh be stopped from his issue, it is his uncleanness.

  • Leviticus 15:13-16

    And when he that hath an issue is cleansed of his issue; then he shall number to himself seven days for his cleansing, and wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in running water, and shall be clean. And on the eighth day he shall take to him two turtledoves, or two young pigeons, and come before the Lord unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and give them unto the priest: And the priest shall offer them, the one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering; and the priest shall make an atonement for him before the Lord for his issue. And if any man’s seed of copulation go out from him, then he shall wash all his flesh in water, and be unclean until the even.

  • Leviticus 11:39

    And if any beast, of which ye may eat, die; he that toucheth the carcase thereof shall be unclean until the even.

  • Leviticus 13:2-3

    When a man shall have in the skin of his flesh a rising, a scab, or bright spot, and it be in the skin of his flesh like the plague of leprosy; then he shall be brought unto Aaron the priest, or unto one of his sons the priests: And the priest shall look on the plague in the skin of the flesh: and when the hair in the plague is turned white, and the plague in sight be deeper than the skin of his flesh, it is a plague of leprosy: and the priest shall look on him, and pronounce him unclean.

  • Numbers 18:9

    This shall be thine of the most holy things, reserved from the fire: every oblation of theirs, every meat offering of theirs, and every sin offering of theirs, and every trespass offering of theirs, which they shall render unto me, shall be most holy for thee and for thy sons.

  • Leviticus 2:3

    And the remnant of the meat offering shall be Aaron’s and his sons’: it is a thing most holy of the offerings of the Lord made by fire.

  • Leviticus 21:1

    And the Lord said unto Moses, Speak unto the priests the sons of Aaron, and say unto them, There shall none be defiled for the dead among his people:

  • Leviticus 13:44-46

    He is a leprous man, he is unclean: the priest shall pronounce him utterly unclean; his plague is in his head. And the leper in whom the plague is, his clothes shall be rent, and his head bare, and he shall put a covering upon his upper lip, and shall cry, Unclean, unclean. All the days wherein the plague shall be in him he shall be defiled; he is unclean: he shall dwell alone; without the camp shall his habitation be.

  • Numbers 19:11-16

    He that toucheth the dead body of any man shall be unclean seven days. He shall purify himself with it on the third day, and on the seventh day he shall be clean: but if he purify not himself the third day, then the seventh day he shall not be clean. Whosoever toucheth the dead body of any man that is dead, and purifieth not himself, defileth the tabernacle of the Lord; and that soul shall be cut off from Israel: because the water of separation was not sprinkled upon him, he shall be unclean; his uncleanness is yet upon him. This is the law, when a man dieth in a tent: all that come into the tent, and all that is in the tent, shall be unclean seven days. …

  • Leviticus 14:1-32

    And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, This shall be the law of the leper in the day of his cleansing: He shall be brought unto the priest: And the priest shall go forth out of the camp; and the priest shall look, and, behold, if the plague of leprosy be healed in the leper; Then shall the priest command to take for him that is to be cleansed two birds alive and clean, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop: …

  • Leviticus 6:25-29

    Speak unto Aaron and to his sons, saying, This is the law of the sin offering: In the place where the burnt offering is killed shall the sin offering be killed before the Lord: it is most holy. The priest that offereth it for sin shall eat it: in the holy place shall it be eaten, in the court of the tabernacle of the congregation. Whatsoever shall touch the flesh thereof shall be holy: and when there is sprinkled of the blood thereof upon any garment, thou shalt wash that whereon it was sprinkled in the holy place. But the earthen vessel wherein it is sodden shall be broken: and if it be sodden in a brasen pot, it shall be both scoured, and rinsed in water. …

  • Leviticus 2:10

    And that which is left of the meat offering shall be Aaron’s and his sons’: it is a thing most holy of the offerings of the Lord made by fire.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
the seed.These words include the daughters as well as the sons of Aaron.
a leper.
13:2,3,44-46
running issue. Heb. running of the reins.
15:2,3
holy things.
2:3,10; 6:25-29; 21:22; Nu 18:9,19
until.
14:2-32; 15:13-15
unclean.
21:1; Nu 19:11-16
whose.
15:16

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Leviticus 22:3

    Say unto them, Whosoever he be of all your seed among your generations, that goeth unto the holy things, which the children of Israel hallow unto the Lord, having his uncleanness upon him, that soul shall be cut off from my presence: I am the Lord.

  • Leviticus 22:4

    What man soever of the seed of Aaron is a leper, or hath a running issue; he shall not eat of the holy things, until he be clean. And whoso toucheth any thing that is unclean by the dead, or a man whose seed goeth from him;

  • Leviticus 22:5

    Or whosoever toucheth any creeping thing, whereby he may be made unclean, or a man of whom he may take uncleanness, whatsoever uncleanness he hath;

Read all of Leviticus 22

Leviticus 22:4 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Cualquier varón de la simiente de Aarón que fuere leproso, ó padeciere flujo, no comerá de las cosas sagradas hasta que esté limpio: y el que tocare cualquiera cosa inmunda de mortecino, ó el varón del cual hubiere salido derramamiento de semen;
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Aucun homme de la semence d’Aaron, qui est lépreux ou qui a un flux, ne mangera des choses saintes, jusqu’à ce qu’il soit purifié; et celui qui aura touché quelqu’un qui est impur par un mort, ou celui de qui est sorti de la semence,
German
Elberfelder 1871		Jedermann vom Samen Aarons, der aussätzig oder flüssig ist, soll nicht von den heiligen Dingen essen, bis er rein ist. Und wer irgend einen anrührt, der durch eine Leiche verunreinigt ist, oder jemanden, dem der Samenerguß entgeht;
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Homo de semine Aaron, qui fuerit leprosus, aut patiens fluxum seminis, non vescetur de his quæ sanctificata sunt mihi, donec sanetur. Qui tetigerit immundum super mortuo, et ex quo egreditur semen quasi coitus,