Haggai 2:13

Haggai 2:13 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)Then said Haggai, If one that is unclean by a dead body touch any of these, shall it be unclean? And the priests answered and said, It shall be unclean.
• New International Version (NIV)Then Haggai said, “If a person defiled by contact with a dead body touches one of these things, does it become defiled?” “Yes,” the priests replied, “it becomes defiled.”
• English Standard Version (ESV)Then Haggai said, "If someone who is unclean by contact with a dead body touches any of these, does it become unclean?" The priests answered and said, "It does become unclean."
• New King James Version (NKJV)And Haggai said, “If one who is unclean because of a dead body touches any of these, will it be unclean?” So the priests answered and said, “It shall be unclean.”

Context of Haggai 2:13

11The Almighty Lord says, ‘Ask the priests a question about my Law. 12A person might be carrying some special, holy meat in his clothes. His clothes might then touch some food. It might be bread, or soup, or wine, or oil. If the clothes that hold the holy meat touch any other food, does that other food also become holy?’ The priests replied, ‘No.’ Haggai asked the priests another question: ‘If anyone touches a dead body, you know that you become unclean. If an unclean person touches any of these foods, would they also become unclean?’ The priests replied, ‘Yes, those things would be unclean.’ 14So Haggai told them, ‘This is what the Lord says: This nation and its people are just like that. They are unclean. So everything that they do is also unclean. All the gifts that they offer to me are unclean. I could not accept them. 15Think carefully what life was like before you started again to build the Lord's temple. Do not forget that.

Haggai 2:13 word by word

וַיֹּ֣אמֶר חַגַּ֔י אִם־יִגַּ֧ע טְמֵא־נֶ֛פֶשׁ בְּכָל־אֵ֖לֶּה הֲיִטְמָ֑א וַיַּעֲנ֧וּ הַכֹּהֲנִ֛ים וַיֹּאמְר֖וּ יִטְמָֽא׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• Then saidאָמַר'âmar · to sayH559
• Haggaiחַגַּיchaggay · HaggaiH2292
• uncleanטָמֵאţâmê' · uncleanH2931
• by a dead bodyנֶ֫פֶשׁnephesh · soul: deadH5315
• touchנָגַעnâga‛ · to touchH5060
• any of these, shall it be uncleanטָמֵאţâmê' · to defileH2930
• And the priestsכֹּהֵןkôhên · priestH3548
• answeredעָנָה‛ânâh · to answerH6030

Cross-references for Haggai 2:13

• Numbers 5:2‘Speak to the Israelites. They must send any person with a disease of the skin away from the camp. Or somebody may have a disease that causes pus to come out of his body. Any person like that is not clean. Anyone who has touched a dead person is also not clean. Send those people out of the camp too.
• Numbers 9:6But there were some people who were not clean. That was because they had touched a dead body. So they could not eat the Passover on that day. So they came to Moses and Aaron on that day.
• Numbers 19:11Any person who touches a dead body will not be clean for seven days.

Commentaries on Haggai 2:13

• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 11-14Verses 11-14 Ask now the priests concerning the law - The priests answer rightly, that, by the law, insulated unholiness spread further than insulated holiness. The flesh of the sacrifice hallowed whatever it should touch, but not further; but the human being, who was defiled by touching a dead body, defiled all he might touch Numbers 19:22. Haggai does not apply the first part; namely, that the worship on the altar which they reared, while they neglected…Read the comment
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 10-19Verses 10-19 Many spoiled this good work, by going about it with unholy hearts and hands, and were likely to gain no advantage by it. The sum of these two rules of the law is, that sin is more easily learned from others than holiness. The impurity of their hearts and lives shall make the work of their hands, and all their offerings, unclean before God. The case is the same with us. When employed in any good work, we should watch over ourselves, lest we…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 13Ceremonial uncleanness spreads more easily than ceremonial purity. Anyone touching a dead body became defiled and thus unclean. Anything touched by an unclean person also becomes impure (see Numbers 19:11–13, 22). Haggai discusses this in Haggai 2:14.Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1313. On the other hand, a legally "unclean" person imparts his uncleanness to any thing, whereas a legally holy thing cannot confer its sanctity on an "unclean" person (Nu 19:11, 13, 22). Legal sanctity is not so readily communicated as legal impurity. So the paths to sin are manifold: the paths to holiness one, and that one of difficult access [Grotius]. One drop of filth will defile a vase of water: many drops of water will not purity a vase of filth…Read the comment

In the dictionaries

• Haggai
• Dead Body
• Carcase
• Comparison
• Desire
• Press
• Purification
• Body
• Death
• Joshua (3)

Commentaries on Haggai 2

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Rashi on Tanakh
• Calvin’s Commentaries
• Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings