Numbers 19:16

Numbers 19:16 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)And whosoever toucheth one that is slain with a sword in the open fields, or a dead body, or a bone of a man, or a grave, shall be unclean seven days.
• New International Version (NIV)“Anyone out in the open who touches someone who has been killed with a sword or someone who has died a natural death, or anyone who touches a human bone or a grave, will be unclean for seven days.
• New King James Version (NKJV)Whoever in the open field touches one who is slain by a sword or who has died, or a bone of a man, or a grave, shall be unclean seven days.
• New Living Translation (NLT)And if someone in an open field touches the corpse of someone who was killed with a sword or who died a natural death, or if someone touches a human bone or a grave, that person will be defiled for seven days.

Context of Numbers 19:16

14"This is the law when someone dies in a tent: everyone who comes into the tent and everyone who is in the tent shall be unclean seven days. 15And every open vessel that has no cover fastened on it is unclean. Whoever in the open field touches someone who was killed with a sword or who died naturally, or touches a human bone or a grave, shall be unclean seven days. 17For the unclean they shall take some ashes of the burnt sin offering, and fresh water shall be added in a vessel. 18Then a clean person shall take hyssop and dip it in the water and sprinkle it on the tent and on all the furnishings and on the persons who were there and on whoever touched the bone, or the slain or the dead or the grave.

Numbers 19:16 word by word

וְכֹ֨ל אֲשֶׁר־יִגַּ֜ע עַל־פְּנֵ֣י הַשָּׂדֶ֗ה בַּֽחֲלַל־חֶ֙רֶב֙ א֣וֹ בְמֵ֔ת אֽוֹ־בְעֶ֥צֶם אָדָ֖ם א֣וֹ בְקָ֑בֶר יִטְמָ֖א שִׁבְעַ֥ת יָמִֽים׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• And whosoever touchethנָגַעnâga‛ · to touchH5060
• one that is slainחָלָלchâlâl · slain: killedH2491
• with a swordחֶ֫רֶבchereb · swordH2719
• in the openפָּנֶהpânîym · face: surfaceH6440
• fieldsשָׂדֶהώâdeh ώâday · land: countryH7704
• or a dead bodyמוּתmûth · to dieH4191
• or a boneעֶ֫צֶם‛etsem · boneH6106
• of a manאָדָם'âdâm · manH120
• or a graveקֶ֫בֶרqeber qibrâh · graveH6913
• shall be uncleanטָמֵאţâmê' · to defileH2930
• sevenשֶׁ֫בַעsheba‛ shib‛âh · sevenH7651
• daysיוֹםyôm · dayH3117

Cross-references for Numbers 19:16

• Numbers 19:11"Whoever touches the dead body of any person shall be unclean seven days.
• Numbers 31:19Encamp outside the camp seven days. Whoever of you has killed any person and whoever has touched any slain, purify yourselves and your captives on the third day and on the seventh day.
• Ezekiel 39:11"On that day I will give to Gog a place for burial in Israel, the Valley of the Travelers, east of the sea. It will block the travelers, for there Gog and all his multitude will be buried. It will be called the Valley of Hamon-gog.
• Matthew 23:27"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness.
• Luke 11:44Woe to you! For you are like unmarked graves, and people walk over them without knowing it."

Commentaries on Numbers 19:16

• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 11-22Verses 11-22 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.Read the comment
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 11-22Verses 11-22 Why did the law make a corpse a defiling thing? Because death is the wages of sin, which entered into the world by it, and reigns by the power of it. The law could not conquer death, nor abolish it, as the gospel does, by bringing life and immortality to light, and so introducing a better hope. As the ashes of the heifer signified the merit of Christ, so the running water signified the power and grace of the blessed Spirit, who is compared to…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 14-16Death made a person ceremonially unclean, and this uncleanness could spread. It could pass to an object or to a place where someone had died (compare Leviticus 15:1–12). This means that anything connected to the dead body could also become unclean. People had to be careful so that impurity did not spread through the camp.Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 11-2211-22. He that toucheth the dead body of any man shall be unclean--This law is noticed here to show the uses to which the water of separation [Nu 19:9] was applied. The case of a death is one; and as in every family which sustained a bereavement the members of the household became defiled, so in an immense population, where instances of mortality and other cases of uncleanness would be daily occurring, the water of separation must have been in constant…Read the comment

Topics related to Numbers 19:16

• Burial
• Defilement
• Mourning
• Sanitation
• Water

In the dictionaries

• Dead Body
• Carcase
• Clean
• Covering
• Defile
• Exodus
• Grave
• Unclean
• Water of separation
• Agrapha

Commentaries on Numbers 19

• 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
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings