New English Translation
Numbers 19:11
11“‘Whoever touches the corpse of any person will be ceremonially unclean seven days.
Numbers 19:11 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)He that toucheth the dead body of any man shall be unclean seven days.
- New International Version (NIV)“Whoever touches a human corpse will be unclean for seven days.
- English Standard Version (ESV)"Whoever touches the dead body of any person shall be unclean seven days.
- New King James Version (NKJV)‘He who touches the dead body of anyone shall be unclean seven days.
Context of Numbers 19:11
9“‘Then a man who is ceremonially clean must gather up the ashes of the red heifer and put them in a ceremonially clean place outside the camp. They must be kept for the community of the Israelites for use in the water of purification – it is a purification for sin. 10The one who gathers the ashes of the heifer must wash his clothes and be ceremonially unclean until evening. This will be a permanent ordinance both for the Israelites and the resident foreigner who lives among them. “‘Whoever touches the corpse of any person will be ceremonially unclean seven days. 12He must purify himself with water on the third day and on the seventh day, and so will be clean. But if he does not purify himself on the third day and the seventh day, then he will not be clean. 13Anyone who touches the corpse of any dead person and does not purify himself defiles the tabernacle of the Lord. And that person must be cut off from Israel, because the water of purification was not sprinkled on him. He will be unclean; his uncleanness remains on him.
Read all of Numbers 19Numbers 19:11 word by word
הַנֹּגֵ֥עַ בְּמֵ֖ת לְכָל־נֶ֣פֶשׁ אָדָ֑ם וְטָמֵ֖א שִׁבְעַ֥ת יָמִֽים׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Numbers 19:11
- Leviticus 11:12Any creature in the water that does not have both fins and scales is detestable to you.
- Numbers 19:16And whoever touches the body of someone killed with a sword in the open fields, or the body of someone who died of natural causes, or a human bone, or a grave, will be unclean seven days.
- Numbers 5:2“Command the Israelites to expel from the camp every leper, everyone who has a discharge, and whoever becomes defiled by a corpse.
- Numbers 9:6It happened that some men who were ceremonially defiled by the dead body of a man could not keep the Passover on that day, so they came before Moses and before Aaron on that day.
- Numbers 31:19“Any of you who has killed anyone or touched any of the dead, remain outside the camp for seven days; purify yourselves and your captives on the third day, and on the seventh day.
- Leviticus 11:31These are the ones that are unclean to you among all the swarming things. Anyone who touches them when they die will be unclean until evening.
- Leviticus 21:1The Lord said to Moses: “Say to the priests, the sons of Aaron – say to them, ‘For a dead person no priest is to defile himself among his people,
- Lamentations 4:14They wander blindly through the streets, defiled by the blood they shed, while no one dares to touch their garments. ס (Samek)
- Haggai 2:13Then Haggai asked, “If a person who is ritually unclean because of touching a dead body comes in contact with one of these items, will it become unclean?” The priests answered, “It will be unclean.”
- Romans 5:12So then, just as sin entered the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all people because all sinned –
- 2 Corinthians 6:17Therefore “come out from their midst, and be separate,” says the Lord, “and touch no unclean thing, and I will welcome you,
- Ephesians 2:1And although you were dead in your transgressions and sins,
- Hebrews 9:14how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our consciences from dead works to worship the living God.
Commentaries on Numbers 19:11
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 11He 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!Read the comment
- 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. 11-19If someone touched a human dead body, that person became ceremonially unclean for seven days (compare Leviticus 21:1–3). This meant a person was not allowed to take part in worship until they were made clean. To become clean again, the person had to use the water of purification. This water was sprinkled on the third day and again on the seventh day.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 19:11
In the dictionaries
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
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