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.
• English Standard Version (ESV)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.
• 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.

Context of Numbers 19:16

14“This is the Torah for whenever a person dies in a tent. Anyone entering the tent or anyone inside the tent will be unclean seven days. 15Any open container not having a lid fastened on it will also be unclean. Anyone out in the open field who touches a dead body, whether killed by a sword or was killed by a natural cause, or touches a human bone or a grave, shall be unclean seven days. 17“For the unclean one, they are to take some of the ash of the burnt purification offering, and pour some fresh water into a jar. 18Then a clean person will take some hyssop, dip it into the water, and, sprinkle it on the tent, all of the furnishings, and the people who were there, as well as the one touching the bone, the one killed, the corpse 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 any dead body will be unclean for seven days.
• Numbers 31:19“Any of you who has killed anyone or touched the body of anyone who has been killed must stay outside the camp for seven days. You must purify yourselves, on the third and seventh days—you and your captives.
• Ezekiel 39:11“On that day, I will give Gog a burial place there in Israel, the valley of the travelers east of the sea. It will block those who travel through, since they will bury Gog and all his multitude there. Then they will call it the valley of Hamon-Gog.
• Matthew 23:27“Woe to you, Torah scholars and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean.
• Luke 11:44Woe to you, for you are like unmarked tombs, and people walk over them without knowing.”

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