1And YHWH spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,
2“Speak to the children of Israel, and you shall say to them: When any man will have an emission from his flesh, his emission: it is impure.
15:2. an emission from his flesh. A spontaneous discharge from the penis.
3And this shall be his impurity when he has an emission: his flesh leaks with his emission, or his flesh is obstructed from his emission. It is his impurity.
15:3. this shall be his impurity. That is, the following shall be the nature of his impure condition.
4 Any bed on which the one with the emission will lie will be impure, and any item on which he will sit will be impure.
5And a man who will touch his bed shall wash his clothes and shall wash in water and will be impure until evening.
6And one who sits on an item on which the one with the emission has sat shall wash his clothes and shall wash in water and will be impure until evening.
7And one who touches the flesh of the one with the emission shall wash his clothes and shall wash in water and will be impure until evening.
8And if the one with the emission will spit on one who is pure, then he shall wash his clothes and shall wash in water and will be impure until evening.
9And any conveyance on which the one with the emission will ride will be impure.
10And anyone who touches anything that has been under him will be impure until evening. And one who carries them shall wash his clothes and shall wash in water and will be impure until evening.
11And anyone whom the one with the emission will touch when he has not rinsed his hands in water shall wash his clothes and shall wash in water and will be impure until evening.
12And a clay container that the one with the emission will touch shall be broken, and any wood container shall be rinsed in water.
13And when the one with the emission will be purified from his emission, he shall count seven days for his purification and shall wash his clothes and shall wash his flesh in living water and will be pure.
14And on the eighth day he shall take two turtledoves or two pigeons and shall come in front of YHWH, to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, and shall give them to the priest.
15And the priest shall do them: one a sin offering and one a burnt offering, and the priest shall make atonement over him in front of YHWH from his emission.
16“And when a man’s intercourse seed will come out from him: he shall wash all his flesh in water and will be impure until evening.
15:16. intercourse seed will come out from him. This refers to a spontaneous flow of semen, as in a nocturnal emission.
17And any clothing and any leather on which there will be intercourse seed: it shall be washed with water and will be impure until evening.
18And a woman with whom a man will lie—an intercourse of seed—they shall wash with water and will be impure until evening.
19“And when a woman will have an emission—her emission will be blood in her flesh—she shall be in her impurity seven days. And anyone who touches her will be impure until evening.
20And anything on which she will lie during her impurity will be impure, and anything on which she will sit will be impure.
21And anyone who touches her bed shall wash his clothes and shall wash in water and will be impure until evening.
22And anyone who touches any item on which she will sit shall wash his clothes and shall wash in water and will be impure until evening.
23And if he is on the bed or on the item on which she sits while he is touching it, he will be impure until evening.
15:23. he is on the bed or on the item on which she sits while he is touching it. Most other translators make it: “if he is on the bed or on the item on which she sits, when he touches it he is impure.” That is, they make it that the impurity starts when he touches it. I think that the text is rather saying that even if he was on the bed first, and then she sat down on it, he is still rendered impure. (The Masoretic Text’s placement of the etna,the symbol that marks the end of the phrase, agrees with my reading; that is, it comes after the words “he touches it.”) Now, since he was there first, there is no question but that she has not had direct contact with him and that she has not touched the part of the bed on which he is sitting. But still he is impure—indicating that her contact with the bed or seat makes it impure (1) entirely and (2) instantly. This tells us something about the nature of impurity. It spreads throughout a person or object. And it is not any kind of creatures, like bacteria. It is a pervasive condition.
24And if a man will lie with her, and her impurity will be on him, then he will be impure seven days. And any bed on which he will lie will be impure.
25“And when a woman will have an emission of her blood many days when it is not the time of her impurity, or when she will have an emission beyond her impurity, for all the days of her impure emission she shall be like the days of her impurity. She is impure.
26Any bed on which she will lie all the days of her emission will be like a bed of her impurity for her, and any item on which she will sit will be impure like the impurity of her menstruation.
27And anyone who touches them will be impure. And he shall wash his clothes and shall wash with water and will be impure until evening.
28“And if she has become purified from her emission, then she shall count seven days, and after that she will be pure.
29And on the eighth day she shall take two turtledoves or two pigeons, and she shall bring them to the priest at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting.
15:29. at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. It has been noted that the instruction is the same for a man and for a woman except that a man is said to bring this offering “in front of YHWH,” whereas these words do not occur here in the instruction about a woman. And it has been suggested that women’s “cultic access” is thus not equal to men’s. But the words “in front of YHWH” appear to apply regularly to the place at the entrance of the Tent. Both women and men have access to this place. The absence of the extra phrase here must therefore mean something else. (Or, since the phrase is not used in every reference to the entrance of the Tent, perhaps its absence here means nothing in particular.)
30And the priest shall make one a sin offering and one a burnt offering, and the priest shall make atonement over her in front of YHWH from her impure emission.
31“And you shall alert the children of Israel regarding their impurity so they will not die through their impurity when they defile my Tabernacle that is among them.
32This is the instruction for one who has an emission and for one from whom seed of intercourse will come out, so as to become impure by it,
33and one who is in her menstrual impurity and one who has an emission—for a male and for a female—and for a man who will lie with a woman who is impure.”