Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
Haggai 2:13 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 13. 13Then 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.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
Presents the second case and the priests' yes: corpse impurity makes what is touched unclean.
Read It With
- Haggai 2:10–14
Read Haggai 2:10–14 together. Presents the second case and the priests' yes: corpse impurity makes what is touched unclean. The date and priestly commission lead through two contrasting rulings to Haggai's compressed application to people, work, and offerings.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Presents the second case and the priests' yes: corpse impurity makes what is touched unclean. The oracle interrupts any simple assumption that building at a holy site automatically sanctifies the builders and their work. It requires priestly instruction and then names a defilement that activity alone has not cured.
Read Haggai 2:10–14 together
Why these verses belong together: The dated commission, both priestly cases, their answers, and Haggai's application constitute one legal-prophetic argument.
Verse 10. 10 In the four and twentieth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the LORD by Haggai the prophet, saying,
Verse 11. 11 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Ask now the priests concerning the law, saying,
Verse 12. 12 If one bear holy flesh in the skirt of his garment, and with his skirt do touch bread, or pottage, or wine, or oil, or any meat, shall it be holy? And the priests answered and said, No.
Verse 13. 13 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.
Verse 14. 14 Then answered Haggai, and said, So is this people, and so is this nation before me, saith the LORD; and so is every work of their hands; and that which they offer there is unclean.
Follow the Context
- The word is dated and Haggai is ordered to ask the priests for a ruling or instruction.
- Holy sacrificial meat carried in a garment does not make food touched by that garment holy.
- A person made unclean by a corpse does make the listed food unclean by contact.
- Haggai applies the asymmetry to 'this people' and 'this nation' before the LORD.
- Their work and what they offer there are included in the declaration of uncleanness.
Phrase-by-Phrase Explanation
“unclean by a dead body”
In plain language: The person bears corpse impurity under Israel's ritual law.
The priests' yes supplies the second, transmissible side of Haggai's contrast.
Why it matters: It clarifies the ritual category without turning it into a statement of human worth.
How certain? very strongWhat This Verse Is Not Saying
Haggai 2:13 does not define ritually unclean people as morally worthless, dangerous outsiders, or less fully human.
What Remains True
Corpse impurity does transmit in the case posed, establishing the contrast Haggai will apply to the community.
How It Can Shape Life
- Learn the text's bounded ritual logic without turning impurity language into stigma toward bodies, illness, death, or vulnerable people.
Teach It Back
Explain Haggai 2:13's contribution to Haggai 2:10–14: Presents the second case and the priests' yes: corpse impurity makes what is touched unclean. Include the surrounding movement, one material uncertainty, and what this verse does not authorize.
Your explanation stays in this browser. It is not sent or saved.
Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Haggai 2:10–14 — Priestly Rulings Expose the Community's DefilementSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
Where care is needed
The corpse-impurity case is clear in outline, though Haggai's later mapping of it to the community remains compressed.
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact reader-facing Scripture wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete coverage for this thought unit.
Exact location: Haggai 2:10–14, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Haggai
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Hebrew clauses, verbal forms, divine titles, repeated words, and the base text behind lexical and translation analysis.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2 (commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00), wlc/Hag.xml, Masoretic words and morphology for 2:10–14
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: Haggai with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: Material date, Hebrew, translation, textual, ritual, historical, and interpretive notes for the unit, tested rather than adopted automatically.
Exact location: NET Bible Haggai PDF, p. 1786, translation and notes on 2:10–14
Open source ↗