Leviticus 15:31-33, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
Leviticus 15:31-33
The chapter protects the sanctuary and summarizes every discharge
The warning is about defiling the tent among them
Israel is to be separated from uncleanness so that they do not die in their uncleanness when they defile the LORD's tabernacle that is among them. The danger named is sanctuary defilement in a camp where God dwells, not the idea that bodies are threats to ordinary community or to God-given dignity.
Discharges, semen, menstruation, and prolonged bleeding are gathered as reasons to keep holy space from being treated as common while those statuses last. The bodies themselves remain the bodies of the people among whom the tent sits.
The law is summarized for every discharge the chapter named
This is the law of the man who has an issue, of the man whose seed goes from him and defiles him, of her who is sick in her menstrual period, of the man or woman who has an issue, and of the man who lies with a woman who is unclean. Male and female, ordinary and abnormal, solitary emission and intercourse are brought under one instructional heading.
The summary equalizes the teaching task. It does not rank women's blood as more shameful than men's, and it does not turn the sanctuary rationale into a warrant to treat people as walking contaminations in the street.
How this should shape us
Protect holy space without teaching people to fear their own flesh or one another's. The tent is why these clocks exist. Dignity is not suspended while the clocks run.
Teach it back
Explain Leviticus 15:31-33 in your own words. Include its ritual, legal, narrative, or calendar movement; one source-supported detail; one uncertainty; and one use the context rules out.
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Go deeper
The explanation above is meant to stand on its own. Open these notes only if you want language, history, disagreements, or source locations.
Where careful interpreters disagreeThe strongest options and their difficulties
Where do careful interpreters disagree?
Best judgment: Interpreters disagree over the system's symbolic logic, compositional layers, health effects, ancient practice, species and condition identifications, sanctuary-contamination models, and the relation of removable ritual status to wrongdoing. No one model explains every rule without remainder.
How certain? probableResearch trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section
Supports: Exact reader-facing KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage for this thought unit.
Leviticus 15:31-33, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Supports: Hebrew wording, morphology, ritual and legal vocabulary, names, clause relationships, KJV language controls, and translation limits.
Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Lev.xml, Masoretic words and morphology for 15:31-33
Supports: Unit-bounded translator notes on Hebrew, syntax, ritual vocabulary, measures, textual questions, and older-English wording; silence is not treated as evidence.
NET Bible Leviticus PDF, complete PDF pp. 1-99, translation and translator notes for 15:31-33
Supports: Open critical orientation to sacrifice, priestly portions, sacred space, holiness, purity, and sanctuary protection in Leviticus 1-15.
Yale Bible Study, 'Leviticus Part 1,' complete guide sections 'What is Sacred About Sacrifice?', 'Thanksgiving, Pleas, and Devotion,' and 'Purity & Impurity,' applied to Leviticus 15:31-33
Supports: A modern critical comparison of purity models and their compositional implications, used only within the accessible publisher evidence.
Baden, Two Models of Biblical Purity, Oxford University Press 2026, publisher chapter previews and contents for the sanctuary-contamination and ritual-status models
Supports: Jewish scholarly controls for menstruation, prolonged bleeding, status, terminology, and later legal development.
Fonrobert, 'Menstruant as Zavah,' complete sections on Leviticus 15, niddah, zavah, Second Temple and rabbinic development
Supports: Publisher-visible framing of scholarly disagreement about Hebrews and supersessionism, used as a restraint on Christian canonical claims rather than as a complete solution.
Church, 'Hebrews and the Question of Supersessionism,' Oxford 2024 official abstract and metadata, pp. 167-180
Sources for This Section
These records identify the source, the claim it supports, and the exact location used. A source remains evidence to evaluate; it does not replace the biblical text.
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 KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage for this thought unit.
Exact location: Leviticus 15:31-33, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Leviticus
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Hebrew wording, morphology, ritual and legal vocabulary, names, clause relationships, KJV language controls, and translation limits.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Lev.xml, Masoretic words and morphology for 15:31-33
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: Leviticus with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
eBible.org distribution of the NET Bible, PDF generated 2025-12-31
Supports: Unit-bounded translator notes on Hebrew, syntax, ritual vocabulary, measures, textual questions, and older-English wording; silence is not treated as evidence.
Exact location: NET Bible Leviticus PDF, complete PDF pp. 1-99, translation and translator notes for 15:31-33
Open source ↗modern critical open study guide
Leviticus Part 1: Sacrifice, Purity, and Holiness
Joel S. Baden and Yale Bible Study
Yale Divinity School, 2023 course edition
Supports: Open critical orientation to sacrifice, priestly portions, sacred space, holiness, purity, and sanctuary protection in Leviticus 1-15.
Exact location: Yale Bible Study, 'Leviticus Part 1,' complete guide sections 'What is Sacred About Sacrifice?', 'Thanksgiving, Pleas, and Devotion,' and 'Purity & Impurity,' applied to Leviticus 15:31-33
Open source ↗modern scholarly monograph open chapter previews
Two Models of Biblical Purity: The Science of Ritual
Joel S. Baden
Oxford University Press, 2026
Supports: A modern critical comparison of purity models and their compositional implications, used only within the accessible publisher evidence.
Exact location: Baden, Two Models of Biblical Purity, Oxford University Press 2026, publisher chapter previews and contents for the sanctuary-contamination and ritual-status models
Open source ↗modern jewish scholarly open text and rabbinic reception study
Menstruant as Zavah: How the Laws of Niddah Developed
Charlotte Elisheva Fonrobert
TheTorah.com, 2018
Supports: Jewish scholarly controls for menstruation, prolonged bleeding, status, terminology, and later legal development.
Exact location: Fonrobert, 'Menstruant as Zavah,' complete sections on Leviticus 15, niddah, zavah, Second Temple and rabbinic development
Open source ↗modern christian scholarly handbook chapter abstract
Hebrews and the Question of Supersessionism
Philip Church
The Oxford Handbook of Hebrews and the Catholic Epistles, Oxford University Press, 2024
Supports: Publisher-visible framing of scholarly disagreement about Hebrews and supersessionism, used as a restraint on Christian canonical claims rather than as a complete solution.
Exact location: Church, 'Hebrews and the Question of Supersessionism,' Oxford 2024 official abstract and metadata, pp. 167-180
Open source ↗