Leviticus 15:19-24
Natural cycles bring temporary impurity that must be recognized and managed within the community.
19 “ ‘If a woman has a discharge, and her discharge in her flesh is blood, she shall be in her impurity seven days. Whoever touches her shall be unclean until the evening.
20 “ ‘Everything that she lies on in her impurity shall be unclean. Everything also that she sits on shall be unclean.
21 Whoever touches her bed shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening.
22 Whoever touches anything that she sits on shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening.
23 If it is on the bed, or on anything she sits on, when he touches it, he shall be unclean until the evening.
24 “ ‘If any man lies with her, and her monthly flow is on him, he shall be unclean seven days; and every bed he lies on shall be unclean.
Natural cycles bring temporary impurity that must be recognized and managed within the community.
This passage establishes the regulations for a woman during her normal menstrual cycle, defining the period of impurity and how it extends through contact to others and objects.
This unit follows the instructions concerning male discharges, post-discharge cleansing, and emissions of semen in Leviticus 15:1-18. It begins the female-discharge portion of the chapter and prepares for the more extended abnormal discharge legislation in Leviticus 15:25-30. The movement is from ordinary bodily emission to ordinary menstrual impurity and then to prolonged or abnormal conditions requiring offerings.
Leviticus 15 belongs to Israel's priestly instruction for life around the tabernacle. The chapter regulates bodily discharges that produce temporary ritual impurity and explains how impurity can spread through contact. In Leviticus 15:19-24, menstruation brings a seven-day period of ceremonial uncleanness, and contact with the woman, her bedding, seating, or items touched by those objects also results in temporary uncleanness until evening after washing.
Bodily Discharges, Cleanness, and Guarding the Sanctuary From Uncleanness
The holy LORD orders embodied life, sexual fluids, bleeding, contact, cleansing, and worship access so that His dwelling among Israel is not defiled by uncleanness.