Grafted Biblical Concept · Concept

Unclean

טָמֵא · Tamei · H2931

Unclean refers to a ritual condition that may restrict participation in sacred space or activities until purification occurs.

78 Scripture references1 lexical sources32 supporting resources

Primary Study

Grafted Bible Dictionary

Definition

Unclean refers to a ritual condition that may restrict participation in sacred space or activities until purification occurs.
Uncleanness is not automatically equivalent to sin.

Causes

Biblical causes include:
• contact with a corpse
• certain bodily discharges
• childbirth
• certain skin conditions
• consumption or contact with certain animals
See:
• Leviticus 11–15
• Numbers 19

Temporary Nature

Many forms of uncleanness are temporary and involve:
• washing
• waiting
• sacrifice in some cases

Sin and Uncleanness

Some uncleanness is connected with wrongdoing, but many forms are not.
This distinction is essential for reading Leviticus accurately.

New Testament Context

Purity language remains important in the Gospels, Acts, and epistles.
Yeshua's encounters with lepers, bleeding individuals, and the dead should be understood against this background.

Hebrew and Greek Word Study

Hebrew Word Study

טָמֵא

ṭâmêʼ · H2931

Original Word: טָמֵא
Transliteration: ṭâmêʼ
Strong’s: H2931
Pronunciation: taw-may'

Unified Lexical Definition

foul in a religious sense

Lexical Sources

BDBOpen Scriptures Hebrew Bible lexical data / BDB-Strong mapping

foul in a religious sense

View original lexicon entry

{
    "type": "hebrew-lexicon",
    "slug": "h2931",
    "title": "טָמֵא",
    "source": "Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible lexical data / BDB-Strong mapping",
    "strong": "H2931",
    "language": "hebrew",
    "lemma": "טָמֵא",
    "transliteration": "ṭâmêʼ",
    "pronunciation": "taw-may'",
    "part_of_speech": "",
    "meaning": "",
    "description": "",
    "definition": "foul in a religious sense",
    "glosses": [
        "unclean",
        "defiled, [phrase] infamous, polluted(-tion), unclean."
    ],
    "lexical_summary": [],
    "exhaustive_concordance": [],
    "brown_driver_briggs": [],
    "topical_lexicon": [],
    "occurrences": [
        "03.005.002",
        "03.007.019",
        "03.007.021",
        "03.010.010",
        "03.011.004",
        "03.011.005",
        "03.011.006",
        "03.011.007",
        "03.011.008",
        "03.011.026",
        "03.011.027",
        "03.011.028",
        "03.011.029",
        "03.011.031",
        "03.011.035",
        "03.011.038",
        "03.011.047",
        "03.013.011",
        "03.013.015",
        "03.013.036",
        "03.013.044",
        "03.013.045",
        "03.013.046",
        "03.013.051",
        "03.013.055",
        "03.014.040",
        "03.014.041",
        "03.014.044",
        "03.014.045",
        "03.014.057",
        "03.015.002",
        "03.015.025",
        "03.015.026",
        "03.015.033",
        "03.020.025",
        "03.022.004",
        "03.027.011",
        "03.027.027",
        "04.005.002",
        "04.009.006",
        "04.009.007",
        "04.009.010",
        "04.018.015",
        "04.019.013",
        "04.019.015",
        "04.019.017",
        "04.019.019",
        "04.019.020",
        "04.019.022",
        "05.012.015",
        "05.012.022",
        "05.014.007",
        "05.014.008",
        "05.014.010",
        "05.014.019",
        "05.015.022",
        "05.026.014",
        "06.022.019",
        "07.013.004",
        "14.023.019",
        "18.014.004",
        "21.009.002",
        "23.006.005",
        "23.035.008",
        "23.052.001",
        "23.052.011",
        "23.064.005",
        "24.019.013",
        "25.004.015",
        "26.004.013",
        "26.022.005",
        "26.022.010",
        "26.022.026",
        "26.044.023",
        "28.009.003",
        "30.007.017",
        "37.002.013",
        "37.002.014"
    ],
    "references": [],
    "occurrence_count": 88,
    "url": "bible/hebrew/h2931",
    "source_url": "https://github.com/openscriptures/strongs",
    "source_license": "CC BY-SA"
}

Hebrew Bible Usage

88 occurrences

First listed reference: Leviticus 5:2

View All Hebrew Occurrences

Biblical Usage

Concordance and Scripture Usage

78Exact Lemma119Conceptual Relationship

Torah · 57

Prophets / Historical Books · 3

Joshua 22:19Exact Lemma Judges 13:4Exact Lemma 2 Chronicles 23:19Exact Lemma

Writings / Wisdom · 2

Job 14:4Exact Lemma Ecclesiastes 9:2Exact Lemma

Prophets · 16

Isaiah 6:5Exact Lemma Isaiah 35:8Exact Lemma Isaiah 52:1Exact Lemma Isaiah 52:11Exact Lemma Isaiah 64:6Exact Lemma Jeremiah 19:13Exact Lemma Lamentations 4:15Exact Lemma Ezekiel 4:13Exact Lemma Ezekiel 22:5Exact Lemma Ezekiel 22:10Exact Lemma Ezekiel 22:26Exact Lemma Ezekiel 44:23Exact Lemma Hosea 9:3Exact Lemma Amos 7:17Exact Lemma Haggai 2:13Exact Lemma Haggai 2:14Exact Lemma

Clean

Clean in biblical ritual terminology refers to a state of ritual fitness or purity that allows appropriate participation in sacred life.

Purification

Purification is the process by which ritual uncleanness, contamination, or defilement is removed so that a person or object may return to an appropriate state of cleanness.

Kosher

Kosher is a later Jewish term meaning fit or proper, commonly used for food that conforms to Jewish dietary requirements.

Temple

The Temple was the central sanctuary associated with God's covenantal presence and Israel's worship in Jerusalem.

Holiness

Holiness refers fundamentally to being set apart, sacred, or belonging uniquely to God.

The Lie Most Christians Believe about food

Can we eat pork if it’s received with thanksgiving? Thanksgiving is coming up and many people like to eat ham at their Thanksgiving dinner in spite of the fact that the Bible forbids…

The Truth About Pork

What is the purpose of clean and unclean animals, and did the food laws change in the New Testament? Many Christians believe that the food laws in the Bible have been abolished and tha…

Why Christians Get Peter’s Vision Wrong

Was Peter’s vision really about food? Acts 10 is often used as the "smoking gun" to argue that the dietary laws of the Torah have been abolished. Most of us were taught that when Pet…

CLEAN AND UNCLEAN ANIMALS

Nave’s Topical Bible references for CLEAN AND UNCLEAN ANIMALS.

UNCLEAN

Nave’s Topical Bible references for UNCLEAN.

An organized living creature endowed with sensation. The Levitical law divided animals into clean and unclean, although the distinction seems to have existed before the Flood (Gen. 7:2). The clean could be offered in sacrifice and eaten. All animals that had not cloven hoofs and did not chew the cud were unclean. The list of clean and unclean quadrupeds is set forth in the Levitical law (Deut. 14:3-20; Lev. 11).

Ashes

The ashes of a red heifer burned entire (Num. 19:5) when sprinkled on the unclean made them ceremonially clean (Heb. 9:13). To cover the head with ashes was a token of self-abhorrence and humiliation (2 Sam. 13:19; Esther 4:3; Jer. 6:26, etc.). To feed on ashes (Isa. 44:20), means to seek that which will prove to be vain and unsatisfactory, and hence it denotes the unsatisfactory nature of idol-worship. (Comp. Hos. 12:1).

Bat

The Hebrew word (atalleph') so rendered (Lev. 11:19; Deut. 14:18) implies "flying in the dark." The bat is reckoned among the birds in the list of unclean animals. To cast idols to the "moles and to the bats" means to carry them into dark caverns or desolate places to which these animals resort (Isa. 2:20), i.e., to consign them to desolation or ruin.

Bird

Birds are divided in the Mosaic law into two classes, (1) the clean (Lev. 1:14-17; 5:7-10; 14:4-7), which were offered in sacrifice; and (2) the unclean (Lev. 11:13-20). When offered in sacrifice, they were not divided as other victims were (Gen. 15:10). They are mentioned also as an article of food (Deut. 14:11). The art of snaring wild birds is referred to (Ps. 124:7; Prov. 1:17; 7:23; Jer. 5:27). Singing birds are mentioned in Ps. 104:12; Eccl. 12:4. Their timidity is alluded to (Hos. 11:11). The reference in Ps. 84:3 to the swallow and the sparrow may be only a comparison equivalent to, "What her house is to the sparrow, and her nest to the swallow, that thine altars are to my soul."

Carcase

Contact with a, made an Israelite ceremonially unclean, and made whatever he touched also unclean, according to the Mosaic law (Hag. 2:13; comp. Num. 19:16, 22; Lev. 11:39).

Chameleon

A species of lizard which has the faculty of changing the colour of its skin. It is ranked among the unclean animals in Lev. 11:30, where the Hebrew word so translated is coah (R.V., "land crocodile"). In the same verse the Hebrew tanshemeth, rendered in Authorized Version "mole," is in Revised Version "chameleon," which is the correct rendering. This animal is very common in Egypt and in the Holy Land, especially in the Jordan valley.

Clean

The various forms of uncleanness according to the Mosaic law are enumerated in Lev. 11-15; Num. 19. The division of animals into clean and unclean was probably founded on the practice of sacrifice. It existed before the Flood (Gen. 7:2). The regulations regarding such animals are recorded in Lev. 11 and Deut. 14:1-21. The Hebrews were prohibited from using as food certain animal substances, such as (1) blood; (2) the fat covering the intestines, termed the caul; (3) the fat on the intestines, called the mesentery; (4) the fat of the kidneys; and (5) the fat tail of certain sheep (Ex. 29:13, 22; Lev. 3:4-9; 9:19; 17:10; 19:26). The chief design of these regulations seems to have been to establish a system of regimen which would distinguish the Jews from all other nations. Regarding the design and the abolition of these regulations the reader will find all the details in Lev. 20:24-26; Acts 10:9-16; 11:1-10; Heb. 9:9-14.

Cormorant

(Lev. 11:17; Deut. 14:17), Heb. shalak, "plunging," or "darting down," (the Phalacrocorax carbo), ranked among the "unclean" birds; of the same family group as the pelican. It is a "plunging" bird, and is common on the coasts and the island seas of Palestine. Some think the Hebrew word should be rendered "gannet" (Sula bassana, "the solan goose"); others that it is the "tern" or "sea swallow," which also frequents the coasts of Palestine as well as the Sea of Galilee and the Jordan valley during several months of the year. But there is no reason to depart from the ordinary rendering. In Isa. 34:11, Zeph. 2:14 (but in R.V., "pelican") the Hebrew word rendered by this name is ka'ath. It is translated "pelican" (q.v.) in Ps. 102:6. The word literally means the "vomiter," and the pelican is so called from its vomiting the shells and other things which it has voraciously swallowed. (See [127]PELICAN.)

Ferret

Lev. 11:30 (R.V., "gecko"), one of the unclean creeping things. It was perhaps the Lacerta gecko which was intended by the Hebrew word (anakah, a cry, "mourning," the creature which groans) here used, i.e., the "fan-footed" lizard, the gecko which makes a mournful wail. The LXX. translate it by a word meaning "shrew-mouse," of which there are three species in Palestine. The Rabbinical writers regard it as the hedgehog. The translation of the Revised Version is to be preferred.

Glede

An Old English name for the common kite, mentioned only in Deut. 14:13 (Heb. ra'ah), the Milvus ater or black kite. The Hebrew word does not occur in the parallel passage in Leviticus (11:14, da'ah, rendered "vulture;" in R.V., "kite"). It was an unclean bird. The Hebrew name is from a root meaning "to see," "to look," thus designating a bird with a keen sight. The bird intended is probably the buzzard, of which there are three species found in Palestine. (See [243]VULTURE.)

Hawk

(Heb. netz, a word expressive of strong and rapid flight, and hence appropriate to the hawk). It is an unclean bird (Lev. 11:16; Deut. 14:15). It is common in Syria and surrounding countries. The Hebrew word includes various species of Falconidae, with special reference perhaps to the kestrel (Falco tinnunculus), the hobby (Hypotriorchis subbuteo), and the lesser kestrel (Tin, Cenchris). The kestrel remains all the year in Palestine, but some ten or twelve other species are all migrants from the south. Of those summer visitors to Palestine special mention may be made of the Falco sacer and the Falco lanarius. (See [261]NIGHT-HAWK.)

Heron

(Lev. 11:19; Deut. 14:18), ranked among the unclean birds. The Hebrew name is 'anaphah, and indicates that the bird so named is remarkable for its angry disposition. "The herons are wading-birds, peculiarly irritable, remarkable for their voracity, frequenting marshes and oozy rivers, and spread over the regions of the East." The Ardea russeta, or little golden egret, is the commonest species in Asia.

Hoof

A cleft hoof as of neat cattle (Ex. 10:26; Ezek. 32:13); hence also of the horse, though not cloven (Isa. 5:28). The "parting of the hoof" is one of the distinctions between clean and unclean animals (Lev. 11:3; Deut. 14:7).

Kite

An unclean and keen-sighted bird of prey (Lev. 11:14; Deut. 14:13). The Hebrew word used, 'ayet, is rendered "vulture" in Job 28:7 in Authorized Version, "falcon" in Revised Version. It is probably the red kite (Milvus regalis), a bird of piercing sight and of soaring habits found all over Palestine.

Lapwing

The name of an unclean bird, mentioned only in Lev. 11:19 and Deut. 14:18. The Hebrew name of this bird, dukiphath, has been generally regarded as denoting the hoope (Upupa epops), an onomatopoetic word derived from the cry of the bird, which resembles the word "hoop;" a bird not uncommon in Palestine. Others identify it with the English peewit.

Mouse

Heb. akhbar, "swift digger"), properly the dormouse, the field-mouse (1 Sam. 6:4). In Lev. 11:29, Isa. 66:17 this word is used generically, and includes the jerboa (Mus jaculus), rat, hamster (Cricetus), which, though declared to be unclean animals, were eaten by the Arabs, and are still eaten by the Bedouins. It is said that no fewer than twenty-three species of this group (akhbar=Arab. ferah) of animals inhabit Palestine. God "laid waste" the people of Ashdod by the terrible visitation of field-mice, which are like locusts in their destructive effects (1 Sam. 6:4, 11, 18). Herodotus, the Greek historian, accounts for the destruction of the army of Sennacherib (2 Kings 19:35) by saying that in the night thousands of mice invaded the camp and gnawed through the bow-strings, quivers, and shields, and thus left the Assyrians helpless. (See [424]SENNACHERIB.)

Night-hawk

(Heb. tahmas) occurs only in the list of unclean birds (Lev. 11:16; Deut. 14:15). This was supposed to be the night-jar (Caprimulgus), allied to the swifts. The Hebrew word is derived from a root meaning "to scratch or tear the face," and may be best rendered, in accordance with the ancient versions, "an owl" (Strix flammea). The Revised Version renders "night-hawk."

Osprey

Heb. ozniyyah, an unclean bird according to the Mosaic law (Lev. 11:13; Deut. 14:12); the fish-eating eagle (Pandion haliaetus); one of the lesser eagles. But the Hebrew word may be taken to denote the short-toed eagle (Circaetus gallicus of Southern Europe), one of the most abundant of the eagle tribe found in Palestine.

Ossifrage

Heb. peres = to "break" or "crush", the lammer-geier, or bearded vulture, the largest of the whole vulture tribe. It was an unclean bird (Lev. 11:13; Deut. 14:12). It is not a gregarious bird, and is found but rarely in Palestine. "When the other vultures have picked the flesh off any animal, he comes in at the end of the feast, and swallows the bones, or breaks them, and swallows the pieces if he cannot otherwise extract the marrow. The bones he cracks [hence the appropriateness of the name ossifrage, i.e., "bone-breaker"] by letting them fall on a rock from a great height. He does not, however, confine himself to these delicacies, but whenever he has an opportunity will devour lambs, kids, or hares. These he generally obtains by pushing them over cliffs, when he has watched his opportunity; and he has been known to attack men while climbing rocks, and dash them against the bottom. But tortoises and serpents are his ordinary food...No doubt it was a lammer-geier that mistook the bald head of the poet AEschylus for a stone, and dropped on it the tortoise which killed him" (Tristram's Nat. Hist.).

Owl

(1.) Heb. bath-haya'anah, "daughter of greediness" or of "shouting." In the list of unclean birds (Lev. 11:16; Deut. 14:15); also mentioned in Job 30:29; Isa. 13:21; 34:13; 43:20; Jer. 50:39; Micah 1:8. In all these passages the Revised Version translates "ostrich" (q.v.), which is the correct rendering. (2.) Heb. yanshuph, rendered "great owl" in Lev. 11:17; Deut. 14:16, and "owl" in Isa. 34:11. This is supposed to be the Egyptian eagle-owl (Bubo ascalaphus), which takes the place of the eagle-owl (Bubo maximus) found in Southern Europe. It is found frequenting the ruins of Egypt and also of the Holy Land. "Its cry is a loud, prolonged, and very powerful hoot. I know nothing which more vividly brought to my mind the sense of desolation and loneliness than the re-echoing hoot of two or three of these great owls as I stood at midnight among the ruined temples of Baalbek" (Tristram). The LXX. and Vulgate render this word by "ibis", i.e., the Egyptian heron. (3.) Heb. kos, rendered "little owl" in Lev. 11:17; Deut. 14:16, and "owl" in Ps. 102:6. The Arabs call this bird "the mother of ruins." It is by far the most common of all the owls of Palestine. It is the Athene persica, the bird of Minerva, the symbol of ancient Athens. (4.) Heb. kippoz, the "great owl" (Isa. 34:15); Revised Version, "arrow-snake;" LXX. and Vulgate, "hedgehog," reading in the text, kippod, instead of kippoz. There is no reason to doubt the correctness of the rendering of the Authorized Version. Tristram says: "The word [i.e., kippoz] is very possibly an imitation of the cry of the scops owl (Scops giu), which is very common among ruins, caves, and old walls of towns...It is a migrant, returning to Palestine in spring." (5.) Heb. lilith, "screech owl" (Isa. 34:14, marg. and R.V., "night monster"). The Hebrew word is from a root signifying "night." Some species of the owl is obviously intended by this word. It may be the hooting or tawny owl (Syrnium aluco), which is common in Egypt and in many parts of Palestine. This verse in Isaiah is "descriptive of utter and perpetual desolation, of a land that should be full of ruins, and inhabited by the animals that usually make such ruins their abode."

Pelicans

Are frequently met with at the waters of Merom and the Sea of Galilee. The pelican is ranked among unclean birds (Lev. 11:18; Deut. 14:17). It is of an enormous size, being about 6 feet long, with wings stretching out over 12 feet. The Hebrew name (kaath, i.e., "vomiter") of this bird is incorrectly rendered "cormorant" in the Authorized Version of Isa. 34:11 and Zeph. 2:14, but correctly in the Revised Version. It receives its Hebrew name from its habit of storing in its pouch large quantities of fish, which it disgorges when it feeds its young. Two species are found on the Syrian coast, the Pelicanus onocrotalus, or white pelican, and the Pelicanus crispus, or Dalmatian pelican.

Purification

The process by which a person unclean, according to the Levitical law, and thereby cut off from the sanctuary and the festivals, was restored to the enjoyment of all these privileges. The great annual purification of the people was on the Day of Atonement (q.v.). But in the details of daily life there were special causes of cermonial uncleanness which were severally provided for by ceremonial laws enacted for each separate case. For example, the case of the leper (Lev. 13, 14), and of the house defiled by leprosy (14:49-53; see also Matt. 8:2-4). Uncleanness from touching a dead body (Num. 19:11; Hos. 9:4; Hag. 2:13; Matt. 23:27; Luke 11:44). The case of the high priest and of the Nazarite (Lev. 21:1-4, 10, 11; Num. 6:6, 7; Ezek. 44:25). Purification was effected by bathing and washing the clothes (Lev. 14:8, 9); by washing the hands (Deut. 21:6; Matt. 27:24); washing the hands and feet (Ex. 30:18-21; Heb. 6:2, "baptisms", R.V. marg., "washings;" 9:10); sprinkling with blood and water (Ex. 24:5-8; Heb. 9:19), etc. Allusions to this rite are found in Ps. 26:6; 51:7; Ezek. 36:25; Heb. 10:22.

Snail

(1.) Heb. homit, among the unclean creeping things (Lev. 11:30). This was probably the sand-lizard, of which there are many species in the wilderness of Judea and the Sinai peninsula. (2.) Heb. shablul (Ps. 58:8), the snail or slug proper. Tristram explains the allusions of this passage by a reference to the heat and drought by which the moisture of the snail is evaporated. "We find," he says, "in all parts of the Holy Land myriads of snail-shells in fissures still adhering by the calcareous exudation round their orifice to the surface of the rock, but the animal of which is utterly shrivelled and wasted, 'melted away.'"

Swan

Mentioned in the list of unclean birds (Lev. 11:18; Deut. 14:16), is sometimes met with in the Jordan and the Sea of Galilee.

Swine

(Heb. hazir), regarded as the most unclean and the most abhorred of all animals (Lev. 11:7; Isa. 65:4; 66:3, 17; Luke 15:15, 16). A herd of swine were drowned in the Sea of Galilee (Luke 8:32, 33). Spoken of figuratively in Matt. 7:6 (see Prov. 11:22). It is frequently mentioned as a wild animal, and is evidently the wild boar (Arab. khanzir), which is common among the marshes of the Jordan valley (Ps. 80:13).

Tortoise

(Heb. tsabh). Ranked among the unclean animals (Lev. 11:29). Land tortoises are common in Syria. The LXX. renders the word by "land crocodile." The word, however, more probably denotes a lizard, called by the modern Arabs dhabb.

Weasel

(Heb. holedh), enumerated among unclean animals (Lev. 11:29). Some think that this Hebrew word rather denotes the mole (Spalax typhlus) common in Palestine. There is no sufficient reason, however, to depart from the usual translation. The weasel tribe are common also in Palestine.

Definition

Causes

Temporary Nature

Sin and Uncleanness

New Testament Context

Hebrew and Greek Word Study

Unified Lexical Definition

Lexical Sources

Hebrew Bible Usage

Clean

Purification

Kosher

Temple

Holiness

The Lie Most Christians Believe about food

The Truth About Pork

Why Christians Get Peter’s Vision Wrong

CLEAN AND UNCLEAN ANIMALS

UNCLEAN

Animal

Ashes

Bat

Bird

Carcase

Chameleon

Clean

Cormorant

Ferret

Glede

Hawk

Heron

Hoof

Kite

Lapwing

Mouse

Night-hawk

Osprey

Ossifrage

Owl

Pelicans

Purification

Snail

Swan

Swine

Tortoise

Weasel

Save your study