The Fallible Study Bible

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Numbers5:1–4

Cleansing the Camps

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Numbers 5:1–4 — Cleansing the Camps. Each verse below carries the full apparatus: the Berean Standard Bible, the vocalized original (tap any word), and a parsed breakdown of every term transcribed from the interlinear. Synthesized commentary, canonical threads, and the reading of Christ gather at the end, over the whole unit.

1

Then the LORD said to Moses,

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

Yah·weh way·ḏab·bêr ’el- mō·šeh lê·mōr

Word by word5 · parsed
יְהוָ֖הYah·wehThen the LORDH3068
√ Yᵉhôvâh — Jehovah, Jewish national name of GodNounpropermasculine singular
YHWH (H3068), the covenant name first revealed at the bush (Exodus 3:14–15). Hebrew word order places God's name forward in the clause's weight: the speaker, not the speech, is the subject.
וַיְדַבֵּ֥רway·ḏab·bêrsaidH1696
√ dâbar — perhaps properly, to arrangeConjunctive wawVerbPielConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular
way·ḏab·bêr — the Piel of dâbar carries an intensive, ordered force. This is the standard formula that introduces priestly legislation in the Pentateuch; it signals that what follows is statute, not narrative aside.
אֶל־’el-toH413
√ ʼêl — near, with or amongPreposition
מֹשֶׁ֥הmō·šehMosesH4872
√ Môsheh — Mosheh, the Israelite lawgiverNounpropermasculine singular
Moses (H4872) as sole mediator. The command passes through one man to the whole nation — the structure of the Sinai covenant, where the people hear God's law at second hand (Exodus 20:19). The unit's frame names him twice: God speaks to Moses (v.1), and Israel obeys as the LORD spoke to Moses (v.4), binding the whole obedience to the mediator's word.
לֵּאמֹֽר׃lê·mōr. . .H559
√ ʼâmar — to say (used with great latitude)Preposition-lVerbQalInfinitive construct
lê·mōr — literally "to say," the infinitive that conventionally introduces the content of divine speech. Function word, but it marks the boundary between narration and the very words of God.
2

“Command the Israelites to send away from the camp anyone with a skin disease, anyone who has a bodily discharge, and anyone who is defiled by a dead body.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

ṣaw ’eṯ- bə·nê yiś·rā·’êl wî·šal·lə·ḥū min- ham·ma·ḥă·neh kāl- ṣā·rū·a‘ wə·ḵāl zāḇ wə·ḵōl ṭā·mê lā·nā·p̄eš

Word by word14 · parsed
צַ֚וṣawCommandH6680
√ tsâvâh — (intensively) to constitute, enjoinVerbPielImperativemasculine singular
ṣaw (H6680) — Piel imperative of tsâvâh, "to enjoin, constitute." The terse single word opens the statute. Moses is not requested but commanded to command.
אֶת־’eṯ-H853
√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker
בְּנֵ֣יbə·nêthe IsraelitesH1121
√ bên — a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etcNounmasculine plural construct
"Sons of Israel" (bənê yiśrāʾēl) — the covenant nation addressed as a single corporate body, the same body that must now expel its own members for the sake of holiness.
יִשְׂרָאֵ֔לyiś·rā·’êl. . .H3478
√ Yisrâʼêl — Jisrael, a symbolical name of JacobNounpropermasculine singular
וִֽישַׁלְּחוּ֙wî·šal·lə·ḥūto send awayH7971
√ shâlach — to send away, for, or out (in a great variety of applications)Conjunctive wawVerbPielConjunctive imperfectthird person masculine plural
מִן־min-fromH4480
√ min — properly, a part ofPreposition
הַֽמַּחֲנֶ֔הham·ma·ḥă·nehthe campH4264
√ machăneh — an encampment (of travellers or troops)ArticleNouncommon singular
כָּל־kāl-anyoneH3605
√ kôl — properly, the wholeNounmasculine singular construct
צָר֖וּעַṣā·rū·a‘with a skin diseaseH6879
√ tsâraʻ — to scourge, iVerbQalQalPassParticiplemasculine singular
ṣā·rū·a‘ (H6879) — the tsaraʻat sufferer. Not modern leprosy (Hansen's disease) but a range of ceremonially defiling skin afflictions defined in Leviticus 13–14. The passive participle frames it as a stroke received, which is why later commentators read it as divine discipline (cf. Miriam, Numbers 12).
וְכָל־wə·ḵālanyoneH3605
√ kôl — properly, the wholeConjunctive wawNounmasculine singular construct
זָ֑בzāḇwho has a bodily dischargeH2100
√ zûwb — to flow freely (as water), iVerbQalParticiplemasculine singular
zāḇ (H2100) — "one flowing," the discharges of Leviticus 15, male or female. A rare lexeme (41 verses), which is what makes its co-occurrence with tsâraʻ in Leviticus 22:4 a near-verbal link.
וְכֹ֖לwə·ḵōland anyoneH3605
√ kôl — properly, the wholeConjunctive wawNounmasculine singular
טָמֵ֥אṭā·mêwho is defiledH2931
√ ṭâmêʼ — foul in a religious senseAdjectivemasculine singular
ṭā·mê (H2931) — the adjective "unclean, foul in a religious sense," the governing category-word of the whole Levitical purity system, set in binary opposition to qādôš (holy). Three distinct sources of defilement — disease, discharge, and death — are gathered under one command; the verse does not rank them by guilt but by their shared incompatibility with the holy. Its cognate verb ṭâmêʼ (H2930) returns in v.3 as the danger the camp must avoid.
לָנָֽפֶשׁ׃lā·nā·p̄ešby a dead bodyH5315
√ nephesh — properly, a breathing creature, iPreposition-lNounfeminine singular
lā·nā·p̄eš (H5315) — "by a nephesh." That a corpse is called a "soul" is a haunting Hebrew usage: the dead body is named for the life it once held. Contact with death is the deepest ceremonial pollution (Numbers 19).
3

You must send away male and female alike; send them outside the camp so they will not defile their camp, where I dwell among them.”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

tə·šal·lê·ḥū ’el- miz·zā·ḵār ‘aḏ- nə·qê·ḇāh tə·šal·lə·ḥūm mi·ḥūṣ lam·ma·ḥă·neh wə·lō yə·ṭam·mə·’ū ’eṯ- ma·ḥă·nê·hem ’ă·šer ’ă·nî šō·ḵên bə·ṯō·w·ḵām

Word by word16 · parsed
תְּשַׁלֵּ֔חוּtə·šal·lê·ḥūYou must send awayH7971
√ shâlach — to send away, for, or out (in a great variety of applications)VerbPielImperfectsecond person masculine plural
אֶל־’el-. . .H413
√ ʼêl — near, with or amongPreposition
מִזָּכָ֤רmiz·zā·ḵārmaleH2145
√ zâkâr — properly, remembered, iPreposition-mNounmasculine singular
zā·ḵār (H2145, "male") — root sense "remembered." Paired with nəqêbāh it forms the standard biblical merism for the sexes (Genesis 1:27; 5:2), here marking that no rank or sex is exempt from the holiness requirement.
עַד־‘aḏ-andH5704
√ ʻad — as far (or long, or much) as, whether of space (even unto) or time (during, while, until) or degree (equally with)Preposition
נְקֵבָה֙nə·qê·ḇāhfemale alikeH5347
√ nᵉqêbâh — female (from the sexual form)Nounfeminine singular
nə·qê·ḇāh (H5347, "female"). The law's even-handedness is striking: holiness binds the whole community without distinction of sex.
תְּשַׁלְּח֑וּםtə·šal·lə·ḥūmsend themH7971
√ shâlach — to send away, for, or out (in a great variety of applications)VerbPielImperfectsecond person masculine pluralthird person masculine plural
מִח֥וּץmi·ḥūṣoutsideH2351
√ chûwts — properly, separate by awall, iPreposition-mNounmasculine singular construct
לַֽמַּחֲנֶ֖הlam·ma·ḥă·nehthe campH4264
√ machăneh — an encampment (of travellers or troops)Preposition-l, ArticleNouncommon singular
וְלֹ֤אwə·lōso they will notH3808
√ lôʼ — not (the simple or absConjunctive wawAdverbNegative particle
יְטַמְּאוּ֙yə·ṭam·mə·’ūdefileH2930
√ ṭâmêʼ — to be foul, especially in a ceremial or moral sense (contaminated)VerbPielImperfectthird person masculine plural
yə·ṭam·mə·’ū (H2930) — Piel imperfect, "defile." The fear is not infection of bodies but defilement of the camp as sacred space; uncleanness is contagious to the dwelling-place of God.
אֶת־’eṯ-H853
√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker
מַ֣חֲנֵיהֶ֔םma·ḥă·nê·hemtheir campH4264
√ machăneh — an encampment (of travellers or troops)Nouncommon plural constructthird person masculine plural
אֲשֶׁ֥ר’ă·šerwhereH834
√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative
אֲנִ֖י’ă·nîIH589
√ ʼănîy — IPronounfirst person common singular
’ă·nî (H589) — the emphatic independent pronoun "I." God stakes the command on His own presence: the reason is not hygiene but theology.
שֹׁכֵ֥ןšō·ḵêndwellH7931
√ shâkan — to reside or permanently stay (literally or figuratively)VerbQalParticiplemasculine singular
šō·ḵên (H7931) — participle of šākan, "to settle, abide." From this root comes the later Jewish term Shekinah for the dwelling glory. God's tenting among Israel (Exodus 25:8) is the engine of the whole purity system. This is the theological pivot of the unit.
בְּתוֹכָֽם׃bə·ṯō·w·ḵāmamong themH8432
√ tâvek — a bisection, iPreposition-bNounmasculine singular constructthird person masculine plural
bə·ṯō·w·ḵām (H8432) — "in their midst." The tabernacle stood at the literal center of the four camps; the geography preaches the doctrine.
4

So the Israelites did this, sending such people outside the camp. They did just as the LORD had instructed Moses.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

bə·nê yiś·rā·’êl way·ya·‘ă·śū- ḵên way·šal·lə·ḥū ’ō·w·ṯām ’el- mi·ḥūṣ lam·ma·ḥă·neh bə·nê yiś·rā·’êl ‘ā·śū ka·’ă·šer Yah·weh ’el- dib·ber mō·šeh kên

Word by word18 · parsed
בְּנֵ֣יbə·nêSo the IsraelitesH1121
√ bên — a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etcNounmasculine plural construct
יִשְׂרָאֵ֔לyiś·rā·’êl. . .H3478
√ Yisrâʼêl — Jisrael, a symbolical name of JacobNounpropermasculine singular
וַיַּֽעֲשׂוּ־way·ya·‘ă·śū-didH6213
√ ʻâsâh — to do or make, in the broadest sense and widest applicationConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine plural
way·ya·‘ă·śū (H6213, ‘âsâh, "to do, make") — the consecutive imperfect of narrative action. The execution follows the command without resistance or delay.
כֵן֙ḵênthisH3651
√ kên — properly, set uprightAdverb
וַיְשַׁלְּח֣וּway·šal·lə·ḥūsendingH7971
√ shâlach — to send away, for, or out (in a great variety of applications)Conjunctive wawVerbPielConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine plural
way·šal·lə·ḥū (H7971, šālach) — the same "send away" verb commanded in vv.2–3, now in the narrative past. Command and fulfilment share one root, underscoring exact compliance.
אוֹתָ֔ם’ō·w·ṯām[such people]H853
√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object markerthird person masculine plural
אֶל־’el-vvvH413
√ ʼêl — near, with or amongPreposition
מִח֖וּץmi·ḥūṣoutsideH2351
√ chûwts — properly, separate by awall, iPreposition-mNounmasculine singular construct
לַֽמַּחֲנֶ֑הlam·ma·ḥă·nehthe campH4264
√ machăneh — an encampment (of travellers or troops)Preposition-l, ArticleNouncommon singular
בְּנֵ֥יbə·nê[They]H1121
√ bên — a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etcNounmasculine plural construct
יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃פyiś·rā·’êl. . .H3478
√ Yisrâʼêl — Jisrael, a symbolical name of JacobNounpropermasculine singular
עָשׂ֖וּ‘ā·śūdidH6213
√ ʻâsâh — to do or make, in the broadest sense and widest applicationVerbQalPerfectthird person common plural
‘ā·śū (H6213) — Qal perfect, "they did," closing the inclusio opened by way·ya·‘ă·śū. The repetition is not redundancy but emphasis: Israel obeyed.
כַּאֲשֶׁ֨רka·’ă·šerjust asH834
√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPreposition-kPronounrelative
יְהוָה֙Yah·wehthe LORDH3068
√ Yᵉhôvâh — Jehovah, Jewish national name of GodNounpropermasculine singular
אֶל־’el-. . .H413
√ ʼêl — near, with or amongPreposition
דִּבֶּ֤רdib·berhad instructedH1696
√ dâbar — perhaps properly, to arrangeVerbPielPerfectthird person masculine singular
dib·ber (H1696) — the Piel "spoke" that bookends the unit, matching v.1. The literary frame: divine word, human obedience.
מֹשֶׁ֔הmō·šehMosesH4872
√ Môsheh — Mosheh, the Israelite lawgiverNounpropermasculine singular
כֵּ֥ןkên. . .H3651
√ kên — properly, set uprightAdverb

The verse-by-verse work is done. What follows gathers the whole unit. All three layers below are machine-generated (⚙). Weigh them; they have no authority.

⚙

Grand Commentary — the unit, read whole

synthesis · verify

AI synthesis — woven from the public-domain voices above and the original text; generated and fallible.

i. The word that orders the camp — 5:1–2

The unit opens with the priestly formula way·ḏab·bêr YHWH — "and Yahweh spoke" (v.1) — a Piel of dâbar that, as Joseph Benson notes, comes precisely on cue: "The camps and divisions of priests, Levites, and people being thus settled, now was the time when the law about excluding leprous and unclean persons from the camps was to take place." The command itself is a single curt word, ṣaw ("Command," H6680), the verb of binding decree. Cambridge enumerates its scope exactly: "Three forms of uncleanness are here mentioned… leprosy (Leviticus 13), discharges (Leviticus 15), and contact with the dead (Numbers 19)." Each is a rare and concrete Hebrew term — the scourge-stricken ṣā·rūa‘, the flowing zāḇ, the one ṭāmê lā·nāp̄eš, "unclean by a soul." Jamieson, Fausset & Brown read a double design: "The exclusion of leprous persons… was a sanitary measure taken according to prescribed rules," yet "typically designed to teach them the practice of moral purity."

ii. Because I dwell in their midst — 5:3

The law's whole logic surfaces in v.3's closing clause: ’ă·nî šō·ḵên bə·ṯō·w·ḵām — emphatic "I" plus the participle of šākan, the root behind Shekinah, "in their very midst." Uncleanness is intolerable not because it sickens bodies but because it affronts a Presence. Matthew Poole presses the point: pollution permitted is "the greater injury and provocation to me, as being done in my sight, and reflecting dishonour upon my name." The Pulpit Commentary draws the ethic outward — these removals were "things due to God himself, and part of the awful reverence to be paid to his presence in the midst of Israel." Benson adds the moral edge: the law intimates "the danger of being made guilty by other men's sins." The camp's holiness is centripetal, organized around the tent at its center.

iii. So did the sons of Israel — 5:4

Verse 4 closes the frame with an inclusio of obedience: way·ya·‘ă·śū-ḵên at the head, ‘ā·śū … kên at the foot — "they did so… so they did" — and the verb dib·ber ("spoke") echoing v.1's opening word. John Gill states the upshot plainly: "as the Lord spake unto Moses, so did the children of Israel; they were obedient in this particular." Keil & Delitzsch stress the immediacy — the command "was carried out at once by the nation" — and its long afterlife, "even in Canaan… lepers at any rate were placed in special pest-houses outside the cities." The Pulpit Commentary reckons the cost: the separation "must have seriously aggravated both the labour and the difficulty of the march. Here was a trial of their faith." Word issues; word is obeyed.

Read under Sola Scriptura — this tool’s own fallible reading (⚙)

Read under Sola Scriptura, the unit is governed by one clause: where I dwell among them (v.3). The defilements named are not equally sinful — discharge and corpse-contact are involuntary, even pious (one defiles oneself by burying the dead) — yet all three exile a person from the camp. The point, then, is not moral guilt but incompatibility with holy Presence: that which death has touched cannot stand at the center where the Living God tents. This is why the same Scripture that expels the unclean also makes a way for their return (Leviticus 14; Numbers 19) — the law is centripetal, always aiming the cleansed back toward the middle. The fallible reading I offer for testing: the exile of the unclean is not God's rejection of the afflicted but His refusal to let death cohabit with life; and the gospel's reversal — a Clean One who goes outside the camp to the unclean (cf. the figural readings below) — is already latent in the geography of these four verses.

Not because they are wicked, but because death cannot share a tent with the Living God.

⚙

Canonical Threads — out to the whole of Scripture

cross-refs · verify

AI-generated connections. Each carries a verification badge with a recorded basis; contested links are flagged.

The near-verbal twin in Leviticus 22:4 verbal / quotation — confirmed

Leviticus 22:4 gathers the very same triad — the scab-stricken (tsâraʻ), the one with a flux (zûwb), and one unclean by a nephesh — barring such a priest from holy food. The Verifier records two rare shared lexemes (tsâraʻ, 18 vv; zûwb, 41 vv), plus ṭâmêʼ and nephesh, which is why this rises to a verbal link rather than mere theme: the same legal vocabulary is deployed for the same purpose in two adjacent statutes.

Leviticus 22:4

basis: shared rare lexemes H6879 tsâraʻ (18 vv) and H2100 zûwb (41 vv), with H2931 ṭâmêʼ (78 vv) and H5315 nephesh (683 vv)

The leper put outside the camp (Leviticus 13) structural / thematic — confirmed

The standing command behind Numbers 5:2 is Leviticus 13:46: the tsaraʻat sufferer "shall dwell alone; outside the camp shall his dwelling be." Numbers 5:3 shares with that legislation the cluster ṭâmêʼ + chûwts ("outside") + machăneh ("camp"). No quotation is claimed; the link is the shared legal pattern of exclusion-to-the-outside.

Leviticus 13:46 · Leviticus 14:3

basis: shared lexemes H2930/H2931 ṭâmêʼ, H2351 chûwts (158 vv), H4264 machăneh (189 vv)

Holiness keyed to indwelling (Leviticus 15:31) structural / thematic — confirmed

Leviticus 15:31 supplies the explicit rationale Numbers 5:3 reuses: keep Israel from uncleanness "that they die not in their uncleanness, when they defile my tabernacle that is among them." Both texts join the defile-verb ṭâmêʼ to the language of God's dwelling in the midst (tâvek). The motif, not a citation, is the recorded basis.

Leviticus 15:31 · Leviticus 15:33

basis: shared lexemes H2930 ṭâmêʼ (142 vv) and H8432 tâvek (390 vv); H3808 lôʼ is a high-frequency stop-like function word, not load-bearing

Miriam shut outside seven days structural / thematic — confirmed

Numbers 12:14–15, in the same book, narrates the law of Numbers 5 enacted on a named individual: Miriam, struck with tsaraʻat, is "shut out from the camp" (machăneh) seven days, and the people do not march until she returns. The thematic tie is the shared machăneh and the leprosy motif; the historical illustration shows the statute was no dead letter, even for the prophet's sister. Gill notes the same instance: "by this law, Miriam, when leprous, was put out of the camp."

Numbers 12:14 · Numbers 12:15

basis: shared lexeme H4264 machăneh (189 vv) plus the common tsaraʻat motif; a narrative instance, not a verbal quotation

The same rationale spread over the whole land (Numbers 35:34) structural / thematic — confirmed

Numbers 35:34 takes v.3's reason and stretches it from the camp to the land of Canaan: "Defile not therefore the land which ye shall inhabit, wherein I dwell: for I the LORD dwell among the children of Israel." The Verifier records an unusually full overlap of the very words that carry v.3's logic — the dwelling-verb shâkan (H7931, 124 vv, the root behind Shekinah), the defile-verb ṭâmêʼ, the emphatic ’ănî ("I"), and tâvek ("midst"). Because none of these is rare in isolation, this is tiered structural rather than verbal; but the clustering of the same theological vocabulary makes it the closest paraphrase of v.3 in the Pentateuch — the principle scaled up from tent to territory, exactly as Cambridge observes.

Numbers 35:34

basis: shared lexemes H7931 shâkan (124 vv), H2930 ṭâmêʼ (142 vv), H8432 tâvek (390 vv), H589 ʼănîy (803 vv); same rationale, no rare lexeme, so not verbal

David's curse echoes the triad (2 Samuel 3:29) structural / thematic — confirmed

When David curses Joab's house for Abner's murder, he invokes the afflictions of Numbers 5: "let there not fail from the house of Joab one that hath an issue (zûwb), or that is a leper (tsâraʻ)." The Verifier finds the same two rare lexemes that anchor the Leviticus 22:4 link — tsâraʻ (18 vv) and zûwb (41 vv) — co-occurring here. The connection is allusive, not legal: David weaponizes the language of camp-exclusion as a curse, presuming his hearers know that to bear these conditions is to live forever outside. A narrative echo, recorded here because the shared vocabulary is genuinely uncommon.

2 Samuel 3:29

basis: shared rare lexemes H6879 tsâraʻ (18 vv) and H2100 zûwb (41 vv); an allusive curse, not a quotation of the statute — tiered thematic, not verbal, because no legal citation is claimed

⚙Christ in the Unittypology · verify

AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.

He suffered outside the camp ancient/widely-held

Hebrews 13:11–13 reads Israel's geography figurally: as the sin-offering's body was burned "outside the camp," so "Jesus also suffered outside the gate" — and believers are summoned to "go forth therefore unto him outside the camp, bearing his reproach." The very place of exile for the unclean in Numbers 5:3 becomes, in the apostolic reading, the place of the holy sacrifice — the geography is inverted, for the Holy One goes to where the unclean were sent. The same outside-the-camp space that v.3 reserves for what cannot share the LORD's tent is, in Hebrews, where atonement is made and reproach is borne. Note honestly: this is a cross-Testament link — Greek Hebrews shares no Strong's lexeme with Hebrew Numbers, so the connection is structural/typological, argued from the shared spatial logic of "outside the camp," not asserted by verbal overlap.

Hebrews 13:11 · Hebrews 13:12 · Hebrews 13:13

The Clean One who touches the unclean ancient/widely-held

Where the law sends the leper out, the Gospels show Christ reaching in: he "stretched out his hand and touched" the leper (Matthew 8:3; Mark 1:41), and instead of contracting defilement, communicates cleansing — the contagion runs the other way. Numbers 5 establishes the impossibility this scene answers: the unclean cannot approach the holy. The figural reading is widely held in the church; the textual link is cross-Testament and thematic only (no shared original-language lexeme), so it is offered as typology, not quotation.

Matthew 8:3 · Mark 1:41 · Leviticus 13:46

Apparatus & Provenance

The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). Hebrew/Greek text, transliteration, morphology and Strong’s are transcribed from the Berean interlinear (CC0) + Strong’s lexicons (PD); the literal renderings, divergence notes, word notes and all synthesis are this tool’s own work (⚙) — fallible; verify them.

Named voices, quoted verbatim from public-domain works:

  • Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible (1834)
  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, — (1880s)
  • Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory (1871)
  • John Gill, Exposition of the Entire Bible (1746–63)
  • Joseph Benson, Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1810s)
  • Keil & Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1860s)
  • Matthew Poole, Annotations upon the Holy Bible (1685)
  • The Pulpit Commentary, Spence & Exell, eds. (1880s)

Honesty notes for this unit. (1) The verbal badge on Leviticus 22:4 rests on the rarity of tsâraʻ (18 verses) and zûwb (41 verses) co-occurring; were those lexemes common, the link would be downgraded to thematic. The same two rare lexemes recur in 2 Samuel 3:29, but there as an allusive curse rather than a legal parallel, so that thread is tiered thematic, not verbal — a deliberate under-claim, since no citation of the statute is being made. (2) Every New Testament tie (Hebrews 13; Matthew 8; Mark 1; Revelation 21:27, cited by Barnes) is cross-Testament: the Verifier finds no shared Strong's lexeme between the Hebrew of Numbers and the Greek of the NT, and so flags each as "verify source." We have accordingly tiered them structural/typological and argued the connection from shared spatial and theological logic — never as verbal quotation. (3) The translation BSB "skin disease" is a defensible modern rendering of tsaraʻat, which is not Hansen's disease; we have kept the parses as sourced and only noted the semantic gap. (4) H3808 lôʼ surfaced as a "shared" lexeme in the raw Verifier output for the Leviticus 15:31 and Numbers 35:34 pairs, but as a near-ubiquitous negative particle (3,967 verses) it carries no evidential weight and is excluded from both recorded bases. (5) The Numbers 35:34 thread reuses several of v.3's content words (shâkan, ṭâmêʼ, ʼănî, tâvek), but each is common enough on its own that we tier the link structural, not verbal; the strength is in the clustering of the same rationale, not in any single rare word. (6) Rabbinic timing and topography notes (Jarchi/Ben Gersom via Gill on the three camps) are reported as the commentators' tradition, not as settled fact; the text itself names four camps by standard, not three by sanctity.

✦ = human, public-domain source, quoted and named. ⚙ = machine synthesis, to be verified. Flagged cross-references are left visible on purpose — the verifier working in the open. “Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)