Leviticus 15:33

Summary

Leviticus 15:33 closes the chapter by summarizing the categories of ritual impurity discussed: the menstruating woman, the man with a discharge, and the man who has sexual relations with an impure woman. The verse functions as a list, joining nouns and clauses with the conjunction ve ("and", H9002).

Key words

• da.Vah ("menstruating [woman]", H1739) — feminine singular adjective used substantively, "the one who is menstruating."
• ni.da.Tah ("her menstruous impurity", H5079 + H9024) — construct noun with pronominal suffix, literally "in the impurity of her," specifying the state to which da.Vah belongs.
• Zav ("the one discharging", H2100H) — qal participle, masculine singular, denoting an ongoing state or condition rather than a completed action — "the one who is [continually] discharging."
• zo.Vo ("his discharge", H2101 + H9023) — construct noun with suffix, paired with the direct object marker 'et (H0853), marking it as the object governed by the participle Zav.
• yish.Kav ("he will lie", H7901I) — qal imperfect, expressing a general or potential future action ("whoever lies/should lie"), used inside a relative clause introduced by 'a.Sher ("who", H0834A).

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence is not a full independent clause but a list of nominal phrases, each introduced by the conjunction ve ("and", H9002), continuing a summary that began earlier in the chapter (not shown here). The first phrase, ha.Da.vah be.ni.da.Tah ("the menstruating [woman] in her impurity"), pairs the adjective da.Vah (H1739) with the construct noun ni.da.Tah (H5079), which specifies the particular impurity in view — literally "the impurity of her," meaning her own menstrual state.

The second phrase, ha.Zav 'et-zo.Vo ("the one discharging his discharge"), repeats this construct pattern: the participle Zav (H2100H) denotes a person characterized by an ongoing bodily discharge, and the noun zo.Vo (H2101) names that discharge specifically as belonging to him, marked by the object particle 'et (H0853). This phrase is then distributed to both sexes through the parallel prepositional phrases la.Za.khar ("for the male," H2145) and ve.la.ne.ke.Vah ("and for the female," H5347), indicating that the discharge-impurity applies to both.

The final unit shifts from noun phrases to a relative clause: u.le.'Ish 'a.Sher yish.Kav 'im-te.me.'Ah ("and for a man who lies with an unclean [woman]"). Here the imperfect verb yish.Kav (H7901I) expresses a hypothetical or general action, consistent with legal or case-law style, rather than a specific single event.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders da.Vah ("menstruating," H1739) with the participle αἱμορροούσῃ ("one who flows with blood"), emphasizing the physical symptom rather than the ritual-state adjective used in Hebrew. The Vulgate paraphrases ni.da.Tah ("her impurity," H5079) as menstruis temporibus separatur ("who is separated at the times of menstruation"), adding the verb "separatur" not present in the Hebrew construct phrase. For Zav (H2100H), the LXX uses γονορρυὴς ("one with seminal/genital flow"), a more specific medical term than the general Hebrew participle "discharging."