Command the children of Israel, that they put out of the camp every leper, and every one that hath an issue, and whosoever is defiled by the dead:

NUMBERS 5:2KJV
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Numbers 5:2 (KJV)

What does Numbers 5:2 mean?

Numbers 5:2 instructs Moses to command the Israelites to send out of their camp anyone who has leprosy, a bodily discharge, or has become ceremonially unclean by contact with a dead body. This rule is about keeping the camp ritually pure as the people travel together.

God is speaking to Moses, telling him to give this command to the "children of Israel" while they are in the wilderness. The focus is on maintaining the holiness of the camp, since God’s presence is believed to dwell among them. These specific conditions—leprosy, bodily discharges, and contact with the dead—were seen as sources of ritual impurity in ancient Israelite society.

The Hebrew behind Numbers 5:2

  • "Command" (צָוָה, tsavah): This word means to give a direct order or instruction. Its use here shows that this was not a suggestion but an authoritative command from God through Moses.
  • "Leper" (צָרַע, tsara‘): This term refers to someone with a skin disease, often translated as "leprosy," but it could include various skin conditions. The emphasis is on visible impurity rather than a specific modern disease.
  • "Defiled" (טָמֵא, tame): This word means ritually unclean. In this context, it refers to someone who has come into contact with a dead body, which was a major source of impurity in Israelite law.
  • "Camp" (מַחֲנֶה, machaneh): This word means the encampment of the Israelites. The command is about protecting the collective space where the people lived and worshiped.

Why Numbers 5:2 matters

  • Numbers 5:2 clarifies that ritual purity was taken very seriously in ancient Israel, especially in communal settings where God’s presence was believed to dwell.
  • The verse helps explain later biblical rules about cleanliness and why certain people were temporarily separated from the community.
  • This command connects to the broader theme in Numbers of order and holiness as the Israelites prepare to enter the Promised Land, showing that physical and spiritual boundaries were closely linked.

Where else these words appear

“leper” Hebrew H6879 · used in 18 verses

  • Exodus 4:6 And the LORD said furthermore unto him, Put now thine hand into thy bosom. And he put his hand into his bosom: and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous as snow.
  • Leviticus 22:4 What man soever of the seed of Aaron is a leper, or hath a running issue; he shall not eat of the holy things, until he be clean. And whoso toucheth any thing that is unclean by the dead, or a man whose seed goeth from him;
  • 2 Kings 7:3 And there were four leprous men at the entering in of the gate: and they said one to another, Why sit we here until we die?

“issue” Hebrew H2100 · used in 41 verses

  • Exodus 3:8 And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites.
  • Leviticus 15:19 And if a woman have an issue, and her issue in her flesh be blood, she shall be put apart seven days: and whosoever toucheth her shall be unclean until the even.
  • Deuteronomy 26:15 Look down from thy holy habitation, from heaven, and bless thy people Israel, and the land which thou hast given us, as thou swarest unto our fathers, a land that floweth with milk and honey.

“defiled” Hebrew H2931 · used in 78 verses

  • Leviticus 5:2 Or if a soul touch any unclean thing, whether it be a carcase of an unclean beast, or a carcase of unclean cattle, or the carcase of unclean creeping things, and if it be hidden from him; he also shall be unclean, and guilty.
  • Leviticus 14:40 Then the priest shall command that they take away the stones in which the plague is, and they shall cast them into an unclean place without the city:
  • Deuteronomy 14:8 And the swine, because it divideth the hoof, yet cheweth not the cud, it is unclean unto you: ye shall not eat of their flesh, nor touch their dead carcase.