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◄ Numbers 19:16►

New International Version
“Anyone out in the open who touches someone who has been killed with a sword or someone who has died a natural death, or anyone who touches a human bone or a grave, will be unclean for seven days.

New Living Translation
And if someone in an open field touches the corpse of someone who was killed with a sword or who died a natural death, or if someone touches a human bone or a grave, that person will be defiled for seven days.

English Standard Version
Whoever in the open field touches someone who was killed with a sword or who died naturally, or touches a human bone or a grave, shall be unclean seven days.

Berean Standard Bible
Anyone in the open field who touches someone who has been killed by the sword or has died of natural causes, or anyone who touches a human bone or a grave, will be unclean for seven days.

King James Bible
And whosoever toucheth one that is slain with a sword in the open fields, or a dead body, or a bone of a man, or a grave, shall be unclean seven days.

New King James Version
Whoever in the open field touches one who is slain by a sword or who has died, or a bone of a man, or a grave, shall be unclean seven days.

New American Standard Bible
Also, anyone who in the open field touches one who has been killed with a sword or one who has diednaturally, ortouches a human bone or a grave, will be unclean for seven days.

NASB 1995
Also, anyone who in the open field touches one who has been slain with a sword or who has died naturally, or a human bone or a grave, shall be unclean for seven days.

NASB 1977
‘Also, anyone who in the open field touches one who has been slain with a sword or who has diednaturally, or a human bone or a grave, shall be unclean for seven days.

Legacy Standard Bible
Also, anyone who in the open field touches one who has been slain with a sword or who has diednaturally, or a human bone or a grave, shall be unclean for seven days.

Amplified Bible
Also, anyone in the open field who touches one who has been killed with a sword or who has died [of natural causes], or a human bone or a grave, shall be unclean for seven days.

Christian Standard Bible
Anyone in the open field who touches a person who has been killed by the sword or has died, or who even touches a human bone, or a grave, will be unclean for seven days.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Anyone in the open field who touches a person who has been killed by the sword or has died, or who even touches a human bone, or a grave, will be unclean for seven days.

American Standard Version
And whosoever in the open field toucheth one that is slain with a sword, or a dead body, or a bone of a man, or a grave, shall be unclean seven days.

Contemporary English Version
If you touch the body of someone who died or was killed, or if you touch a human bone or a grave, you will be unclean for seven days.

English Revised Version
And whosoever in the open field toucheth one that is slain with a sword, or a dead body, or a bone of a man, or a grave, shall be unclean seven days.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
"Whoever is outdoors and touches someone who was killed or has died naturally or anyone who touches a human bone or a grave will be unclean for seven days.

Good News Translation
If any touch a person who has been killed or has died a natural death outdoors or if any touch a human bone or a grave, they become unclean for seven days.

International Standard Version
Whoever is out in an open field and touches the body of someone who was killed by a sword, or a dead body, or someone's bones, or a grave, he is to be considered unclean for seven days.

NET Bible
And whoever touches the body of someone killed with a sword in the open fields, or the body of someone who died of natural causes, or a human bone, or a grave, will be unclean seven days.

New Heart English Bible
"Whoever in the open field touches one who is slain with a sword, or a dead body, or a bone of a man, or a grave, shall be unclean seven days.

Webster's Bible Translation
And whoever toucheth one that is slain with a sword in the open fields, or a dead body, or a bone of a man, or a grave, shall be unclean seven days.

Majority Text Translations

Majority Standard Bible
Anyone in the open field who touches someone who has been killed by the sword or has died of natural causes, or anyone who touches a human bone or a grave, will be unclean for seven days.

World English Bible
“Whoever in the open field touches one who is slain with a sword, or a dead body, or a bone of a man, or a grave, shall be unclean seven days.

Literal Translations

Literal Standard Version
And everyone on the face of the field who comes against the pierced of a sword, or against the dead, or against a bone of man, or against a grave, is unclean [for] seven days;

Young's Literal Translation
'And every one who cometh, on the face of the field, against the pierced of a sword, or against the dead, or against a bone of man, or against a grave, is unclean seven days;

Smith's Literal Translation
And every one who shall touch upon the face of the field, upon the wounded of the sword, or upon the dead, or upon the bone of man, or upon a grave, shall be unclean seven days.

Catholic Translations

Douay-Rheims Bible
If any man in the field touch the corpse of a man that was slain, or that died of himself, or his bone, or his grave, he shall be unclean seven days.

Catholic Public Domain Version
If anyone in the field will have touched the corpse of a man, who was killed or who died on his own, or his bone, or his grave, he shall be unclean for seven days.

New American Bible
Moreover, everyone who in the open country touches a person who has been slain by the sword or who has died naturally, or who touches a human bone or a grave, will be unclean for seven days.

New Revised Standard Version
Whoever in the open field touches one who has been killed by a sword, or who has died naturally, or a human bone, or a grave, shall be unclean seven days.

Translations from Aramaic

Lamsa Bible
And whosoever in the open field touches one who is slain with a sword, or a dead body or a bone of a man or a grave shall be unclean seven days.

Peshitta Holy Bible Translated
And everyone who will touch one killed by the sword on the face of the field, or one dead, or the bone of a man, or a tomb, shall be defiled seven days.

OT Translations

JPS Tanakh 1917
And whosoever in the open field toucheth one that is slain with a sword, or one that dieth of himself, or a bone of a man, or a grave, shall be unclean seven days.

Brenton Septuagint Translation
And every one who shall touch a man slain by violence, or a corpse, or human bone, or sepulchre, shall be unclean seven days.

Additional Translations ...

Audio Bible

Context

Purification of the Unclean
…15and any open container without a lid fastened on it is unclean.16Anyone in the open field who touches someone who has been killed by the sword or has died of natural causes,or anyone who touches a human bone or a grave,will be unclean for seven days.17For the purification of the unclean person, take some of the ashes of the burnt sin offering, put them in a jar, and pour fresh water over them.…

Berean Standard Bible ·Download

Cross References

Leviticus 21:1-4
Then the LORD said to Moses, “Speak to Aaron’s sons, the priests, and tell them that a priest is not to defile himself for a dead person among his people, / except for his immediate family—his mother, father, son, daughter, or brother, / or his unmarried sister who is near to him, since she has no husband. ...

Leviticus 11:31-32
These animals are unclean for you among all the crawling creatures. Whoever touches them when they are dead shall be unclean until evening. / When one of them dies and falls on something, that article becomes unclean; any article of wood, clothing, leather, sackcloth, or any implement used for work must be rinsed with water and will remain unclean until evening; then it will be clean.

Leviticus 22:4-6
If a descendant of Aaron has a skin disease or a discharge, he may not eat the sacred offerings until he is clean. Whoever touches anything defiled by a corpse or by a man who has an emission of semen, / or whoever touches a crawling creature or a person that makes him unclean, whatever the uncleanness may be— / the man who touches any of these will remain unclean until evening. He must not eat from the sacred offerings unless he has bathed himself with water.

Haggai 2:13
So Haggai asked, “If one who is defiled by contact with a corpse touches any of these, does it become defiled?” “Yes, it becomes defiled,” the priests answered.

Numbers 5:2
“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.

Numbers 31:19
All of you who have killed a person or touched the dead are to remain outside the camp for seven days. On the third day and the seventh day you are to purify both yourselves and your captives.

Ezekiel 44:25
A priest must not defile himself by going near a dead person. However, for a father, a mother, a son, a daughter, a brother, or an unmarried sister, he may do so,

Leviticus 5:2
Or if a person touches anything unclean—whether the carcass of any unclean wild animal or livestock or crawling creature—even if he is unaware of it, he is unclean and guilty.

Leviticus 7:21
If one touches anything unclean, whether human uncleanness, an unclean animal, or any unclean, detestable thing, and then eats any of the meat of the peace offering that belongs to the LORD, that person must be cut off from his people.”

Deuteronomy 21:22-23
If a man has committed a sin worthy of death, and he is executed, and you hang his body on a tree, / you must not leave the body on the tree overnight, but you must be sure to bury him that day, because anyone who is hung on a tree is under God’s curse. You must not defile the land that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance.

Matthew 23:27
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and every kind of impurity.

Luke 11:44
Woe to you! For you are like unmarked graves, which men walk over without even noticing.”

Acts 10:28
He said to them, “You know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with a foreigner or visit him. But God has shown me that I should not call any man impure or unclean.

Acts 21:26
So the next day Paul took the men and purified himself along with them. Then he entered the temple to give notice of the date when their purification would be complete and the offering would be made for each of them.

Hebrews 9:13-14
For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that their bodies are clean, / how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself unblemished to God, purify our consciences from works of death, so that we may serve the living God!

Treasury of Scripture

And whoever touches one that is slain with a sword in the open fields, or a dead body, or a bone of a man, or a grave, shall be unclean seven days.

toucheth

Numbers 19:11
He that toucheth the dead body of any man shall be unclean seven days.

Numbers 31:19
And do ye abide without the camp seven days: whosoever hath killed any person, and whosoever hath touched any slain, purifyboth yourselves and your captives on the third day, and on the seventh day.

a bone

Ezekiel 39:11-16
And it shall come to pass in that day,that I will give unto Gog a place there of graves in Israel, the valley of the passengers on the east of the sea: and it shall stop thenoses of the passengers: and there shall they bury Gog and all his multitude: and they shall callit The valley of Hamongog…

a grave

Matthew 23:27
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of deadmen's bones, and of all uncleanness.

Luke 11:44
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are as graves which appear not, and the men that walk overthem are not awareof them.

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Numbers 19

1.The water of separation made of the ashes of a red heifer
11.The law for the use of it in purification of the unclean

Study Bible

Book ◦ Chapter

Anyone in the open field
This phrase indicates a setting outside of a controlled or protected environment, such as a city or camp. In ancient Israel, fields were common places for battles and burials, making them sites of potential ritual impurity. The open field represents exposure to elements and situations that could lead to ceremonial defilement.

who touches someone who has been killed by the sword
Touching a corpse, especially one killed violently, was considered a source of impurity. This reflects the biblical principle that death is the ultimate result of sin (Romans 6:23). The sword signifies violence and conflict, often seen in Israel's history, such as battles against the Canaanites or other enemies.

or has died of natural causes
This expands the scope of impurity to include all forms of death, not just violent ones. It underscores the pervasive nature of death's defilement, regardless of how it occurs. This reflects the universality of death as a consequence of the Fall (Genesis 3).

or anyone who touches a human bone
Bones, as remnants of the dead, also convey impurity. Archaeological findings show that bones were often handled during secondary burials, a common practice in ancient cultures. This law would have necessitated careful handling and respect for the dead.

or a grave
Graves were considered unclean because they housed the dead. This is consistent with the Jewish understanding of graves as places of impurity, which is why they were often whitewashed to warn people (Matthew 23:27). The grave symbolizes the finality of death and separation from life.

will be unclean for seven days
The seven-day period of uncleanness reflects a complete cycle, often associated with creation and purification (Genesis 1,Leviticus 12:2). This period allowed for reflection and ritual cleansing, emphasizing the need for purification from death's defilement. The number seven often signifies completeness and divine order in Scripture.

Persons / Places / Events

1.The Israelites
The primary audience of the laws given in Numbers, including the laws of purification.

2.Moses
The leader of the Israelites who received and communicated God's laws to the people.

3.The Open Field
Represents any place outside the camp where one might encounter a dead body, emphasizing the unpredictability of encountering death.

4.The Dead
Refers to those who have died, either by violence (sword) or natural causes, highlighting the pervasive presence of death.

5.Purification Rituals
The context of this verse is part of the broader set of laws concerning ritual purity and the need for cleansing from defilement.

Teaching Points

The Seriousness of Sin and Death
The laws of purification underscore the seriousness with which God views sin and death. They serve as a reminder of the separation that sin causes between humanity and God.

The Necessity of Purification
Just as the Israelites needed physical purification, we need spiritual cleansing. This points us to the necessity of Christ's atoning work for our spiritual purification.

The Holiness of God
These laws reflect God's holiness and the requirement for His people to be set apart. We are called to live lives that reflect God's holiness in our conduct and interactions.

The Community Aspect of Purity
The laws were not just individual but communal, affecting the entire camp. Our actions and spiritual state can impact the broader community of believers.

The Symbolism of Death
Death is a symbol of the ultimate consequence of sin. The need for cleansing from contact with death points to the need for redemption from sin's power and penalty.

Bible Study Questions and Answers

1.What is the meaning of Numbers 19:16?

2.How does Numbers 19:16 emphasize the importance of ritual purity for believers today?

3.What spiritual lessons can we learn from avoiding "a human bone" or "grave"?

4.How does Numbers 19:16 connect to New Testament teachings on holiness?

5.In what ways can we apply the concept of purity in our daily lives?

6.How does understanding Numbers 19:16 enhance our appreciation for Christ's cleansing sacrifice?

7.What is the significance of touching a dead body in Numbers 19:16?

8.How does Numbers 19:16 relate to the concept of ritual purity?

9.Why does Numbers 19:16 emphasize the consequences of touching a grave?

10.What are the top 10 Lessons from Numbers 19?

11.What did Jesus mean by "whitewashed tombs"?

12.Why do ancient cultures have different concepts of the afterlife?

13.In 1 Kings 2:1-9, why does David instruct Solomon to exact vengeance on Joab and Shimei, contradicting previous oaths and seeming to endorse personal revenge?

14.Why does the angel appear to the donkey first rather than Balaam in Numbers 22:23-25, suggesting the animal has greater insight than the prophet?

What Does Numbers 19:16 Mean

Anyone in the open field

Numbers 19:16 begins, “Anyone in the open field….” The Lord addresses situations outside the ordered camp—places where control and ritual boundaries are looser. Out in the open, Israel could not assume ceremonial purity.Leviticus 14:7 describes purification water being sprinkled “in the open field,” underscoring that holiness is not confined to tabernacle space but extends everywhere God’s people walk (see alsoDeuteronomy 21:1).

• God’s holiness reaches beyond structured worship settings.

• Ordinary locations demand reverence because the Lord is present there too (Psalm 24:1).

…who touches someone

Touch is key. Physical contact transmits ceremonial status—clean or unclean (Leviticus 5:2). InMark 5:27-30 Jesus later reverses this flow of impurity by His own holiness, but in Moses’ time, touch still carried defilement.

• Purity was not merely private; it affected community life (Haggai 2:13-14).

• God teaches that sin’s reach is personal and relational.

…who has been killed by the sword or has died of natural causes

Whether death came violently (“killed by the sword,”1 Samuel 31:8) or peaceably (“died,”Genesis 25:8), the fact remains: death is an intruder (Romans 5:12). The verse makes no distinction about blame; every corpse testifies to humanity’s fall.

• The same seven-day rule applies regardless of circumstance—because mortality itself defiles (Numbers 5:2).

• God’s people must remember that only He can conquer death (Isaiah 25:8).

…or anyone who touches a human bone

Even a bone, long separated from flesh, carried defilement (2 Kings 23:16). Dry bones still represented life cut short and served as sober reminders of judgment (Ezekiel 37:1-3).

• Holiness is not a sliding scale; partial remains equal full defilement.

• The detail guards the camp from casual familiarity with death.

…or a grave

Contact with a burial site rendered a person unclean (Matthew 23:27 references “whitewashed tombs”). Graves marked the boundary between life and death; crossing that line ceremonially required cleansing (Genesis 35:20).

• God preserved respect for the dead and protected community worship from corruption (Deuteronomy 26:14).

• The warning anticipates Christ’s resurrection, where a tomb becomes the very place purity and life burst forth (John 20:6-8).

…will be unclean for seven days

Seven days match creation’s completeness (Exodus 20:11). A full week allowed both physical decontamination and spiritual reflection (Leviticus 15:13). On the third and seventh days, the person received the water of purification mixed with the ashes of the red heifer (Numbers 19:12).

• The time span emphasized that cleansing is God-directed, not self-generated.

• It foreshadows the perfect, once-for-all cleansing in Christ, who “suffered outside the gate” to make the people holy (Hebrews 13:12).

summary

Numbers 19:16 teaches that any contact with death—whether in an open field, through a corpse, bone, or grave—renders a person ceremonially unclean for a complete cycle of seven days. The law underscores God’s absolute holiness, the pervasive reach of death’s defilement, and the need for divine cleansing. By taking death seriously, the passage points forward to the One who would conquer death entirely and offer permanent purity to His people.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 16. -One that is slain with asword. This would apply especially, it would seem, to the field of battle; but the law must certainly have been relaxed in the case of soldiers.Or a bone of a man, or a grave. Thus the defilement was extended to the mouldering remains of humanity, and even to the tombs (μνήματα. Cf.Luke 11:44) which held them.

Parallel Commentaries ...

Hebrew

Anyone
וְכֹ֨ל(wə·ḵōl)
Conjunctive waw | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 3605:The whole, all, any, every

in
עַל־(‘al-)
Preposition
Strong's 5921:Above, over, upon, against

the open field
פְּנֵ֣י(pə·nê)
Noun - common plural construct
Strong's 6440:The face

who
אֲשֶׁר־(’ă·šer-)
Pronoun - relative
Strong's 834:Who, which, what, that, when, where, how, because, in order that

touches
יִגַּ֜ע(yig·ga‘)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 5060:To touch, lay the hand upon, to reach, violently, to strike

someone who has been killed
בַּֽחֲלַל־(ba·ḥă·lal-)
Preposition-b | Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 2491:Pierced, polluted

by the sword
חֶ֙רֶב֙(ḥe·reḇ)
Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 2719:Drought, a cutting instrument, as a, knife, sword

or
א֣וֹ(’ōw)
Conjunction
Strong's 176:Desire, if

has died of natural causes,
בְמֵ֔ת(ḇə·mêṯ)
Preposition-b | Verb - Qal - Participle - masculine singular
Strong's 4191:To die, to kill

or
אֽוֹ־(’ōw-)
Conjunction
Strong's 176:Desire, if

anyone who touches a human
אָדָ֖ם(’ā·ḏām)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 120:Ruddy, a human being

bone
בְעֶ֥צֶם(ḇə·‘e·ṣem)
Preposition-b | Noun - feminine singular construct
Strong's 6106:A bone, the body, the substance, selfsame

or
א֣וֹ(’ōw)
Conjunction
Strong's 176:Desire, if

a grave,
בְקָ֑בֶר(ḇə·qā·ḇer)
Preposition-b | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 6913:A grave, sepulcher

will be unclean
יִטְמָ֖א(yiṭ·mā)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 2930:To be or become unclean

for seven
שִׁבְעַ֥ת(šiḇ·‘aṯ)
Number - masculine singular construct
Strong's 7651:Seven, seven times, a week, an indefinite number

days.
יָמִֽים׃(yā·mîm)
Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 3117:A day

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OT Law: Numbers 19:16 Whoever in the open field touches one (Nu Num.)