tahor · clean, pure

What it means

tahor (טָהוֹר) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “clean, pure”.

Pure, clean. In the laws, fit for worship or for eating; it does not refer to hygiene.

How to say it

Approximate pronunciation. Vowels sound as in Spanish (a as in father, e as in bed, i as in machine, o as in note, u as in rule); the syllable in bold is stressed. The voice is your device's.

Its senses in the Bible

1. Fit under the law for worship, without stain.
2. Without a mixture of anything else, like gold with no alloy.
3. Pure in heart.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

Clean: fit for worship, for eating or for staying in the camp according to the law; also unmixed, like pure gold, or pure in a moral sense. BDB: pure, clean, physically, chemically, ceremonially or morally. It is the adjective of טָהֵר, “be clean” (H2891), and the opposite of טָמֵא, “unclean” (H2931).

• Clean and unclean animals Genesis 7:2Leviticus 11:47
• “To separate… the unclean from the clean” Leviticus 10:10
• Pure gold Exodus 25:11
• “A clean heart”; “pure sayings” Psalms 51:10Psalms 12:6

Historical and cultural background

Before the written law, the flood account already distinguishes clean and unclean animals: “Of every clean animal you shall take for yourself seven and seven” (Genesis 7:2).

How we translate it

“Clean” 52 times, “pure” 40, “purity” 1. This edition's glossary sets טָהוֹר / טָמֵא = “clean / unclean”, the pair of the laws, which speak of fitness for worship and not of hygiene. “Pure” where it is unmixed metal or oil (“pure gold”, Exodus 25:11) and in the “pure sayings” of YHWH (Psalm 12:6).

How it is translated

The words this translation uses for it, most frequent first.

• clean ×52
• pure ×40
• purity ×1

Where it appears

• Genesis×6
• Exodus×28
• Leviticus×21
• Numbers×8
• Deuteronomy×6
• 1 Samuel×2
• 1 Chronicles×1
• 2 Chronicles×4
• Ezra×1
• Job×2
• Psalms×3
• Proverbs×3
• Ecclesiastes×1
• Isaiah×1
• Ezekiel×3
• Zechariah×2
• Malachi×1

• Genesis 7:2

  Of every clean animal you shall take for yourself seven and seven, the male and its female; and of the animals that are not clean, they are two, the male and its female;

• Genesis 7:8

  Of the clean animals and of the animals that are not clean, and of the birds, and of everything that creeps on the ground,

• Genesis 8:20

  And Noah built an altar to YHWH, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.

• Exodus 25:11

  You shall overlay it with pure gold; inside and outside you shall overlay it, and you shall make on it a molding of gold all around.

• Exodus 25:17

  You shall make a cover of expiation of pure gold: two cubits and a half its length and a cubit and a half its width.

• Exodus 25:24

  You shall overlay it with pure gold and make for it a molding of gold all around.

• Exodus 25:29

  You shall make its plates, its spoons, its jars, and its bowls, with which drink offerings are poured; of pure gold you shall make them.

• Exodus 25:31

  You shall make a lampstand of pure gold; of hammered work the lampstand shall be made: its base and its shaft, its cups, its knobs, and its flowers shall be of one piece with it.

• Exodus 25:36

  Their knobs and their branches shall be of one piece with it, all of it one hammered work of pure gold.

• Exodus 25:38

  Its snuffers and its trays shall be of pure gold.

• Exodus 25:39

  Of a talent of pure gold it shall be made, it, with all these utensils.

• Exodus 28:14

  and two chains of pure gold; twisted you shall make them, of corded work, and you shall fasten the corded chains to the settings.

• Exodus 28:22

  You shall make on the breastpiece twisted chains, of corded work, of pure gold.

• Exodus 28:36

  You shall make a plate of pure gold and engrave on it, with engravings of a signet, ‘Holiness to YHWH.’

• Exodus 30:3

  You shall overlay it with pure gold, its top and its sides all around and its horns, and you shall make for it a molding of gold all around.

• Exodus 30:35

  You shall make of it incense, a blend, the work of a perfumer, salted, pure, holy.

• Exodus 31:8

  and the table and its utensils, and the pure lampstand and all its utensils, and the altar of incense,

• Exodus 37:2

  And he overlaid it with pure gold inside and outside, and made for it a molding of gold all around.

• Exodus 37:6

  And he made a cover of expiation of pure gold; two cubits and a half was its length, and a cubit and a half its width.

• Exodus 37:11

  And he overlaid it with pure gold, and made for it a molding of gold all around.

• Exodus 37:16

  And he made the utensils that were on the table, its plates and its spoons and its bowls and the jars with which libations are poured, of pure gold.

• Exodus 37:17

  And he made the lampstand of pure gold; of hammered work he made the lampstand, its base and its shaft; its cups, its knobs, and its flowers were of one piece with it.

• Exodus 37:22

  Their knobs and their branches were of one piece with it; all of it was one hammered work of pure gold.

• Exodus 37:23

  And he made its seven lamps and its snuffers and its trays of pure gold.

• Exodus 37:24

  Of a talent of pure gold he made it and all its utensils.

• Exodus 37:26

  And he overlaid it with pure gold, its top and its sides all around, and its horns; and he made for it a molding of gold all around.

• Exodus 37:29

  And he made the holy anointing oil, and the pure fragrant incense, the work of a perfumer.

• Exodus 39:15

  And they made on the breastpiece chains, twisted, a work of cord, of pure gold.

• Exodus 39:25

  And they made bells of pure gold and put the bells between the pomegranates on the hem of the robe all around, between the pomegranates:

• Exodus 39:30

  And they made the plate of the holy diadem of pure gold, and wrote on it an inscription with the engravings of a seal: “Holiness to YHWH.”

• Exodus 39:37

  the pure lampstand, its lamps, the lamps set in order, and all its utensils, and the oil for the light;

• Leviticus 4:12

  all the bull, he shall bring out to outside the camp, to a clean place, to the ash heap, and burn it on wood with fire; on the ash heap it shall be burned.

• Leviticus 6:11

  Then he shall take off his garments and put on other garments, and bring out the ashes to outside the camp, to a clean place.

• Leviticus 7:19

  The flesh that touches anything unclean shall not be eaten; it shall be burned with fire. As for the other flesh, everyone who is clean may eat flesh.

• Leviticus 10:10

  and to separate the holy from the common, and the unclean from the clean,

• Leviticus 10:14

  The breast of the wave offering and the thigh of the contribution you shall eat in a clean place, you and your sons and your daughters with you; for they have been given as your portion and the portion of your sons from the sacrifices of peace of the sons of Israel.

• Leviticus 11:36

  But a spring or a cistern holding a collection of water shall be clean, but whoever touches their carcasses will be unclean.

• Leviticus 11:37

  And if any of their carcasses falls on any seed for sowing that is to be sown, it is clean.

• Leviticus 11:47

  to separate the unclean from the clean, and the animal that may be eaten from the animal that may not be eaten.

• Leviticus 13:13

  the priest shall examine him, and if the leprosy has covered all his body, he shall declare clean the one with the sore; it has all turned white; he is clean.

And 53 more times.