tuma · uncleanness

What it means

tuma (טֻמְאָה) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “uncleanness”.

The state of someone who cannot come near what is holy until he is cleansed; also, in other passages, moral filthiness.

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. The state of one who cannot approach what is holy until washed and waiting.
2. The moral filth that sin leaves and that God cleans.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

How it is translated

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

• uncleanness ×33
• uncleannesses ×2
• impurity ×1

Related words

Words of the same family, by Strong’s numbering.

Where it appears

• Leviticus×18
• Numbers×2
• Judges×2
• 2 Samuel×1
• 2 Chronicles×1
• Ezra×2
• Lamentations×1
• Ezekiel×8
• Zechariah×1

• Leviticus 5:3

  Or if he touches human uncleanness, any uncleanness of his by which one becomes unclean, and it is hidden from him, when he comes to know it he will be guilty.

• Leviticus 7:20

  But the person who eats flesh from the sacrifice of peace that belongs to YHWH while his uncleanness is on him, that person shall be cut off from his people.

• Leviticus 7:21

  And when a person touches anything unclean, whether human uncleanness or an unclean beast or any unclean detestable thing, and eats of the flesh of the sacrifice of peace that belongs to YHWH, that person shall be cut off from his people.”

• Leviticus 14:19

  The priest shall offer the sin offering and make expiation for the one being purified from his uncleanness; and afterward he shall slaughter the burnt offering.

• Leviticus 15:3

  And this shall be his uncleanness in his discharge: whether his body runs with his discharge or his body is blocked from his discharge, it is his uncleanness.

• Leviticus 15:25

  And when a woman has a discharge of her blood for many days not at the time of her menstruation, or when she has a discharge beyond her menstruation, all the days of the discharge of her uncleanness she shall be as in the days of her menstruation: she is unclean.

• Leviticus 15:26

  Every bed on which she lies all the days of her discharge shall be to her like the bed of her menstruation; and every object on which she sits shall be unclean, like the uncleanness of her menstruation.

• Leviticus 15:30

  And the priest shall offer the one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering; and the priest shall make expiation for her before YHWH for the discharge of her uncleanness.

• Leviticus 15:31

  So you shall keep the sons of Israel separate from their uncleanness, so that they do not die in their uncleanness by making unclean my dwelling that is among them.

• Leviticus 16:16

  So he shall make expiation for the Holy Place because of the uncleanness of the sons of Israel and because of their transgressions, for all their sins; and so he shall do for the tent of meeting, which dwells with them in the midst of their uncleanness.

• Leviticus 16:19

  And he shall sprinkle on it some of the blood with his finger seven times and cleanse it and sanctify it from the uncleanness of the sons of Israel.

• Leviticus 18:19

  And you shall not approach a woman during the menstruation of her uncleanness to uncover her nakedness.

• Leviticus 22:3

  Say to them: Throughout your generations, any man from among all your offspring who approaches the holy things that the sons of Israel consecrate to YHWH while his uncleanness is on him, that person shall be cut off from before me. I am YHWH.

• Leviticus 22:5

  or a man who touches any swarming thing by which he becomes unclean, or a human being by whom he becomes unclean, whatever his uncleanness may be,

• Numbers 5:19

  And the priest shall make her swear and say to the woman, ‘If no man has lain with you, and if you have not gone astray into uncleanness while under the authority of your husband, be free from this water of bitterness that brings a curse.

• Numbers 19:13

  Everyone who touches a dead person, the body of a human being who has died, and does not purify himself, defiles the dwelling of YHWH, and that person shall be cut off from Israel; because the water of impurity was not splashed on him, he shall be unclean; his uncleanness is still on him.

• Judges 13:7

  But he said to me, ‘Look, you will be pregnant and bear a son; so now do not drink wine or intoxicating drink, and do not eat any uncleanness, for the boy shall be a Nazirite of Elohim from the womb until the day of his death.’”

• Judges 13:14

  Of anything that comes from the grapevine she shall not eat, and wine or intoxicating drink she shall not drink, and any uncleanness she shall not eat. All that I commanded her she shall keep.”

• 2 Samuel 11:4

  David sent messengers and took her; she came to him, and he lay with her (she was sanctifying herself from her uncleanness), and she returned to her house.

• 2 Chronicles 29:16

  The priests went into the inner part of the house of YHWH to cleanse it, and they brought out all the uncleanness that they found in the temple of YHWH to the court of the house of YHWH; and the Levites received it to carry it out to the brook Kidron, outside.

• Ezra 6:21

  And the sons of Israel who had returned from the exile ate, and everyone who had separated himself from the uncleanness of the nations of the land to join them, to seek YHWH, the Elohim of Israel.

• Ezra 9:11

  which you commanded by the hand of your servants the prophets, saying, ‘The land which you are entering to possess it is a land of impurity through the impurity of the peoples of the lands, through their abominations, with which they have filled it from one end to the other with their uncleanness.

• Lamentations 1:9

  Her uncleanness is in her skirts; she did not remember her end, and she has come down astonishingly; she has no one to comfort her. “See, YHWH, my affliction, for the enemy has made himself great.”

• Ezekiel 22:15

  And I will scatter you among the nations and disperse you through the lands, and I will bring to an end your uncleanness out of you.

• Ezekiel 24:11

  And set it empty on its coals, so that it may get hot and its bronze may become red-hot, and its uncleanness may melt in its midst, its rust be consumed.

• Ezekiel 24:13

  In your uncleanness is infamy; because I cleansed you and you were not clean from your uncleanness, you will not be clean again until I bring to rest my fury on you.

• Ezekiel 36:17

  “Son of man, the house of Israel was living on their ground, and they defiled it by their way and by their deeds; like the uncleanness of menstruation was their way before me.

• Ezekiel 36:25

  And I will sprinkle on you clean water, and you will be clean; from all your uncleannesses and from all your idols I will cleanse you.

• Ezekiel 36:29

  And I will save you from all your uncleannesses; and I will call for the grain and multiply it, and I will not lay famine on you.

• Ezekiel 39:24

  According to their uncleanness and according to their transgressions I dealt with them, and I hid my face from them.

• Zechariah 13:2

  And it will happen on that day, declares YHWH Tsevaot, that I will cut off the names of the idols from the land, and they will not be remembered any more; and also the prophets and the spirit of impurity I will remove from the land.

And 5 more times.