taher · be clean

What it means

taher (טָהֵר) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “be clean”.

Purify oneself: get ready to come before God; also pronounce clean.

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. To be free of uncleanness under the law.
2. To wash someone of impurity, or pronounce them free of it.
3. To cleanse from sin.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

To be clean or become clean; in other forms, to cleanse, purify or declare clean. In the laws it means being fit for worship and for staying in the camp, not a matter of hygiene. BDB: to be pure, clean, physically, ceremonially or morally. It is the verb of טָהוֹר, “clean” (H2889), and the opposite of טָמֵא, “be unclean” (H2930).

• Becoming clean after a rite Leviticus 12:7Leviticus 14:8
• The priest “shall declare him clean” Leviticus 13:6
• Purifying oneself before coming before God Genesis 35:2Nehemiah 13:30
• Naaman: “you will be clean” 2 Kings 5:10
• God cleanses: “from my sin make me clean” Psalms 51:2Ezekiel 36:25Malachi 3:3

Historical and cultural background

Leviticus 12–15 gives the steps to become clean after a birth, a sore or a flow: waiting some days, washing the garments, bathing and, at times, presenting an offering. The one being purified “shall wash his garments, shave off all his hair, and bathe in water, and he will be clean” (Leviticus 14:8).

How we translate it

“Be clean” 25 times, “cleanse” 17, “one being purified” 11, “cleansed” 9, “clean” 8, “shall declare him clean” 5. This edition's glossary sets טָהוֹר / טָמֵא = “clean / unclean”, so the verb is “be clean”; when the priest does it, “declare clean” (Leviticus 13:6). “Purify” where people make themselves ready (Genesis 35:2) or where it is the refiner's work (Malachi 3:3).

How it is translated

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

• be clean ×25
• cleanse ×17
• one being purified ×11
• cleansed ×9
• clean ×8
• shall declare him clean ×5
• shall declare clean ×3
• become clean ×2
• purified themselves ×2
• purify themselves ×2
• others ×11

Related words

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

Where it appears

• Genesis×1
• Leviticus×43
• Numbers×10
• Joshua×1
• 2 Kings×4
• 2 Chronicles×7
• Ezra×1
• Nehemiah×5
• Job×3
• Psalms×2
• Proverbs×1
• Isaiah×1
• Jeremiah×2
• Ezekiel×12
• Malachi×2

• Genesis 35:2

  So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Put away the foreign gods that are among you, purify yourselves, and change your garments.

• Leviticus 11:32

  And anything on which any of them falls when they are dead will be unclean, whether any article of wood or garment or skin or sack, any article with which work is done; it shall be put into water, and it will be unclean until the evening; then it will be clean.

• Leviticus 12:7

  He shall present it before YHWH and make expiation for her, and she will be clean from the flow of her blood. This is the instruction for her who gives birth to a male or a female.

• Leviticus 12:8

  And if her means do not suffice for a lamb, she shall take two turtledoves or two young pigeons, one for a burnt offering and one for a sin offering; and the priest shall make expiation for her, and she will be clean.”

• Leviticus 13:6

  The priest shall examine him on the seventh day a second time, and if the sore has faded and the sore has not spread in the skin, the priest shall declare him clean; it is an eruption; he shall wash his garments and be clean.

• 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.

• Leviticus 13:17

  The priest shall examine him, and if the sore has turned white, the priest shall declare clean the one with the sore; he is clean.

• Leviticus 13:23

  But if the bright spot stays in its place and has not spread, it is the scar of the ulcer, and the priest shall declare him clean.

• Leviticus 13:28

  But if the bright spot stays in its place and has not spread in the skin but it has faded, it is the swelling of the burn, and the priest shall declare him clean, for it is the scar of the burn.

• Leviticus 13:34

  The priest shall examine the ringworm on the seventh day, and if the ringworm has not spread in the skin and its appearance is not deeper than the skin, the priest shall declare him clean; he shall wash his garments and be clean.

• Leviticus 13:37

  But if in his eyes the ringworm has stayed as it was and black hair has grown in it, the ringworm has healed; he is clean, and the priest shall declare him clean.

• Leviticus 13:58

  But the garment, or the woven material or the knitted material, or any article of skin that you wash, and the mark departs from them, shall be washed a second time and be clean.

• Leviticus 13:59

  This is the instruction for a mark of leprosy in a garment of wool or of linen, or in the woven material or in the knitted material, or in any article of skin, for declaring it clean or for declaring it unclean.”

• Leviticus 14:4

  the priest shall command that they take for the one being purified two clean living birds, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop.

• Leviticus 14:7

  He shall sprinkle on the one being purified from the leprosy seven times, and declare him clean, and let go the living bird over the face of the field.

• Leviticus 14:8

  The one being purified shall wash his garments, shave off all his hair, and bathe in water, and he will be clean; and after that he may come into the camp, but he shall remain outside his tent seven days.

• Leviticus 14:9

  On the seventh day he shall shave off all his hair: his head, his beard, and the brows of his eyes; all his hair he shall shave off; he shall wash his garments and bathe his body in water, and he will be clean.

• Leviticus 14:11

  The priest who performs the purification shall set the man who is being purified, and them, before YHWH, at the entrance of the tent of meeting.

• Leviticus 14:14

  The priest shall take some of the blood of the guilt offering, and the priest shall put it on the lobe of the right ear of the one being purified, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot.

• Leviticus 14:17

  And some of the rest of the oil that is in his palm the priest shall put on the lobe of the right ear of the one being purified, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot, on top of the blood of the guilt offering.

• Leviticus 14:18

  And the rest of the oil that is in the priest’s palm he shall put on the head of the one being purified; and the priest shall make expiation for him before YHWH.

• 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 14:20

  The priest shall offer up the burnt offering and the grain offering on the altar; and the priest shall make expiation for him, and he will be clean.

• Leviticus 14:25

  He shall slaughter the lamb of the guilt offering, and the priest shall take some of the blood of the guilt offering and put it on the lobe of the right ear of the one being purified, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot.

• Leviticus 14:28

  The priest shall put some of the oil that is in his palm on the lobe of the right ear of the one being purified, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot, on the place of the blood of the guilt offering.

• Leviticus 14:29

  And the rest of the oil that is in the priest’s palm he shall put on the head of the one being purified, to make expiation for him before YHWH.

• Leviticus 14:31

  such as his means reach, the one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering, with the grain offering; and the priest shall make expiation for the one being purified before YHWH.

• Leviticus 14:48

  But if the priest indeed comes and examines it, and, look, the mark has not spread in the house after the house has been plastered, the priest shall declare clean the house, for the mark has been healed.

• Leviticus 14:53

  He shall let go the living bird to outside the city, over the face of the field; so he shall make expiation for the house, and it will be clean.

• Leviticus 15:13

  And when the man with the discharge becomes clean from his discharge, he shall count for himself seven days for his cleansing, and wash his garments and bathe his body in living water, and he shall be clean.

• Leviticus 15:28

  And if she becomes clean from her discharge, she shall count for herself seven days, and after that she shall be clean.

• 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 16:30

  For on this day expiation shall be made for you to cleanse you; from all your sins before YHWH you shall be clean.

• Leviticus 17:15

  And any person who eats an animal that died or one torn by beasts, whether native or resident alien, shall wash his garments and bathe in water and be unclean until the evening; then he shall be clean.

• Leviticus 22:4

  No man of the offspring of Aaron who is leprous or has a discharge may eat of the holy things until he is clean. Whoever touches anything unclean by a dead person, or a man from whom an emission of semen goes out,

• Leviticus 22:7

  And when the sun has set, he shall be clean, and afterward he may eat of the holy things, for it is his food.

• Numbers 8:6

  “Take the Levites from among the sons of Israel and cleanse them.

• Numbers 8:7

  And thus you shall do to them to cleanse them: sprinkle on them the water of purification, and they shall pass a razor over their whole body, and wash their clothes, and cleanse themselves.

• Numbers 8:15

  And after that the Levites shall go in to serve the tent of meeting, when you have cleansed them and waved them as a wave offering.

• Numbers 8:21

  And the Levites purified themselves from sin and washed their clothes, and Aaron waved them as a wave offering before YHWH, and Aaron made expiation for them to cleanse them.

And 55 more times.