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Or if anyone touches any unclean thing, whether it be the carcass of an unclean animal or the carcass of unclean cattle or the carcass of any unclean creeping thing, even if he did not know it, he shall be unclean and be held guilty. Or if he touches human uncleanness,[a] of whatever type of uncleanness one might touch and become unclean, and he did not know it, when he comes to know of it he shall be guilty. Or if someone rashly lets an oath slip from his lips, to do evil or to do good, in anything by which a person who swears a rash oath, and he does not realize it, when he comes to know it, he shall be guilty for any one of these thing s.

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Footnotes

  1. Leviticus 5:3 Human uncleanness: a large part of Israelite ritual is based on the notions of pure and impure that affected the fitness of the person to enter the sanctuary for worship.
    They are cultic rather than ethical determinations. In the New Testament, Jesus’ interpretation of cleanliness went beyond the rigidity imposed by the Pharisees on exterior performance to address the person’s interior disposition.

“‘If anyone becomes aware that they are guilty—if they unwittingly touch anything ceremonially unclean (whether the carcass of an unclean animal, wild or domestic, or of any unclean creature that moves along the ground)(A) and they are unaware that they have become unclean,(B) but then they come to realize their guilt; or if they touch human uncleanness(C) (anything that would make them unclean)(D) even though they are unaware of it, but then they learn of it and realize their guilt; or if anyone thoughtlessly takes an oath(E) to do anything, whether good or evil(F) (in any matter one might carelessly swear about) even though they are unaware of it, but then they learn of it and realize their guilt—

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