clothes

The Hebrew and Greek that is translated with “clothes” or similar in English is translated in Enlhet as “crawling-in-stuff” (source: Jacob Loewen in The Bible Translator 1971, p. 169ff. ) and in Noongar as bwoka or “Kangaroo skin” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang).

Translation commentary on Leviticus 15:7

The body: is this to be taken literally, or is it once again a polite way of referring to the sexual organ itself, as it is in verses 2 and 3 and later in verse 19? Some commentators consider it euphemistic, but most English versions take it more literally here. The context of verses 4-12 seems to suggest more general contact. Instead of body, some versions simply say “the man” (New International Version as well as Good News Translation).

Again, the same ritual is required as in verses 5 and 6, if such contact is made.

Quoted with permission from Péter-Contesse, René and Ellington, John. A Handbook on Leviticus. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1990. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .