Leviticus 15:18

WEB

If a man lies with a woman and there is an emission of semen, they shall both bathe themselves in water, and be unclean until the evening.

KJV

The woman also with whom man shall lie with seed of copulation, they shall both bathe themselves in water, and be unclean until the even.

Commentary

The woman also with whom man shall lie with seed of copulation,.... It seems to respect any congress of a man and woman, whether in fornication or adultery, or lawful marriage, and particularly the latter; for thou gh marriage is honourable and holy, and carnal copulation in itself lawful, yet such is the sinfulness of nature, that as no act is performed without pollution, so neither that of generation, and by which the corruption of nature is propagated, and therefore required a ceremonial cleansing: they shall both bathe themselves in water, and be unclean until the even; so Herodotus (f) reports, that as often as a Babylonian man lay with his wife, he had used to sit by consecrated incense, and the woman did the same: and in the morning they were both washed, and did not touch any vessel before they had washed themselves; and he says the Arabians did the like: and the same historian relates (g) of the Egyptians, that they never go into their temples from their wives unwashed; see Exo 19:15 . (f) Clio, sive, l. 1. c. 198. (g) Euterpe, sive, l. 2. c. 64.