The result of making oneself or someone else unclean in God's sight. Outward, physical defilement comes from contact with someone or something unclean, whereas sin produces inner, spiritual defilement.
Defilement through contact with anything unclean
Leviticus 20:25 See also Leviticus 7:19–21, Leviticus 11:41–45, Leviticus 21:1–4, Leviticus 22:4–5; Numbers 5:1–3, Numbers 6:9, Numbers 6:12; Ezekiel 4:9–15, Ezekiel 44:25; Daniel 1:8; Haggai 2:10–14; Malachi 1:7
You are therefore to distinguish between clean and unclean animals and birds. Do not become contaminated by any animal or bird, or by anything that crawls on the ground; I have set these apart as unclean for you.
Defilement through bodily emissions
Leviticus 12:2–7, Leviticus 15:1–17
Defilement by sin
Ezekiel 14:11 See also Leviticus 19:31; Psalm 106:34–39; Jeremiah 2:23; Lamentations 4:14; Ezekiel 20:1–44, Ezekiel 22:1–4, Ezekiel 23:28–30, Ezekiel 37:23
in order that the house of Israel may no longer stray from Me and no longer defile themselves with all their transgressions. Then they will be My people and I will be their God, declares the Lord GOD.’”
Defilement as a result of illicit sexual relations
Leviticus 18:20 See also Genesis 34:1–5 rape; Genesis 34:27, Genesis 49:3–4; Leviticus 18:23–30 bestialityLeviticus 21:7, Leviticus 21:9, Leviticus 21:13–15 Numbers 5:19–22, Numbers 5:27–30; Deuteronomy 24:1–4; 1 Chronicles 5:1; Ezekiel 18:6, Ezekiel 22:11 incest; Ezekiel 23:7, Ezekiel 23:17, Ezekiel 33:26 adultery; Revelation 14:4
You must not lie carnally with your neighbor’s wife and thus defile yourself with her.
Defilement of God's house
Leviticus 15:31 Numbers 19:13, Numbers 19:20; 2 Chronicles 29:4–5, 2 Chronicles 36:14; Psalm 74:4–7, Psalm 79:1; Jeremiah 7:30, Jeremiah 32:32–35; Ezekiel 5:11, Ezekiel 9:7, Ezekiel 23:38; Acts 21:27–28 Paul was falsely accused of bringing Gentiles into the temple area.
You must keep the children of Israel separate from their uncleanness, so that they do not die by defiling My tabernacle, which is among them.
Defilement of God's name
and He said to me, “Son of man, this is the place of My throne and the place for the soles of My feet, where I will dwell among the Israelites forever. The house of Israel will never again defile My holy name — neither they nor their kings — by their prostitution and by the funeral offerings for their kings at their deaths. When they placed their threshold next to My threshold and their doorposts beside My doorposts, with only a wall between Me and them, they defiled My holy name by the abominations they committed. Therefore I have consumed them in My anger.
Defilement of altars and offerings
Exodus 20:25 See also Numbers 18:30–32; 2 Kings 23:16, 2 Kings 23:19
Now if you make an altar of stones for Me, you must not build it with stones shaped by tools; for if you use a chisel on it, you will defile it.
Defilement of the land
Numbers 35:34 See also Joshua 22:19; Isaiah 24:5; Jeremiah 2:7, Jeremiah 3:9, Jeremiah 16:18; Ezekiel 36:17–18
Do not defile the land where you live and where I dwell. For I, the LORD, dwell among the Israelites.”
Related themes
Dictionary of Bible Themes © 1999 Martin Manser, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0, via Bible Aquifer. Formatted for this site, with Scripture from the Berean Standard Bible.