15:1–33 This chapter details how bodily discharges from male and female sexual organs caused ritual impurity. The chapter outlines required procedures for restoring purity in the wake of such discharges (male, vv. 1–18; female, vv. 19–30). The sanctuary’s state of holiness could not be harmed; bodily discharges, whether caused by illness or natural processes, caused impurity. For the sake of maintaining the holiness of the sanctuary, impurity was considered a contagion—anyone or anything bearing ritual uncleanness had to be cleansed to avoid compromising the sanctity of sacred space.

15:3–12 This passage describes how impurity spreads in connection with the man with a discharge. Contact with the man or with things he touched passed on a temporary impurity to others. The instructions to avoid the man’s bed or anything that he sits on are later repeated with reference to a woman’s menstrual impurity (compare Lev 15:4–6, 19–24). The instructions are detailed and repetitive. The remedy for all cases was the same—washing clothes, bathing, and waiting until evening (probably sunset).

15:13–15 These verses outline the ritual for final purification after a man’s discharge has stopped. The process is somewhat analogous to that for a woman’s final purification after childbirth (12:1–8). The cleansing procedure also partly parallels that for a person being cleansed from an unclean skin disease (14:8–9, 21–23). The common elements in most purification procedures are a waiting period, bathing, washing clothes, and bringing a burnt offering and a purification offering.

15:16–24 This passage addresses uncleanness related to natural bodily functioning, not illness. These types of impurity were treatable with time, bathing, and washing clothes. No sacrificial offerings were required. A man’s seminal emission caused temporary impurity. Similarly, a woman who was menstruating was unclean for the seven-day period.

15:25–30 The final scenario, like the first in vv. 1–15, addresses an abnormal discharge—in this case, a woman who has a discharge of blood that is not related to menstruation. As with the earlier case of a man’s abnormal discharge, the woman is unclean as long as the condition persists. When the discharge stops, she must wait seven days and then bring sacrifices to the priest for final purification. The cleansing procedure described in vv. 28–30 is the same as the one from vv. 14–15. However, washing, which is explicitly commanded for the first case (v. 13), goes unmentioned here, just as it does in the passage on menstruation (see note on vv. 16–24). The need for ritual washing in the instructions related to women (vv. 19–30) should be assumed by analogy with the first half of the chapter, which dealt with impurity related to men (vv. 1–18).