--- title: טָמֵא — unclean · The Tanakh dictionary description: טָמֵא (2931), a word of Biblical Hebrew, used 88 times: unclean. BDB 1906: adj. unclean. With 2 verses in Hebrew, word for word and JPS 1917. --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/tanakh/w/2931.html) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [dictionaries](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/) / [Tanakh](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/tanakh/) / [ט](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/tanakh/1496.md)‎ / טָמֵא‎ # טָמֵא «טָמֵא» in the Tanakh dictionary: **unclean** — how often it is used, MACULA's glosses, its meanings in the printed dictionaries and why they were chosen, and 2 verses in layers. **Used:** 88 times · **Key:** 2931 · **BDB:** טָמֵא² ### Glosses unclean (31); \[is\].unclean (23); \[are\].unclean (7) ### Meaning (OSHB) unclean [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/tanakh/1496/2931/#m1) ### Meaning (BDB 1906) adj. unclean [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/tanakh/1496/2931/#m2) **The whole BDB entry:** adj. unclean;—ט׳ Lv 5:2 + 58 times; cstr. טְמֵא 22:4 + 3 times; f. טְמֵאָה 5:2 + 11 times; cstr. טְמֵאַת Ez 22:5, 10; pl. טְמֵאִים Lv 11:8 + 10 times;—unclean, ethically and religiously ט׳ שׂפתים Is 6:5(×2) unclean of lips; ט׳ השׁם Ez 22:5 defiled of name, infamous; טהור מִטּ׳ Jb 14:4. ritually: of persons, ‖ טהור Dt 12:15, 22; 15:22 Ec 9:2; ט׳ נפשׁ Lv 22:4 (H); (אדם) ט׳ לנפשׁ unclean for a (dead) person Nu 5:2; 9:6, 7, 10 (P) = ט׳ נפשׁ Hg 2:13; elsewhere for various reasons Dt 26:14; Lv 5:2; 13:11, 36, 44, 45(×2), 46; 15:2, 25, 33 Nu 19:13, 17, 19, 20, 22 (all P), 2 Ch 23:19; Is 64:5 Ez 4:13; 22:10 La 4:15. of animals Lv 5:2(×4); 7:21(×2); 11:4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 26, 27, 28, 29, 31; 27:11, 27 Nu 18:15 (all P), Lv 20:25(×2) (H), Dt 14:7, 8, 10, 19. of things in gen. Lv 11:35(×2), 38; 15:26 Nu 19:15 (all P), Is 52:11; food Ju 13:4 Ho 9:3; houses Je 19:13; leprosy Lv 13:15, 51, 55; 14:44, 57 (P); offering Hg 2:14. persons and things in general כל טמא Lv 7:19, 21 (P); הבדיל בין הט׳ ובין הטהור Lv 10:10; 11:47; הודיע בין (ה)ט׳ לטהור Ez 22:26; 44:23; of aliens Is 52:1 (‖ עָרֵל), perhaps also 35:8. specif. of places: מקום ט׳ unclean place (place of refuse away from holy place and human habitation) Lv 14:40, 41, 45 (P); טמאה ארץ land on the east of the Jordan separated from the land of the tabernacle of י׳ Jos 22:19 (P); so אדמה ט׳ a foreign land Am 7:17. Why these entries: BDB: headword, part of speech agrees, 78 of its verses cited, 1 words shared with the glosses, lists its Strong's number (2 candidates); OSHB: headword, part of speech agrees, 1 words shared with the BDB entry, 1 with the glosses (2 candidates) ### Trees and pragmatics [Every English meaning of «טָמֵא» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/tanakh/1496/2931/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames. ### In the verses [Job 14:4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/JOB.14.4/) מִֽי־יִתֵּ֣ן טָ֭הוֹר מִטָּמֵ֗א לֹ֣א אֶחָֽד׃ *Word for word:* who? will.he.make a.clean.\[thing\] from an.unclean.\[thing\] not one.\[person\] *JPS 1917:* Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one. [Deuteronomy 14:19](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/DEU.14.19/) וְכֹל֙ שֶׁ֣רֶץ הָע֔וֹף טָמֵ֥א ה֖וּא לָכֶ֑ם לֹ֖א יֵאָכֵֽלוּ׃ *Word for word:* and every (the).swarming.thing of the.insect \[is\].unclean it to you not they.will.be.eaten *JPS 1917:* And all winged swarming things are unclean unto you; they shall not be eaten. - ← previous: [טָמֵא](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/tanakh/w/2930.md) - next →: [טֻמְאָה](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/tanakh/w/2932.md) - ↑ back to [ט](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/tanakh/1496.md)