טָהוֹר

From the study of Psalm 51:10

Range of meaning

Clean or pure. (1) In worship: ritually clean, fit to touch holy things or enter the sanctuary, the opposite of tame' ('unclean'). (2) Physically: pure gold, pure metal, unmixed. (3) Morally and inwardly: pure, untainted, as here and in Ps 12:6 ('pure words'), Prov 22:11 and Job 14:4.

Against the English

'Clean' (KJV, BSB, ESV) keeps the link to the purity laws. 'Pure' (NIV, LSB-type renderings) brings out the moral and inward sense. Both are fair. Neither alone shows that the word comes from the Temple and is applied here to the inner life.

Used elsewhere in the period

Lev 10:10 (priests must 'distinguish between unclean and clean'). Lev 13–14 (skin disease), Num 19 (contact with a corpse), with hyssop used in both rites (Lev 14:4–6; Num 19:18). The psalm's v.7 'purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean' uses the same root. The LXX translates it as καθαρός (katharos), the word behind Matt 5:8, 'blessed are the pure in heart'.

From the study of Genesis 8:20

Range of meaning

Pure, clean. It is used for metals refined of impurity (pure gold, Exod 25:11), for ritual status (a person or animal fit to come near the holy), and for moral purity (Ps 51:10, the verb). Its opposite is ṭame', "unclean," meaning ritually unfit. That is not the same thing as dirty or sinful.

Against the English

English "clean" first suggests washed or hygienic. The Hebrew category is about fitness for God's presence and the altar, and later about what Israel may eat.

How it drifted

English "clean" is mainly about physical hygiene. Later popular explanations of the Levitical food laws as health rules strengthened the hygiene reading.

Used elsewhere in the period

Lev 11 and Deut 14 list the clean and unclean animals. Gen 7:2–3 already separates clean beasts and birds (taken by sevens) from unclean ones (taken in pairs). In Lev 10:10 the priests are to "distinguish between the holy and the common, between the unclean and the clean."

From the study of Exodus 25:31

Range of meaning

Clean, pure: (1) ritually clean, fit to approach the holy (Lev 10:10; 11:47); (2) of metals, refined, unmixed (Exod 25:11, 17, 24, 29, 31, 38); (3) morally pure (Ps 12:6 of God's words like refined silver; Ps 51:10 'a clean heart').

Against the English

'Pure gold' is accurate. But English 'pure' sounds purely technical (24-carat), while the Hebrew word is the same one used for ritual cleanness throughout Leviticus.

Used elsewhere in the period

The phrase zahav tahor recurs through the tabernacle chapters for the ark, mercy seat, table and its vessels, lampstand and the high priest's chains (28:14). LXX: chrysion katharon.