טָמֵא

From the study of Psalm 79:1

Range of meaning

The root means to be ritually impure, the state that keeps a person or thing out of contact with the holy. In the stem used here it means to make impure or declare impure. Sources of impurity included corpses (Numbers 19), certain bodily discharges, and idolatry. Impurity could also come from moral evil such as bloodshed, sexual sin and idolatry, which polluted the land and the sanctuary (Leviticus 18:24–28; Numbers 35:33–34; Ezekiel 36:17–18).

Against the English

All the main versions say 'defiled'. Modern English uses 'defile' loosely, for vandalising, dirtying or sexually violating. The Hebrew is about the holy place being made unfit for God's presence and for worship.

How it drifted

'Defile' has lost its link to ritual status in ordinary English and now sounds like general damage or insult.

Used elsewhere in the period

Ezekiel 9:7: 'Defile the house and fill the courts with the slain', where corpses defile the sanctuary. 2 Kings 23 uses the same verb for Josiah deliberately defiling pagan shrines with human bones. Leviticus 15:31 warns that impurity left untreated defiles God's tabernacle 'in their midst'. The Septuagint has emianan ('they stained, polluted').

From the study of Isaiah 30:22

Range of meaning

In the simple stem ṭāmēʾ means 'to be or become (ritually) unclean'. In the intensive stem used here (Piel) it means (1) to make unclean, to desecrate, (2) to declare unclean, as a priest does in Lev 13, and (3) figuratively, to pollute by sin. Uncleanness in Israel was a status: what was unclean could not come near the holy and had to be kept away from it.

Against the English

'Defile' (KJV, WEB) and 'desecrate' (BSB) are both fair. To modern ears 'defile' can suggest dirtying or vandalising something. The Hebrew is a status word: the people move these objects into the category of 'unclean', which permanently ends any claim they had to sacredness.

How it drifted

English 'defile' has drifted toward physical soiling or moral violation (as in 'defile a person'). The priestly sense of a ritual category has largely dropped out of English.

Used elsewhere in the period

The closest parallel is Josiah's reform, which uses the same verb form: Josiah 'defiled' the high places, Topheth, and the shrines Solomon built (2 Kgs 23:8, 10, 13). There, burning bones and scattering dust on cult sites made them permanently unusable. Ezekiel uses the verb for profaning the temple (Ezek 9:7).

From the study of Ezekiel 43:7

Range of meaning

Ṭāmēʾ means ritually impure. In the piel form it means to make impure, defile, pollute. Sources of impurity include corpses, certain bodily discharges, and idolatry or serious moral offences, which pollute land and sanctuary (Lev 18:24–28; Num 35:34). 'Holy name' means God's set-apart identity and public reputation.

Against the English

'Defile' is a good rendering, but modern readers may hear only 'disrespect'. In priestly thinking, impurity is almost a physical force that builds up and makes the holy God withdraw.

Used elsewhere in the period

Lev 15:31; 20:3 (giving children to Molek 'defiles my sanctuary and profanes my holy name'); Num 19 (corpse impurity, the most severe kind); Ezek 5:11; 23:38–39; 36:20–23.