Numbers 5:1-4·~1 min
Cleansing the Camps
The LORD tells Moses to remove unclean persons from the camp so his dwelling place is not defiled, and Israel carries out the command as given.
T1hen the LORD said to Moses, 2“Command the Israelites to send away from the camp anyone with a skin disease, anyone who has a bodily discharge, and anyone who is defiled by a dead body. 3You must send away male and female alike; send them outside the camp so they will not defile their camp, where I dwell among them.” 4So the Israelites did this, sending such people outside the camp. They did just as the LORD had instructed Moses.
Section summaryThe LORD commands that those made unclean by disease, bodily discharge, or contact with the dead be sent outside the camp. Israel obeys, keeping the camp fit for the presence of the One who dwells in its midst.
Role in the chapterThis opening section establishes the chapter's governing concern: the camp must be kept clean because the LORD lives there. It turns the ordered camp of earlier chapters into a guarded holy space.