Numbers 5:2:9Num.5.2.W9TAB
טָמֵ֥א
tamei
“unclean”
- Transliteration
- ta-MEI
- Extended
- taa-MEI
- IPA
- /taˈmeː/
Meaning by language
- English
- unclean
Hebrew · tap a syllable to hear it
Alphabet Analysis
| Tet | t — emphatic | |
| Qamets | long 'ah' | |
| Mem | m as in mother | |
| Tsere | long 'ey' as in they | |
| Aleph | silent — a glottal stop; holds vowel points |
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The word
Word in context
- word
ta-MEI
- phraseyour reading level
ta-MEI la-NA-fesh
- clause
ve-KOL ta-MEI la-NA-fesh
- sentence
TSA-v ET-be-NEI yis-ra-EL vi-shal-KHU min-ha-ma-KHA-neh kol-tsa-RU-a ve-KOL-zav ve-KOL ta-MEI la-NA-fesh
Exegesis
Three categories follow, each introduced by kol {כָּל־ | kāl} ‘every’, stressing exhaustive application: tsarua {צָרוּעַ | ṣār-ū-ʿā} ‘leprous person’, zav {זָב | zāḇ} ‘discharger’, and the idiom tamē’ lanefesh {טָמֵא לָנָפֶשׁ | ṭā-mēʾ lā-nā-p̄e-š} ‘unclean because of a soul’, a standard formula for corpse impurity. The repeated conjunctions coordinate these items with equal status. The English mirrors this pattern by preserving the Hebrew’s sequential, ritualistic structure.
Root and etymology
Roottet–mem–aleph
“to be unclean”
In context — Numbers 5:2
Command the sons of Israel, and let them send away from the camp every leper and everyone with a discharge , and everyone unclean because of a dead body.
About this coordinate
Numbers 5:2:9 is a BCV:P reference — Book · Chapter · Verse · Word Position. It addresses word 9 of Numbers 5:2, so the Hebrew word טָמֵ֥א (tamei) can be cited, linked and studied at exactly this position rather than somewhere in the verse. In the Biblical Knowledge Coordinate System the same position is written Num.5.2.W9, which extends further down to each syllable (Num.5.2.W9.S1) and character.