Topic
Corpse
19 passages cited, from 1 classic reference work.
These works date from 1915 and are in the public domain. They reflect the Protestant scholarship of their time: their history, archaeology and dates can be out of date, and where they interpret, other traditions read the text differently. The verses are shown in the King James Version, the wording these works were written against.
The verses
The passages the works cite, those cited by more of them first.
- Leviticus 21:1–3ISBE
And the LORD said unto Moses, Speak unto the priests the sons of Aaron, and say unto them, There shall none be defiled for the dead among his people: But for his kin, that is near unto him, that is, for his mother, and for his father, and for his son, and…
- Leviticus 21:11ISBE
Neither shall he go in to any dead body, nor defile himself for his father, or for his mother;
- Numbers 6:6–8ISBE
All the days that he separateth himself unto the LORD he shall come at no dead body. He shall not make himself unclean for his father, or for his mother, for his brother, or for his sister, when they die: because the consecration of his God is upon his…
- Numbers 19:1–22ISBE
And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, This is the ordinance of the law which the LORD hath commanded, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring thee a red heifer without spot, wherein is no blemish, and upon which never…
- Deuteronomy 21:23ISBE
His body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day; (for he that is hanged is accursed of God;) that thy land be not defiled, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.
- Deuteronomy 28:26ISBE
And thy carcase shall be meat unto all fowls of the air, and unto the beasts of the earth, and no man shall fray them away.
- 1 Samuel 31:11–13ISBE
¶ And when the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead heard of that which the Philistines had done to Saul; All the valiant men arose, and went all night, and took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Beth-shan, and came to Jabesh, and burnt…
- 2 Samuel 2:4–7ISBE
And the men of Judah came, and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah. And they told David, saying, That the men of Jabesh-gilead were they that buried Saul. ¶ And David sent messengers unto the men of Jabesh-gilead, and said unto them,…
- 2 Samuel 21:10ISBE
¶ And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth, and spread it for her upon the rock, from the beginning of harvest until water dropped upon them out of heaven, and suffered neither the birds of the air to rest on them by day, nor the beasts of the field…
- 2 Kings 19:35ISBE
¶ And it came to pass that night, that the angel of the LORD went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.
- 1 Chronicles 10:11ISBE
¶ And when all Jabesh-gilead heard all that the Philistines had done to Saul,
- 1 Chronicles 10:12ISBE
They arose, all the valiant men, and took away the body of Saul, and the bodies of his sons, and brought them to Jabesh, and buried their bones under the oak in Jabesh, and fasted seven days.
Show 7 more
- Psalms 79:2 ISBE
- Isaiah 34:3 ISBE
- Isaiah 37:36 ISBE
- Jeremiah 7:33 ISBE
- Mark 6:29 ISBE
- Revelation 11:8 ISBE
- Revelation 11:9 ISBE
In the reference works
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915) · 20 references
korps: This word in the King James Version is the translations of two Hebrew words, pegher, and gewiyah, while nebhelah, and guphah, which mean the same, are translated "body," with which the English word "corpse" (Latin, corpus) was originally synonymical. Therefore we find the now apparently unnecessary addition of the adjective "dead" in 2Ki 19:35 and Isa 37:36. The Greek equivalent is ptoma, literally, "a fallen body," "a ruin" (from pipto, "to fall"), in Mr 6:29; Re 11:8,9.
Corpses were considered as unclean and defiling in the Old Testament, so that priests were not to touch dead bodies except those of near kinsfolk (Le 21:1-3), the high priest and a Nazirite not even such (Le 21:11; Nu 6:6-8). Nu 19 presents to us the ceremonial of purification from such defilement by the sprinkling with the ashes of a red heifer, cedar wood, hyssop and scarlet.
It was considered a great calamity and disgrace to have one's body left unburied, a "food unto all birds of the heavens, and unto the beasts of the earth" (De 28:26; 2Sa 21:10; Ps 79:2; Isa 34:3; Jer 7:33, etc.). Thence is explained the merit of Rizpah (2Sa 21:10), and of the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead, who protected or recovered and buried the mutilated bodies of Saul and his sons (1Sa 31:11-13; 2Sa 2:4-7; compare 1Ch 10:11,12).
See BURIAL.
Even the corpses of persons executed by hanging were not to remain on the tree "all night," "for he that is hanged is accursed of God; that thou defile not thy land which Yahweh thy God giveth thee for an inheritance" (De 21:23).
H. L. E. Luering
Texts: International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915), from the CrossWire SWORD modules (public domain). Verse references were parsed from the works' own markup and checked against the KJV verse list.