Original Word: כָּבַס
Part of Speech: Verb
Transliteration: kabac
Pronunciation: kah-vas
Phonetic Spelling: (kaw-bas')
KJV: fuller, wash(-ing)
NASB: wash, washed, fuller's, fullers', washes
Word Origin: [a primitive root]

1. to trample
2. (hence) to wash (properly, by stamping with the feet), whether literal (including the fulling process) or figurative

fuller, washing

A primitive root; to trample; hence, to wash (properly, by stamping with the feet), whether literal (including the fulling process) or figurative -- fuller, wash(-ing).

Word Origin
a prim. root
Definition
to wash
NASB Translation
fuller's (3), fullers' (1), wash (38), washed (8), washes (1).

[כָּבַס]₅₁ verb (tread), wash (Late Hebrew id.; Phoenician כבס as participle; Assyrian kabâsu, tread (down), subjugate, kibšu, step, path, Dl^HWB) —

Qal Participle only מְסִלַּת שְׂדֵה כוֺבֵס highway of fuller's (= treader's, washer's) field Isaiah 7:3; Isaiah 36:2 = 2 Kings 18:17.

Pi`el Perfect וְכִּבֶּס consecutive Leviticus 13:6 11t.; כִּבֵּס Genesis 49:11; 2 Samuel 19:25, etc.; Imperfect יְכַבֵּס Leviticus 11:25 16t.; 2 masculine singular suffix תְּכַבְּסֵנִי Psalm 51:9, etc.; Imperative suffix כַּבְּסֵנִי Psalm 51:4; feminine singular כַּבְּסִי Jeremiah 4:14; Participle plural מְכַבְּסִים Malachi 3:2; —

1 wash garments (i.e. by treading) Exodus 19:10,14 (E), 2 Samuel 19:25; figurative of Judah Genesis 49:11; elsewhere chiefly P: Leviticus 6:20; Leviticus 11:25,28; Leviticus 13:6,34; Leviticus 15:11; Numbers 8:9 +; "" רָחץ (which = wash person) Leviticus 14:8,9; Leviticus 15:5,6,7,8,10,11 + (׳כ in Leviticus 27 t., "" ׳ר15t.; in Numbers 8 t., "" ׳ר3t.); Participle = fuller (compare Qal), only ׳בֹּרִית מְכ Malachi 3:2.

2 wash person, only in poetry and figurative אִם תְּכַבְּסִי בַּנֶּתֶר Jeremiah 2:22; כַּבְּסִי מֵרָעָה לִבֵךְ Jeremiah 4:14; with suffix Psalm 51:4 ("" טהר; + מֵעָוֺן); Psalm 51:9 ("" חִטֵּא).

Pu`al Perfect וְכֻבַּס consecutive Leviticus 13:58; Leviticus 15:17 be washed, of garment.

Hothpa`al (Ges^{§ 54}, 3) Infinitive אַחֲרֵי הֻכַּבֵּס אֶתהַֿנֶּגַע Leviticus 13:55 after the plague is washed out, so Leviticus 13:56.

Overview of Usage

The verb כָּבַס occurs approximately fifty-one times and consistently denotes the laundering of garments or other fabrics, whether for ordinary hygiene, ritual purity, or symbolic cleansing. From the patriarchal blessing of Judah (Genesis 49:11) to prophetic calls for repentance (Isaiah 1:16), the word traces a line of revelation in which external washing illustrates the necessity of internal purification before God.

Foundational Old Covenant Context

1. Covenant Preparation
• Exodus 19:10 – “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow. They are to wash their clothes.”
• Exodus 19:14 – “Moses went down... and they washed their clothes.”

In the inaugural encounter at Sinai the entire nation laundered their garments, underscoring that fellowship with the Lord demands cleansing even before a word of law is spoken.

2. Priestly Consecration and Service

Although priests bathed their bodies (רָחַץ), their linen attire had to be כָּבַס after sacrificial contact (Leviticus 6:27; 16:26, 28). Priests who carried the scapegoat or removed the ashes of the sin offering could not re-enter the camp until their clothes were washed. Thus every stage of mediation between God and sinners highlighted the necessity of washed garments.

3. Levitical Purification Rites

Leviticus devotes more verses to כָּבַס than any other book. The term governs:
• Cleansing after skin disease (Leviticus 13:6, 34, 54-58; 14:8-9, 47).
• Contact with carcasses (Leviticus 11:25, 28, 40).
• Genital discharges (Leviticus 15:5-11, 13, 16-22, 27).
• Defilement through consumption of unclean meat (Leviticus 17:15).

The worshipper who neglected these washings “will bear his iniquity” (Leviticus 17:16), revealing that holiness legislation was never optional.

4. National Atonement – The Red Heifer

Numbers 19 layers the motif: the priest who sprinkles the water of purification must wash his clothes (Numbers 19:7-8, 10, 19, 21). The ashes of the heifer symbolically removed impurity related to death, yet the one who mediated that removal required personal laundering—anticipating a Mediator who needs no cleansing of His own (Hebrews 7:26-27).

Civic and Domestic Applications

Beyond sanctuary life, כָּבַס entered daily Israelite experience:

• Public Justice – elders washed their hands over a heifer to absolve innocent blood (Deuteronomy 21:6).
• Military Sanitation – returning soldiers laundered garments on the seventh day (Numbers 31:24).
• Camp Hygiene – one defiled by nocturnal emission waited until evening and “he shall wash himself and his clothes” (Deuteronomy 23:11).

By embedding laundering in law and custom, the Lord intertwined holiness with ordinary life.

Poetic and Wisdom Literature

1. Job’s Lament

“If I wash myself with snow and cleanse my hands with lye, yet You would plunge me into the pit” (Job 9:30 - 31). Job perceives that no human effort at cleansing—however rigorous—can stand before divine scrutiny.

2. David’s Confession

Psalm 51:2 – “Wash me from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.”

Psalm 51:7 – “Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.”

David appropriates Temple vocabulary to plead for spiritual laundering, recognizing that sacrifice without heart purity avails nothing.

3. Asaph’s Wrestling

“Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure and washed my hands in innocence” (Psalm 73:13). The psalmist faces the prosperity of the wicked but ultimately concludes that God’s justice will vindicate those who pursue purity.

Prophetic Development

1. Isaiah
• Isaiah 1:16 – “Wash and cleanse yourselves. Remove your evil deeds from My sight.”
• Isaiah 4:4 pictures the Spirit “washing away the filth of the daughters of Zion.”

National laundering becomes a prophetic imperative pointing to messianic renewal.

2. Jeremiah
• Jeremiah 2:22 – “Though you wash yourself with lye and use much soap, the stain of your guilt is still before Me.”
• Jeremiah 4:14 – “O Jerusalem, wash the evil from your heart and be saved.”

Prophets press beyond ritual, insisting on moral transformation.

3. Malachi

“He will be like a refiner’s fire and like launderer’s soap” (Malachi 3:2). As the Old Testament closes, the coming Messenger is pictured both smelting dross and scrubbing stains, marrying the images of metal purification and fabric laundering.

Historical Trajectory into the New Covenant

While כָּבַס itself does not occur in the Greek New Testament, its theology flows naturally into:

• The “washing of regeneration” (Titus 3:5).
• The Church’s garments “washed... in the blood of the Lamb” (Revelation 7:14).
• The bride “arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright” (Revelation 19:8).

What Levitical laundering signified outwardly, Christ accomplishes inwardly and permanently.

Ministry Significance

1. Personal Holiness

The discipline of confession (1 John 1:9) rests on the divine promise patterned through כָּבַס: God both commands and provides cleansing.

2. Corporate Worship

Just as Israel gathered at Sinai in washed garments, the Church approaches the Table and the Word with repentant hearts, ensuring that public ministry flows from private purity.

3. Pastoral Counseling

Passages employing כָּבַס offer language for addressing guilt and shame. Counseling that anchors penitents in Psalm 51 or Isaiah 1 reveals God’s eagerness to launder the worst stains.

4. Missional Proclamation

The prophetic call “Wash and be clean” (echoed in Naaman’s experience, 2 Kings 5:10-14) becomes evangelistic appeal: obey the gospel, and Christ will wash you whiter than snow.

Summary

כָּבַס unites law, poetry, and prophecy in announcing that sin soils, God cleanses, and faith obeys. Through the history of Israel, laundered garments testified that access to the Holy One demands purity. In Christ, that foreshadowed reality is fulfilled, granting believers robes made clean once for all.

הֻכַּבֵּ֣ס הכבס וְ֠כִבֶּס וְכִ֨בְּס֔וּ וְכִבְּס֖וּ וְכִבְּס֥וּ וְכִבֶּ֣ס וְכִבֶּ֥ס וְכִבֶּ֧ס וְכִבֶּ֨ס וְכִבֶּס֩ וְכִבַּסְתֶּ֧ם וְכֻבַּ֥ס וַֽיְכַבְּס֖וּ וַֽיְכַבְּסוּ֙ ויכבסו וכבס וכבסו וכבסתם יְכַבֵּ֔ס יְכַבֵּ֖ס יְכַבֵּ֣ס יְכַבֵּ֤ס יְכַבֵּ֥ס יְכַבֵּ֧ס יכבס כִּבֵּ֤ס כִבֵּ֔ס כַּבְּסִ֨י כַּבְּסֵ֣נִי כבס כבסי כבסני כוֹבֵֽס׃ כובס׃ מְכַבְּסִֽים׃ מכבסים׃ תְּ֝כַבְּסֵ֗נִי תְּכַבְּסִי֙ תְּכַבֵּ֔ס תְּכַבֵּ֖ס תכבס תכבסי תכבסני chibBes choVes huk·kab·bês hukkabBes hukkabbês kab·bə·sê·nî kab·bə·sî kabbeSeni kabbəsênî kabbeSi kabbəsî kib·bês ḵib·bês kibBes kibbês ḵibbês ḵō·w·ḇês ḵōwḇês mə·ḵab·bə·sîm mechabbeSim məḵabbəsîm tə·ḵab·bə·sê·nî tə·ḵab·bə·sî tə·ḵab·bês techabBes techabbeSeni techabbeSi təḵabbês təḵabbəsênî təḵabbəsî vaychabbeSu vechibbasTem vechibBes vechibbeSu vechubBas way·ḵab·bə·sū wayḵabbəsū wə·ḵib·bas·tem wə·ḵib·bə·sū wə·ḵib·bes wə·ḵub·bas wəḵibbastem wəḵibbes wəḵibbəsū wəḵubbas yə·ḵab·bês yechabBes yəḵabbêsInterlinear Greek • Interlinear Hebrew • Strong's Numbers • Englishman's Greek Concordance • Englishman's Hebrew Concordance • Parallel Texts