The ethical or spiritual meaning, either directly or figuratively, is found in the Old Testament chiefly in Job, Psalms, the Prophets, whose interest is ethico-religious, rather than ritual, but the predominant uses are found in the New Testament: "Cleanse yourselves (barar) ye that bear the vessels of Yahweh" (
Isa 52:11); "How can he be clean (zakhah) that is born of a woman?" (
Job 25:4) (principally moral, perhaps with allusion to the ceremonial defilement of childbirth); "The fear of Yahweh is clean" (
Ps 19:9), that is, the religion of Yahweh is morally undefiled, in contrast to heathen religions; "He that hath clean (naqi) hands, and a pure heart" (
Ps 24:4); "Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean" (Taher,
Ps 51:7); "Therefore said he, Ye are not all clean" (katharos,
Joh 13:11). Here, as in
Ps 51:7 and many others, the ritual furnishes a figure for the spiritual, illustrating the Divine purpose in the ritual, to impress, prefigure and prepare for the spiritual. A somewhat similar figurative moral use is found in
Ac 18:6: "Your blood be upon your own heads; I am clean" (katharos, "guiltless," "unstained").