Bleach in the Bible

[ZipperJJ]

So I was checking out Mark 9:3 today:

@Mark 9:3 from the Amplified Bible

And His garments became glistening, intensely white, as no fuller (cloth dresser, launderer) on earth could bleach them.

The use of the word “bleach” really stuck out to me, particularly because I’ve been trying to study a little bit about the original meaning of words in the Bible.

I checked out a lot of different versions and a lot say “bleach.”

Some say:
“…as no launderer on earth can whiten them.” (New American Standard)
"…and his clothes became dazzling white, far whiter than any earthly bleach could ever make them. " (New Living Translation)
“…And his raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow; so as no fuller on earth can white them.” (KJV)

My version is the NRSV and it says “bleach” but I don’t have the passage handy.

Anyway, I realize that “bleaching” can happen in the sun, without chemicals, and no one was talking about Clorox (well maybe the newer versions are?) but I wonder really what the Greek or Hebrew of this passage might be. The word “bleach” just doesn’t fit.

Did people know they could bleach their clothes back then? Was there actually a word for it? I can understand the passages that say “whiten” but not really the ones that say just “bleach” or “the fuller can whiten them.”

FWIW, I checked on bible.com and found this:

@Malachi 3:2 NLT

For he will be like a blazing fire that refines metal, or like a strong soap that bleaches clothes.

[Q.E.D]

@ZipperJJ

I can understand the passages that say “whiten” but not really the ones that say just “bleach”…

Those two words are, in fact, synonymous.

bleach
O.E. blæcan, from P.Gmc. *blaikos “white,” from PIE *bhleg- “to gleam,” root of blanche, blank, bleak and probably black. The connection seems to be “burning, blazing, shining, whiteness.” That the same root yielded words for “black” and “white” is probably because both are colorless, and perhaps because both are associated with burning.

[ZipperJJ]

Yeah but that’s a Germanic term. I was looking to find the passage or the word in an older format like Greek or Hebrew.

[Chronos]

If it helps, here’s the Greek:

και τα ιματια αυτου εγενετο στιλβοντα λευκα λιαν ως χιων οια γναφευς επι της γης ου δυναται λευκαναι

I’ll refrain from making the obvious joke about my capability to understand that.

Biblegateway also has a Hebrew translation, but as might be expected, it covers only the Old Testament.

[Duck_Duck_Goose]

@ZipperJJ

Did people know they could bleach their clothes back then?

Yes, people did know they could bleach (or whiten) their clothes: wool cloth routinely was thoroughly washed with fuller’s earth, or fuller’s soap, to make it whiter. And linen of course was spread out in the sun to bleach, or whiten.

You need to get past the word “bleach”, is the thing. People didn’t have a chemical way to “bleach” cloth. But they did have ways to make light brown or light gray cloth white, or at least whiter that it was originally, hence the emphasis throughout the Bible on how amazingly white something was, “Whiter than snow! Whiter than wool!” In today’s world of white paper and white computer screens and chemically bleached white fabric, we tend to forget that white wasn’t a color that occurred naturally very often, and that took some doing to get there.

And people used the verb “to whiten” where we would use “to bleach”.

There is no Hebrew for this passage, as the New Testament was written in Greek.

The perks of being married to a former seminary student: I can go over to the bookshelf, drag out his Interlinear Bible, editor and translator Jay P. Green, Sr., blow the dust off it, and read you what it says for Mark 9:3

---

και
And

τα ιματια
the garments

αυτου
of him

εγενετο
became

στιλβοντα
shining,

**λευκα λιαν **
white very,

ως χιων
as snow,

**οια γναφευς **
such as a fuller

επι
on

**της γης **
the earth

ου
not

δυναται
is able

λευκαναι
to whiten.

---

Or: And the garments of him became shining, white very, as snow, such as a fuller on the earth not is able to whiten.

The various modern Bible translators use the word “bleach” because not that many people know what fuller’s earth is anymore. It’s just easier to say “bleach”. You’ll notice that the KJV, from 1611, did use “fuller”, because people in 1611 still knew what fullers did for a living.

[ZipperJJ]

Thank you!!! That’s exactly the answer I was looking for

This actually came up in a Bible class and my pastor, who actually does know Greek, did not have a Greek translation handy so he told me to go find out for myself. I knew I could count on the SDMB!

[Captain_Amazing]

@Duck Duck Goose

Yes, people did know they could bleach (or whiten) their clothes: wool cloth routinely was thoroughly washed with fuller’s earth, or fuller’s soap, to make it whiter. And linen of course was spread out in the sun to bleach, or whiten.

Just as a nitpick, in Roman times, urine was used more commonly than fullers earth.

[Blake]

@Captain Amazing

Just as a nitpick, in Roman times, urine was used more commonly than fullers earth.

As it was throughout history, right up until we discovered artificial bleaches.

In this context the passage doesn’t seem to be referring to fuller’s earth, but rather to all the people employed as fullers on the planet Earth. Such people were more likely to be using stale urine for bleaching than fuller’s earth.

[Tabula_Rasa]

@Blake

As it was throughout history, right up until we discovered artificial bleaches.

In this context the passage doesn’t seem to be referring to fuller’s earth, but rather to all the people employed as fullers on the planet Earth. Such people were more likely to be using stale urine for bleaching than fuller’s earth.

Natrum (natron), for its cleaning and bluing properties and Sarda (an earth like fuller’s earth, but white and with whitening properties --and from Sardinia) are likely suspects for use in late Biblical era treating of white cloth.