A Biblical expression applicable to conditions of the genital organs of men and women. (Le 15:2, 19, 25; Nu 5:2, 3; 2Sa 3:29) In the case of men, it related to an unhealthy state, in which there was a flow of matter from the genital organ or the organ was obstructed by such matter. (Le 15:2, 3) No male offspring of Aaron was permitted to eat of “the holy things” while unclean because of a running discharge.​—Le 22:4.

The expression “running discharge” sometimes applied to a woman’s regular, normal menstrual flow. (Le 15:19-24) Yet it was also used to designate a diseased, extended, and thus abnormal, flow of blood. (Le 15:25-30) In the latter sense, it applied to the chronic “flow of blood” from which one woman suffered for 12 years before Jesus Christ cured her.​—Mt 9:20-22.

According to the Law, a person having a running discharge was unclean, made articles and persons he or she touched unclean, and so forth. After a diseased discharge ceased, the individual took specified steps for purification.​—Le 15; see CLEAN, CLEANNESS.