1The LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron. He said,2‘Here is what the law I have commanded requires. Tell the Israelites to bring you a young red cow. It must not have any flaws at all. It must never have pulled a load.3Give it to Eleazar the priest. It must be taken outside the camp and killed in front of him.4Then Eleazar the priest must put some of its blood on his finger. He must sprinkle the blood towards the front of the tent of meeting. He must do it seven times.5While he watches, the young cow must be burned. Its hide, meat, blood and guts must be burned.6The priest must get some cedar wood, branches of a hyssop plant, and bright red wool. He must throw them on the young cow as it burns.7After that, the priest must wash his clothes. He must also take a bath. Then he can come into the camp. But he will be “unclean” until evening.8The man who burns the young cow must wash his clothes. He must also take a bath. He too will be “unclean” until evening.9‘A man who is “clean” will gather up the ashes of the young cow. He must put them in a place that is “clean”. The place must be outside the camp. The ashes must be kept by the community of Israel. They will be added to the special water. The water will be used to make people pure from their sin.10The man who gathers up the ashes of the young cow must wash his clothes. He too will be “unclean” until evening. This law is for the Israelites. It is also for the outsiders living among them. The law will last for all time to come.11‘Anyone who touches a dead person’s body will be “unclean” for seven days.12They must make themselves pure and “clean” with the special water. They must do it on the third day. They must also do it on the seventh day. Then they will be “clean”. But suppose they do not make themselves pure and “clean” on the third and seventh days. Then they will not be “clean”.13Anyone who touches a dead person’s body and does not make themselves pure and “clean” makes my holy tent “unclean”. They must be separated from Israel. The special water has not been sprinkled on them. So they are “unclean”. And they remain “unclean”.14‘Here is the law that applies when a person dies in a tent. Anyone who enters the tent will be “unclean” for seven days. Anyone in the tent will also be “unclean” for seven days.15And anything in it that is open and has no lid will be “unclean”.16‘Suppose someone is out in the country. And suppose they touch someone who has been killed by a sword. Or they touch someone who has died a natural death. Or they touch a human bone or a grave. Then anyone who touches any of those things will be “unclean” for seven days.17‘Here is what I want you to do for someone who is “unclean”. Put some ashes from the burned young cow into a jar. Pour fresh water on the ashes.18Then a man who is “clean” must dip branches of a hyssop plant in the water. He must sprinkle the tent with it. Everything that belongs to the tent must be sprinkled with it. The people in the tent must also be sprinkled. Anyone who has touched a human bone or a grave must be sprinkled. So must anyone who has touched someone who has been killed. And so must anyone who has touched someone who has died a natural death.19The man who is “clean” must sprinkle those who are “unclean”. That must be done on the third and seventh days. On the seventh day those who are “unclean” must be made pure and “clean”. Those being made “clean” must wash their clothes. They must take a bath. Then that evening they will be “clean”.20But what if those who are “unclean” do not make themselves pure and “clean?” Then they must be separated from the community. They have made my holy tent “unclean”. The special water has not been sprinkled on them. They are “unclean”.21This law will apply to all those people for all time to come. ‘The man who sprinkles the special water must also wash his clothes. Anyone who touches the water will be “unclean” until evening.22Anything that an “unclean” person touches becomes “unclean”. And anyone who touches it becomes “unclean” until evening.’
Numbers 19
English Standard Version
Laws for Purification
1Now the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,2“This is the statute of the law that the Lord has commanded: Tell the people of Israel to bring you a red heifer without defect, in which there is no blemish, and on which a yoke has never come. (De 21:3; 1Sa 6:7)3And you shall give it to Eleazar the priest, and it shall be taken outside the camp and slaughtered before him. (Le 4:12; Heb 13:11)4And Eleazar the priest shall take some of its blood with his finger, and sprinkle some of its blood toward the front of the tent of meeting seven times. (Le 4:6; Le 4:17; Le 16:14; Le 16:19; Heb 9:13)5And the heifer shall be burned in his sight. Its skin, its flesh, and its blood, with its dung, shall be burned. (Ex 29:14; Le 4:11)6And the priest shall take cedarwood and hyssop and scarlet yarn, and throw them into the fire burning the heifer. (Le 14:4; Le 14:6; Le 14:49)7Then the priest shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and afterward he may come into the camp. But the priest shall be unclean until evening. (Le 11:25)8The one who burns the heifer shall wash his clothes in water and bathe his body in water and shall be unclean until evening. (Nu 19:5; Nu 19:7)9And a man who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer and deposit them outside the camp in a clean place. And they shall be kept for the water for impurity for the congregation of the people of Israel; it is a sin offering. (Le 4:12; Le 6:11; Le 10:14; Nu 19:13; Nu 19:20; Nu 31:23; Heb 9:13)10And the one who gathers the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes and be unclean until evening. And this shall be a perpetual statute for the people of Israel, and for the stranger who sojourns among them. (Nu 19:7)11“Whoever touches the dead body of any person shall be unclean seven days. (Nu 5:2; Nu 9:6; Nu 9:10; Nu 19:16; Nu 31:19)12He shall cleanse himself with the water on the third day and on the seventh day, and so be clean. But if he does not cleanse himself on the third day and on the seventh day, he will not become clean. (Nu 31:19)13Whoever touches a dead person, the body of anyone who has died, and does not cleanse himself, defiles the tabernacle of the Lord, and that person shall be cut off from Israel; because the water for impurity was not thrown on him, he shall be unclean. His uncleanness is still on him. (Ex 30:33; Le 15:31; Nu 19:20)14“This is the law when someone dies in a tent: everyone who comes into the tent and everyone who is in the tent shall be unclean seven days.15And every open vessel that has no cover fastened on it is unclean. (Le 11:32; Nu 31:20)16Whoever in the open field touches someone who was killed with a sword or who died naturally, or touches a human bone or a grave, shall be unclean seven days. (Nu 19:11; Mt 23:27; Lu 11:44)17For the unclean they shall take some ashes of the burnt sin offering, and fresh[1] water shall be added in a vessel. (Heb 9:13)18Then a clean person shall take hyssop and dip it in the water and sprinkle it on the tent and on all the furnishings and on the persons who were there and on whoever touched the bone, or the slain or the dead or the grave. (Ex 12:22)19And the clean person shall sprinkle it on the unclean on the third day and on the seventh day. Thus on the seventh day he shall cleanse him, and he shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water, and at evening he shall be clean. (Le 11:25; Le 14:9; Nu 19:12)20“If the man who is unclean does not cleanse himself, that person shall be cut off from the midst of the assembly, since he has defiled the sanctuary of the Lord. Because the water for impurity has not been thrown on him, he is unclean. (Ex 30:33)21And it shall be a statute forever for them. The one who sprinkles the water for impurity shall wash his clothes, and the one who touches the water for impurity shall be unclean until evening.22And whatever the unclean person touches shall be unclean, and anyone who touches it shall be unclean until evening.” (Nu 19:11; Hag 2:13)