Numbers 19

1 Then the LORD said to Moses and Aaron,

And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying:

2 “This is the statute of the law that the LORD has commanded: Instruct the Israelites to bring you an unblemished red heifer that has no defect and has never been placed under a yoke.

“This is the ritual that the Lord has appointed for a victim. Instruct the sons of Israel, so that they may bring to you a red cow of full maturity, in which there is no blemish, and which has not carried a yoke.

3 Give it to Eleazar the priest, and he will have it brought outside the camp and slaughtered in his presence.

And you shall deliver it to Eleazar the priest, who, having led it out beyond the camp, shall immolate it in the sight of all.

4 Eleazar the priest is to take some of its blood on his finger and sprinkle it seven times toward the front of the Tent of Meeting.

And dipping his finger in its blood, he shall sprinkle it seven times, opposite the door of the tabernacle.

5 Then the heifer must be burned in his sight. Its hide, its flesh, and its blood are to be burned, along with its dung.

And he shall burn it, while all are watching, delivering into the flame, not only its skin and flesh, but also the blood and dung.

6 The priest is to take cedar wood, hyssop, and scarlet wool and throw them onto the burning heifer.

Likewise, cedar wood, and hyssop, and twice-dyed scarlet he shall cast into the flame, by which the cow is consumed.

7 Then the priest must wash his clothes and bathe his body in water; after that he may enter the camp, but he will be ceremonially unclean until evening.

And then finally, having washed his garments and his body, he shall enter into the camp, and he shall be deeply stained until evening.

8 The one who burned the heifer must also wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and he too will be ceremonially unclean until evening.

Then he also who had burned it shall wash his garments and his body, and he shall be unclean until evening.

9 Then a man who is ceremonially clean is to gather up the ashes of the heifer and store them in a ceremonially clean place outside the camp. They must be kept by the congregation of Israel for preparing the water of purification; this is for purification from sin.

Then a clean man shall gather the ashes of the cow, and he shall pour them out beyond the camp, in a very pure place, so that they may be preserved for the multitude of the sons of Israel, and for the water of aspersion, because the cow was burned for sin.

10 The man who has gathered up the ashes of the heifer must also wash his clothes, and he will be ceremonially unclean until evening. This is a permanent statute for the Israelites and for the foreigner residing among them.

And when he who had carried the ashes of the cow will have washed his garments, he shall be unclean until evening. The sons of Israel, and the newcomers who live among them, shall have this as a holy and perpetual right.

11 Whoever touches any dead body will be unclean for seven days.

Whoever touches the corpse of a man, and is, because of this, unclean for seven days,

12 He must purify himself with the water on the third day and on the seventh day; then he will be clean. But if he does not purify himself on the third and seventh days, he will not be clean.

shall be sprinkled from this water on the third and seventh days, and so shall he be cleansed. But if he was not sprinkled on the third day, he is not able to be cleansed on the seventh.

13 Anyone who touches a human corpse and fails to purify himself defiles the tabernacle of the LORD. That person must be cut off from Israel. He remains unclean, because the water of purification has not been sprinkled on him, and his uncleanness is still on him.

Anyone who will have touched the dead body of a human life, and who has not been sprinkled with this mixture, pollutes the tabernacle of the Lord, and he shall perish out of Israel. For not having been sprinkled with the water of expiation, he shall be unclean, and his filth shall remain upon him.

14 This is the law when a person dies in a tent: Everyone who enters the tent and everyone already in the tent will be unclean for seven days,

This is the law of a man who dies in a tent. All who enter into his tent, and all the vessels which are there, shall be polluted for seven days.

15 and any open container without a lid fastened on it is unclean.

The vessel that has no cover or binding over it shall be unclean.

16 Anyone in the open field who touches someone who has been killed by the sword or has died of natural causes, or anyone who touches a human bone or a grave, will be unclean for seven days.

If anyone in the field will have touched the corpse of a man, who was killed or who died on his own, or his bone, or his grave, he shall be unclean for seven days.

17 For the purification of the unclean person, take some of the ashes of the burnt sin offering, put them in a jar, and pour fresh water over them.

And they shall take some of the ashes from the burning and the sin offering, and they shall pour living waters over them into a vessel.

18 Then a man who is ceremonially clean is to take some hyssop, dip it in the water, and sprinkle the tent, all the furnishings, and the people who were there. He is also to sprinkle the one who touched a bone, a grave, or a person who has died or been slain.

And into it a man who is clean shall dip hyssop, and he shall sprinkle from it the entire tent, and all its articles, and the men who were polluted by means of contact.

19 The man who is ceremonially clean is to sprinkle the unclean person on the third day and on the seventh day. After he purifies the unclean person on the seventh day, the one being cleansed must wash his clothes and bathe in water, and that evening he will be clean.

And so, in this manner, what is clean shall purify what is unclean, on the third and seventh days. And having been expiated on the seventh day, he shall wash both himself and his garments, and he shall be unclean until evening.

20 But if a person who is unclean does not purify himself, he will be cut off from the assembly, because he has defiled the sanctuary of the LORD. The water of purification has not been sprinkled on him; he is unclean.

If anyone has not been expiated by this ritual, his soul shall perish from the midst of the Church. For he has polluted the Sanctuary of the Lord, and he has not been sprinkled with purifying waters.

21 This is a permanent statute for the people: The one who sprinkles the water of purification must wash his clothes, and whoever touches the water of purification will be unclean until evening.

This precept shall be an everlasting ordinance. Likewise, the one who has sprinkled the waters shall wash his garments. All who will have touched the waters of expiation shall be unclean until evening.

22 Anything the unclean person touches will become unclean, and anyone who touches it will be unclean until evening.”

Whatever has been touched by something unclean will itself be made unclean. And the soul who touches any of these things shall become unclean until evening.”