Numbers 19

1 The Lord told Moses and Aaron,

Yahweh spoke to Moses and Aaron. He said,

2 “This is a legal regulation the Lord has ordered, saying, ‘Tell the Israelites to bring you a red cow without defects which has never been yoked.

“This is a statute, a law which I am commanding you: Say to the people of Israel that they must bring to you a red heifer without flaw or blemish, and which has never carried a yoke.

3 Hand it over to Eleazar the priest, and he will take it outside the camp and have it slaughtered before him.

Give the heifer to Eleazar the priest. He must bring it outside the camp, and someone must kill it in front of him.

4 Eleazar the priest will put some of its blood on his finger and sprinkle it seven times towards the entrance of the Tent of Meeting.

Eleazar the priest must take some of its blood with his finger and sprinkle it seven times toward the front of the tent of meeting.

5 Then the cow must be burned as he watches All of it is to be burned—its skin, meat, and blood, as well as its excrement.

Another priest must burn the heifer in his sight. He must burn its hide, flesh, and its blood with its dung.

6 The priest shall throw cedar wood, hyssop, and crimson thread on the burning cow.

The priest must take cedarwood, hyssop, and scarlet wool, and throw it all into the middle of the burning heifer.

7 Then the priest shall wash his clothes and his body in water, and after that he may enter the camp, but he will remain unclean until the evening.

Then he must wash his clothes and bathe in water. Then he may come into the camp, where he will remain unclean until the evening.

8 The person who burned the cow shall also wash his clothes and his body in water, and he too will remain unclean until the evening.

The one who has burned the heifer must wash his clothes in water and bathe in water. He will remain unclean until the evening.

9 Then a man who is clean shall collect the ashes of the cow and keep them in a clean place outside the camp. They are to be kept by the Israelites to prepare the water of purification which is for purifying from sin.

Someone who is clean must gather up the heifer's ashes and put them outside the camp in a clean place. These ashes must be kept for the community of the people of Israel. They will mix the ashes with water for purification from sin, since the ashes were from a sin offering.

10 The man who collected the ashes of the cow shall also wash his clothes, and he will remain unclean until the evening. This is a permanent rule for the Israelites and for the foreigner that lives with them.

The one who gathered the heifer's ashes must wash his clothes. He will remain unclean until the evening. This will be a permanent law for the people of Israel and the foreigners who stay with them.

11 If you touch a dead body you will be unclean for seven days.

Whoever touches the dead body of any man will be unclean for seven days.

12 You must purify yourself with the water of purification on the third day and on the seventh day, and then you will be clean. But if you don't purify yourself on the third and seventh days, you won't be clean.

Such a person must purify himself on the third day and on the seventh day. Then he will be clean. But if he does not purify himself the third day, then he will not be clean on the seventh day.

13 If you touch a dead body and don't purify yourself you make the Tabernacle of the Lord unclean and must be expelled from Israel. You are still unclean because the water of purification hasn't been sprinkled on you, and your uncleanness remains.

Whoever touches a dead person, the body of a man who has died, and does not purify himself—this person defiles Yahweh's tabernacle. That person must be cut off from Israel because the water for impurity was not sprinkled on him. He will remain unclean; his uncleanness will remain on him.

14 The following regulation applies when a person dies in a tent. Everyone who comes into the tent and everyone who is already in the tent will be unclean for seven days.

This is the law for when someone dies in a tent. Everyone who goes into the tent and everyone who is already in the tent will be unclean for seven days.

15 Any open container there that doesn't have a closed lid is unclean.

Every open container with no cover becomes unclean.

16 If you're out in the open and you touch someone who has been killed by the sword or who has died naturally, or if you touch a human bone or a grave, then you'll be unclean for seven days.

Similarly, anyone outside a tent who touches someone who has been killed with a sword, any other dead body, a human bone, or a grave—that person will be unclean for seven days.

17 This is the process for the purification if you are unclean. Take some of the ashes of the burnt offering for purification, and put them in a jar with fresh water.

Do this for the unclean person: Take some ashes from the burnt sin offering and mix them in a jar with fresh water.

18 A man who is clean shall take some hyssop and dip it in the water. Then sprinkle the tent and everything inside it, and everybody who was there. He would also need to sprinkle you if you who touched a bone, or a grave, or someone who has died or has been killed.

Someone who is clean must then take hyssop, dip it in the water, and sprinkle it on the tent, on all the containers inside the tent, on the persons who were there, and on anyone who touched the bone, the one who was killed, the one who died, or the grave.

19 The man who is clean is to sprinkle you both on the third day and on the seventh day. After you are purified on the seventh day, you must wash your clothes and yourself in water, and that evening you'll be clean.

On the third day and on the seventh day, the clean person must sprinkle the unclean person. On the seventh day the unclean person must purify himself. He must wash his clothes and bathe in water. At evening he will become clean.

20 But if you don't purify yourself, you will be expelled from the Israelites, because you have made the Tabernacle of the Lord unclean. The water of purification hasn't been sprinkled on you, and you remain unclean.

But anyone who remains unclean, who refuses to purify himself—that person will be cut off from the community, because he has defiled Yahweh's sanctuary. The water for impurity has not been sprinkled on him; he remains unclean.

21 This is a permanent rule for the everyone. The man who sprinkles the water of purification must wash his clothes, and anyone who touches the water of purification will be unclean until the evening.

This will be an ongoing law concerning these situations. The one who sprinkles the water for impurity must wash his clothes. The one who touches the water for impurity will become unclean until evening.

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

Whatever the unclean person touches will become unclean. The person who touches it will become unclean until evening.”