Numbers 19

1 And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying,

The Lord told Moses and Aaron,

2 This is the constitution of the law, as the Lord has commanded, saying, Speak to the sons of Israel, and let them take for you a red heifer without spot, which has no spot on her, and on which no yoke has been put.

“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.

3 And you shall give her to Eleazar the priest; and they shall bring her out of the camp into a clean place, and shall kill her before his face.

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

4 And Eleazar shall take of her blood, and sprinkle of her blood seven times in front of the tabernacle of witness.

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.

5 And they shall burn her to ashes before him; and her skin and her flesh and her blood, with her dung, shall be consumed.

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.

6 And the priest shall take cedar wood and hyssop and scarlet wool, and they shall cast them into the midst of the burning of the heifer.

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

7 And the priest shall wash his garments, and bathe his body in water, and afterwards he shall go into the camp, and the priest shall be unclean till evening.

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.

8 And he that burns her shall wash his garments, and bathe his body, and shall be unclean till evening.

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.

9 And a clean man shall gather up the ashes of the heifer, and lay them up in a clean place outside the camp; and they shall be for the congregation of the children of Israel to keep: it is the water of sprinkling, a purification.

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.

10 And he that gathers up the ashes of the heifer shall wash his garments, and shall be unclean until evening; and it shall be a perpetual statute for the children of Israel and for the strangers joined to them.

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.

11 He that touches the dead body of any man, shall be unclean seven days.

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

12 He shall be purified on the third day and the seventh day, and shall be clean; but if he be not purged on the third day and the seventh day, he shall not be clean.

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.

13 Every one that touches the carcase of the person of a man, if he should have died, and [the other] not have been purified, has defiled the tabernacle of the Lord: that soul shall be cut off from Israel, because the water of sprinkling has not been sprinkled upon him; he is unclean; his uncleanness is yet upon him.

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.

14 And this [is] the law; if a man die in a house, every one that goes into the house, and all things in the house, shall be unclean seven days.

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.

15 And every open vessel which has not a covering bound upon it, shall be unclean.

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

16 And every one who shall touch a man slain by violence, or a corpse, or human bone, or sepulchre, shall be unclean seven days.

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.

17 And they shall take for the unclean of the burnt ashes of purification, and they shall pour upon them running water into a vessel.

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.

18 And a clean man shall take hyssop, and dip it into the water, and sprinkle it upon the house, and the furniture, and all the souls that are therein, and upon him that touched the human bone, or the slain man, or the corpse, or the tomb.

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.

19 And the clean man shall sprinkle [the water] on the unclean on the third day and on the seventh day, and on the seventh day he shall purify himself; and [the other] shall wash his garments, and bathe himself in water, and shall be unclean until evening.

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.

20 And whatever man shall be defiled and shall not purify himself, that soul shall be cut off from the midst of the congregation, because he has defiled the holy things of the Lord, because the water of sprinkling has not been sprinkled upon him; he is unclean.

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.

21 And it shall be to you a perpetual statute; and he that sprinkles the water of sprinkling shall wash his garments; and he that touches the water of sprinkling shall be unclean until evening.

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.

22 And whatever the unclean man shall touch shall be unclean, and the soul that touches it shall be unclean till evening.

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