Numbers 19

1 And YHWH speaks to Moses and to Aaron, saying,

Then the LORD said to Moses and Aaron,

2 “This [is] a statute of the law which YHWH has commanded, saying, Speak to the sons of Israel, and they bring a red cow to you, a perfect one, in which there is no blemish, on which no yoke has gone up;

“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.

3 and you have given it to Eleazar the priest, and he has brought it out to the outside of the camp, and has slaughtered it before him.

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

4 And Eleazar the priest has taken of its blood with his finger, and has sprinkled [it] toward the front of the face of the Tent of Meeting from its blood seven times;

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.

5 and [one] has burned the cow before his eyes; her skin, and her flesh, and her blood, besides her dung, he burns;

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

6 and the priest has taken cedar wood, and hyssop, and scarlet, and has cast [them] into the midst of the burning of the cow;

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

7 and the priest has washed his garments, and has bathed his flesh with water, and afterward comes into the camp, and the priest is unclean until the evening;

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.

8 and he who is burning it washes his garments with water, and has bathed his flesh with water, and is unclean until the evening.

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.

9 And a clean man has gathered the ashes of the cow, and has placed [them] at the outside of the camp in a clean place, and it has become a charge for the congregation of the sons of Israel for waters of separation—it [is for] sin;

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.

10 and he who is gathering the ashes of the heifer has washed his garments and is unclean until the evening; and it has been to the sons of Israel and to the sojourner who is sojourning in their midst for a continuous statute.

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.

11 He who is coming against the dead body of any man is unclean [for] seven days;

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

12 he cleanses himself for it on the third day and on the seventh day, [and] he is clean; and if he does not cleanse himself on the third day and on the seventh day, he is not clean.

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.

13 Anyone who is coming against the dead, against the body of man who dies, and does not cleanse himself, he has defiled the Dwelling Place of YHWH, and that person has been cut off from Israel, for water of separation is not sprinkled on him; he is unclean; his uncleanness [is] still on him.

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.

14 This [is] the law when a man dies in a tent: everyone who is coming into the tent and all that [is] in the tent are unclean [for] seven days;

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,

15 and every open vessel which has no covering of thread on it is unclean.

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

16 And everyone on the face of the field who comes against the pierced of a sword, or against the dead, or against a bone of man, or against a grave, is unclean [for] seven days;

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.

17 and for the unclean person they have taken from the ashes of the burning of the [cow], and he has put running water over it into a vessel;

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.

18 and a clean person has taken hyssop, and has dipped [it] in water, and has sprinkled [it] on the tent, and on all the vessels, and on the persons who have been there, and on him who is coming against a bone, or against one pierced, or against the dead, or against a grave.

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.

19 And the clean has sprinkled [it] on the unclean on the third day and on the seventh day, and has cleansed him on the seventh day, and he has washed his garments, and has bathed with water, and has been clean in the evening.

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.

20 And the man who is unclean and does not cleanse himself, indeed, that person has been cut off from the midst of the assembly; for he has defiled the sanctuary of YHWH; water of separation is not sprinkled on him; he [is] unclean.

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.

21 And it has been for a continuous statute to them, that he who is sprinkling the water of separation washes his garments, and he who is coming against the water of separation is unclean until the evening,

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.

22 and all against which the unclean person comes is unclean, and the person who is coming against [it] is unclean until the evening.”

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