Numbers 19

1 Yahweh said to Aaron and Moses/me,

And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron,

2 “I am now giving to you another regulation. Tell the Israeli people to bring to you one reddish-brown cow that has no defects. It must be an animal that (has never been/no one has ever) used for plowing ground.

This is the rule of the law which the Lord has made, saying, Give orders to the children of Israel to give you a red cow without any mark on her, and on which the yoke has never been put:

3 Give it to Eleazar, the priest. He must take it outside the camp and slaughter it [and drain the blood in a basin].

Give her to Eleazar the priest and let him take her outside the tent-circle and have her put to death before him.

4 He must dip one of his fingers in the blood and sprinkle some of it seven times [on the ground] near the Sacred Tent.

Then let Eleazar the priest take some of her blood on his finger, shaking the blood seven times in the direction of the front of the Tent of meeting:

5 Then, while Eleazar watches, the cow must be burned completely—its hide, its meat, [the rest of] its blood, and even its dung.

And the cow is to be burned before him, her skin and her flesh and her blood and her waste are to be burned:

6 Eliezer then must take a stick of cedar wood, a stalk of [a plant named] hyssop, and some scarlet/red yarn, and throw them into the fire where the cow is burning.

Then let the priest take cedar-wood and hyssop and red thread, and put them into the fire where the cow is burning.

7 “Then the priest must wash his clothes and bathe. After doing that, he may return to the camp. But he will be unfit for doing any sacred work until that evening.

And the priest, after washing his clothing and bathing his body in water, may come back to the tent-circle, and will be unclean till evening.

8 The man who burns the cow must also wash his clothes and bathe, and he will also be unacceptable to me until that evening.

And he who does the burning is to have his clothing washed and his body bathed in water and be unclean till evening.

9 “Then someone who has not become unacceptable to me must gather up the ashes of the cow and put them in a (sacred place/place that is acceptable to me) outside the camp. The ashes must be kept there for the people of Israel to [use when they] mix it with water for the ritual to remove the guilt of sin.

Then let a man who is clean take the dust of the burned cow and put it outside the tent-circle in a clean place, where it is to be kept for the children of Israel and used in making the water which takes away what is unclean: it is a sin-offering.

10 The man who gathers up the ashes of the cow must [also] wash his clothes, and he [also] will be unfit to do any more sacred work until that evening. That is a regulation that will never be changed. It must be obeyed by you Israeli people and by any foreigners who live among you.

And he who takes up the dust of the burned cow is to have his clothing washed with water and be unclean till evening: this is to be a law for ever, for the children of Israel as well as for the man from another country who is living among them.

11 “All those who touch a corpse will be unacceptable to me for seven days.

Anyone touching a dead body will be unclean for seven days:

12 On the third day and on the seventh day [after touching a corpse], in order to become acceptable to me again, [they must have sprinkled on them] some of that water for removing the guilt of their sin. If they do not do that on both of those days, they will continue to be unacceptable to me.

On the third day and on the seventh day he is to make himself clean with the water, and so he will be clean: but if he does not do this on the third day and on the seventh day, he will not be clean.

13 All those who touch a corpse, and do not perform in the correct way the ritual to become acceptable to me again, defile Yahweh’s Sacred Tent. They will no longer be permitted to live among the Israeli people. The water to remove the guilt of sin was not sprinkled on them, so they continue to be unacceptable to me.

Anyone touching the body of a dead man without making himself clean in this way, makes the House of the Lord unclean; and that man will be cut off from Israel: because the water was not put on him, he will be unclean; his unclean condition is unchanged.

14 “There is another ritual that must be performed when someone dies inside a tent. All those who were inside that tent when that person died or who enter that tent will be unacceptable to me for seven days.

This is the law when death comes to a man in his tent: everyone who comes into the tent, and everyone who is in the tent, will be unclean for seven days.

15 Any jars that are inside that tent that are not covered are not permitted to be used.

And every open vessel without a cover fixed on it will be unclean.

16 If someone who is out in a field touches the corpse of someone who was murdered, or who died from natural causes, or if someone touches a bone from some human or touches a grave, that person will be unacceptable to me for seven days.

And anyone touching one who has been put to death with the sword in the open country, or the body of one who has come to his end by a natural death, or a man's bone, or the resting-place of a dead body, will be unclean for seven days.

17 “For someone like that to become acceptable to me again, some of the ashes from [the cow] that was burned must be taken and put in a jar. Then some fresh water must be poured over the ashes.

And for the unclean, they are to take the dust of the burning of the sin-offering, and put flowing water on it in a vessel:

18 Then someone who is still acceptable to me must take a stalk of [a plant named] hyssop and dip it into the water. Then that person must sprinkle some of the water on the tent where that person died, on the things that are in the tent, and on the people who were in the tent. He must also sprinkle some of that water on any person who touched a human bone or who touched a person who died, or who touched a grave.

And a clean person is to take hyssop and put it in the water, shaking it over the tent, and all the vessels, and the people who were there, and over him by whom the bone, or the body of one who has been put to death with the sword, or the body of one who has come to his end by a natural death, or the resting-place was touched.

19 On the third day and on the seventh day after that, the person who is acceptable to me must sprinkle some of that water on those who have become unacceptable to me. On the seventh day, the people who are performing that ritual to become acceptable to me again must wash their clothes and bathe. If they do that, on that evening they will become acceptable to me again.

Let the clean person do this to the unclean on the third day and on the seventh day: and on the seventh day he is to make him clean; and after washing his clothing and bathing himself in water, he will be clean in the evening.

20 “If those who have become unacceptable to me do not become acceptable to me again by doing this, they will no longer be permitted to live among the Israeli people, because they have defiled my Sacred Tent. They did not sprinkle on themselves the water that removes the guilt of their sins, so they remain unacceptable to me.

But the man who, being unclean, does not make himself clean in this way, will be cut off from the meeting of the people, because he has made the holy place of the Lord unclean: the water has not been put on him, he is unclean.

21 That is a law for the Israeli people that will never be changed. Those who sprinkle that water on themselves must then wash their clothes. And anyone who touches that water which removes guilt for sins will remain unacceptable to God until that evening.

This is to be a law for them for ever: he who puts the water on the unclean person is to have his clothing washed; and anyone touching the water will be unclean till evening.

22 “If someone touches a thing or a person that has become unacceptable to me, that person will remain unacceptable to me until that evening.”

Anything touched by the unclean person will be unclean; and any person touching it will be unclean till evening.