Numbers 19

1 Yahweh said to Aaron and Moses/me,

And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying,

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 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.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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 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.

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 that burns her shall wash his garments, and bathe his body, and shall 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.

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.

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 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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

And every open vessel which has not a covering bound upon it, shall 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 every one who shall touch a man slain by violence, or a corpse, or human bone, or sepulchre, shall be unclean 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 they shall take for the unclean of the burnt ashes of purification, and they shall pour upon them running water into 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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.”

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