Numbers 19

The Water of Purification

1The LORD said to Moses and Aaron,2“Here is another legal requirement commanded 19:2 by the LORD: Tell the people of Israel to bring you a red heifer, a perfect animal that Lev 22:20-26 has no defects and has never been yoked to a plow. 3Give it to Eleazar the priest, and it will be taken outside the camp and slaughtered in his presence. 4Eleazar will take some Of its 194 seta blood on his finger and sprinkle it seven times toward the front of the Tabernacle.* 5As “woes Eleazar watches, the heifer must be burned—its hide, meat, blood, and dung. 6Eleazar the 19:6 priest must then take a stick of cedar,* a hyssop branch, and some scarlet yarn and throw tev 14:4, 6, 49 them into the fire where the heifer is burning. 19:7 7“Then the priest must wash his clothes and bathe himself in water. Afterward he may tev 11:25: return to the camp, though he will remain ceremonially unclean until evening. The man 16:26-28 who burns the animal must also wash his clothes and bathe himself in water, and he, too, will remain unclean until evening. 9Then someone whois ceremonially clean will gather up 18:9 7 19:18 the ashes of the heifer and deposit them in a purified place outside the camp. They willbe 2021 °° kept there for the community of Israel to use in the water for the purification ceremony. This ceremony is performed for the removal of sin. 10The man who gathers up the ashes of Nein 1927-8, 19 the heifer must also wash his clothes, and he will remain ceremonially unclean until evening. This is a permanent law for the people of Israel and any foreigners who live among them. 11”All those who touch a dead human body will be ceremonially unclean for seven days. 13/34. 12They must purify themselves on the third and seventh days with the water of purification; 49:12 then they will be purified. But if they do not do this on the third and seventh days, they will Num 19:17-19 continue to be unclean even after the seventh day. ‘All those who toucha dead bodyanddo [2'73..4.54. 45:31 not purify themselves in the proper way defile the LORD’s Tabernacle, and they will be cut 20:3; 22:3 5 off from the community of Israel. Since the water of purification was not sprinkled on them, their defilement continues. 14"This is the ritual law that applies when someone dies inside a tent: All those who enter that tent and those who were inside when the death occurred will be ceremonially unclean for seven days. 15Any open container in the tent that was not covered with a lid is also de- t9:18 filed. 16And if someone inan open field touches the corpse of someone who was killed with jum 19:11; 31:19 a sword or who died a natural death, or if someone touches a human bone or a grave, that person will be defiled for seven days. 17"To remove the defilement, put some of the ashes from the burnt purification offer- 19:17, I ing in a jar, and pour fresh water over them. 18Then someone who is ceremonially clean Num 19:9 must take a hyssop branch and dip it into the water. That person must sprinkle the water on the tent, on all the furnishings in the tent, and on the people who were in the tent; also onthe person who touched a human bone, or touched someone who was killed or who died naturally, or touched a grave. 19On the third and seventh days the person who is ceremonially clean must sprinkle the water on those who are defiled. Then on the seventh day the people being cleansed must wash their clothes and bathe themselves, and that evening they will be cleansed of their defilement. 20“But those who become defiled and do not purify themselves will be cut off from the community, for they have defiled the sanctuary of the LORD. Since the water of purification has not been sprinkled on them, they remain defiled. 21This is a permanent law for the people. Those who sprinkle the water of purification must afterward wash their clothes, and anyone who then touches the water used for purification will remain defiled until evening. 22Anything and anyone that a defiled person touches will be ceremonially unclean until evening.” 4. The new generation