Old Testament · Numbers

Numbers 19

The Red Heifer

1And the LORD spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying: 2This is the statute^a of the Torah which the LORD commanded^b, saying: Speak to the sons of Israel, that they take to you a red heifer, perfect, in which there is no blemish, upon which no yoke has come up. 3And you shall give her to Eleazar the priest, and he shall bring her out to outside the camp, and he shall slaughter her before his face.

4And Eleazar the priest shall take of her blood with his finger, and sprinkle of her blood toward the front of the tent^c of appointed time (mo-ed) seven times. 5And he shall burn the heifer before his eyes; her skin, and her flesh^d, and her blood, with her dung, he shall burn. 6And the priest shall take cedar wood, and hyssop, and scarlet, and cast them into the midst of the burning of the heifer.

7And the priest shall wash his garments, and bathe his flesh in the water, and afterward he shall come into the camp, and the priest shall be unclean before(ad עד) the evening. 8And he that burns her shall wash his garments in the water, and bathe his flesh in the water, and shall be unclean before(ad עד) the evening.

9And a clean man^e shall gather the ashes of the heifer, and lay them outside the camp in a clean place, and it shall be for the congregation of the sons of Israel for a charge^f, for water of impurity; it is a sin offering. 10And he that gathers the ashes of the heifer shall wash his garments, and be unclean before(ad עד) the evening; and it shall be to the sons of Israel, and to the sojourner that sojourns among them, for an everlasting statute.

Purification of the Unclean

11He that touches the dead, even any soul^g of a man^h, shall be unclean seven days. 12He shall purify himself with it on the third day and on the seventh day, and he shall be clean; but if he does not purify himself on the third day and on the seventh day, he shall not be clean. 13Everyone that touches the dead, the soul of the man that dies, and does not purify himself, has defiled the tabernacleⁱ of the LORD; and that soul shall be cut off from Israel; because the water of impurity was not dashed upon him, he shall be unclean; his uncleanness is yet upon him.

14This is the Torah: when a man dies in a tent, everyone that comes into the tent, and everything that is in the tent, shall be unclean seven days. 15And every open vessel, which has no covering bound upon it, it is unclean.

16And everyone that touches, upon the face of the field, one slain with a sword, or a dead one, or a bone of a man, or a grave, shall be unclean seven days.

17And for the unclean they shall take of the dust^j of the burning of the sin offering, and he shall put upon it living^k water in a vessel. 18And a clean man shall take hyssop, and dip it in the water, and sprinkle upon the tent, and upon all the vessels, and upon the souls that were there, and upon him that touched the bone, or the slain, or the dead, or the grave.

19And the clean shall sprinkle upon the unclean on the third day and on the seventh day; and on the seventh day he shall purify him; and he shall wash his garments, and bathe in the water, and shall be clean at evening. 20And the man that is unclean and does not purify himself, that soul shall be cut off from the midst of the assembly, because he has defiled the sanctuary of the LORD; the water of impurity has not been dashed upon him; he is unclean.

21And it shall be for them an everlasting statute. And he that sprinkles the water of impurity shall wash his garments; and he that touches the water of impurity shall be unclean before(ad עד) the evening. 22And everything that the unclean touches shall be unclean; and the soul that touches it shall be unclean before(ad עד) the evening.