Bamidbar 19
Orthodox Jewish Bible
19 And Hashem spoke unto Moshe and unto Aharon, saying,
2 This is the chukkat hatorah which Hashem hath commanded, saying, Speak unto the Bnei Yisroel, that they bring thee a completely red female cow [that has not produced a calf], wherein is no blemish, and upon which never came ol (yoke):
3 And ye shall give her unto Eleazar HaKohen, that he may bring her forth outside the machaneh, and one shall slaughter (shachat) her before his face;
4 And Eleazar HaKohen shall take of her dahm with his finger, and sprinkle of her dahm directly before the Ohel Mo’ed seven times;
5 And one shall burn the heifer in his sight; her hide, and her basar, and her dahm, with her dung, shall he burn;
6 And the kohen shall take cedar wood, and hyssop, and crimson thread, and cast it into the midst of the burning heifer.
7 Then the kohen shall wash his clothes, and he shall immerse his basar in mayim, and afterward he shall come into the machaneh, and the kohen shall be tamei until the erev.
8 And he that burneth her shall wash his clothes in mayim, and immerse his basar in mayim, and shall be tamei until the erev.
9 And a man that is tahor shall gather up the ashes of the cow, and lay them up outside the machaneh in a makom tahor, and it shall be in safekeeping for HaEdah Bnei Yisroel for water of sprinkling; it is for sinpurification.
10 And he that gathereth the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes, and be tamei until the erev; and it shall be unto the Bnei Yisroel, and unto the ger that sojourneth among them, for a chukkat olam.
11 He that toucheth the dead body of any man shall be tamei shivat yamim.
12 He shall make himself tahor with it on the Yom HaShelishi, and on the seventh day he shall be tahor; but if he does not make himself tahor on the Yom HaShelishi, then the seventh day he shall not be tahor.
13 Whosoever toucheth the body of any man that is dead, and maketh not himself tahor, makes tamei the Mishkan Hashem; and that nefesh shall be cut off from Yisroel; because the water of sprinkling was not sprinkled upon him, he shall be tamei; his tumah is yet upon him.
14 This is the torah, when a man dieth in an ohel, all that come into the ohel, and all that is in the ohel, shall be tamei seven days.
15 And every open vessel, which hath no covering bound upon it, is tamei.
16 And whosoever toucheth one that is slain with a cherev in the open fields, or a dead body, or a bone of a man, or a kever, shall be tamei seven days.
17 And for one who is tamei they shall take of the ashes of the burning of the purification [animal], and running mayim shall be put thereto in a vessel;
18 And an ish tahor shall take hyssop, and dip it in the mayim, and sprinkle it upon the ohel, and upon all the vessels, and upon the nefashot that were there, and upon him that touched a bone, or one slain, or one dead, or a kever;
19 And the tahor (clean person) shall sprinkle upon the tamei on the Yom HaShelishi, and on the seventh day; and on the seventh day he shall make himself tahor, and wash his clothes, and immerse himself in mayim, and shall be tahor at erev [T.N. On the messianic mikveh see Co 2:11-12].
20 But the man that shall be tamei, and shall not purify himself, that nefesh shall be cut off from among the Kahal, because he hath contaminated the Mikdash Hashem; the water of sprinkling hath not been sprinkled upon him; he is tamei.
21 And it shall be a chukkat olam unto them, that he that sprinkleth the water of sprinkling shall immerse his clothes; and he that toucheth the water of sprinkling shall be tamei until erev.
22 And whatsoever the tamei person toucheth shall be tamei; and the nefesh that toucheth it shall be tamei until erev.
Numbers 19
Living Bible
19 1-3 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Here is another of my laws: Tell the people of Israel to bring you a red heifer without defect, one that has never been yoked. Give her to Eleazar the priest and he shall take her outside the camp and someone shall kill her as he watches. 4 Eleazar shall take some of her blood upon his finger and sprinkle it seven times toward the front of the Tabernacle. 5 Then someone shall burn the heifer as he watches—her hide, meat, blood, and dung. 6 Eleazar shall take cedar wood and hyssop branches and scarlet thread, and throw them into the burning pile.
7 “Then he must wash his clothes, and bathe, and afterwards return to the camp and be ceremonially defiled until the evening. 8 And the one who burns the animal must wash his clothes and bathe, and he too shall be defiled until evening. 9 Then someone who is not ceremonially defiled shall gather up the ashes of the heifer and place them in some purified place outside the camp, where they shall be kept for the people of Israel as a source of water for the purification ceremonies, for removal of sin. 10 And the one who gathers up the ashes of the heifer must wash his clothes and be defiled until evening; this is a permanent law for the benefit of the people of Israel and any foreigners living among them.
11 “Anyone who touches a dead human body shall be defiled for seven days, 12 and must purify himself the third and seventh days with water run through the ashes of the red heifer[a]; then he will be purified; but if he does not do this on the third day, he will continue to be defiled even after the seventh day. 13 Anyone who touches a dead person and does not purify himself in the manner specified has defiled the Tabernacle of the Lord, and shall be excommunicated from Israel. The cleansing water was not sprinkled upon him, so the defilement continues.
14 “When a man dies in a tent, these are the various regulations: Everyone who enters the tent, and those who are in it at the time, shall be defiled seven days. 15 Any container in the tent without a lid over it is defiled.
16 “If someone out in a field touches the corpse of someone who has been killed in battle or who has died in any other way, or if he even touches a bone or a grave, he shall be defiled seven days. 17 To become purified again, ashes from the red heifer sin offering[b] are to be added to spring water in a kettle. 18 Then a person who is not defiled shall take hyssop branches and dip them into the water and sprinkle the water upon the tent and upon all the pots and pans in the tent, and upon anyone who has been defiled by being in the tent, or by touching a bone, or touching someone who has been killed or is otherwise dead, or has touched a grave. 19 This shall take place on the third and seventh days; then the defiled person must wash his clothes and bathe himself, and that evening he will be out from under the defilement.
20 “But anyone who is defiled and doesn’t purify himself shall be excommunicated, for he has defiled the sanctuary of the Lord, and the water to cleanse him has not been sprinkled upon him; so he remains defiled. 21 This is a permanent law. The man who sprinkles the water must afterwards wash his clothes; and anyone touching the water shall be defiled until evening. 22 And anything a defiled person touches shall be defiled until evening.”
Footnotes
- Numbers 19:12 run through the ashes of the red heifer, implied; see v. 17.
- Numbers 19:17 ashes from the red heifer sin offering, literally, “ashes of the burnt sin offering.”
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