⁴ for it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats take away sins.^(A)

⁶ Aaron shall offer the bull, his purification offering, to make atonement^[a] for himself and for his household. ⁷ Taking the two male goats and setting them before the Lord at the entrance of the tent of meeting, ⁸ he shall cast lots^(A) to determine which one is for the Lord and which for Azazel.^{[b](B) 9} The goat that is determined by lot for the Lord, Aaron shall present and offer up as a purification offering. ¹⁰ But the goat determined by lot for Azazel he shall place before the Lord alive, so that with it he may make atonement by sending it off to Azazel in the desert.

¹¹ Thus shall Aaron offer his bull for the purification offering, to make atonement for himself and for his family. When he has slaughtered it, ¹² he shall take a censer full of glowing embers from the altar before the Lord, as well as a double handful of finely ground fragrant incense, and bringing them inside the veil, ¹³ there before the Lord he shall put incense on the fire, so that a cloud of incense may shield the cover that is over the covenant, else he will die. ¹⁴ Taking some of the bull’s blood, he shall sprinkle it with his finger on the front of the ark’s cover and likewise sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times in front of the cover.

¹⁵ Then he shall slaughter the goat of the people’s purification offering, and bringing its blood inside the veil, he shall do with it as he did with the bull’s blood, sprinkling it on the ark’s cover and in front of it. ¹⁶ Thus he shall purge the inner sanctuary^[c] of all the Israelites’ impurities and trespasses, including all their sins. He shall do the same for the tent of meeting,^(C) which is set up among them in the midst of their uncleanness.

⁹ Then somebody who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer and deposit them in a clean place outside the camp. There they are to be kept to prepare purification water for the Israelite community. This is a purification offering.

¹⁴ This is the ritual: When someone dies in a tent, everyone who enters the tent, as well as everyone already in it, will be unclean for seven days; ¹⁵ and every open vessel with its lid unfastened will be unclean. ¹⁶ Moreover, everyone who in the open country touches a person who has been slain by the sword or who has died naturally, or who touches a human bone or a grave, will be unclean for seven days. ¹⁷ For anyone who is thus unclean, ashes shall be taken from the burnt purification offering, and spring water will be poured on them from a vessel.^{(A) 18} Then someone who is clean will take hyssop, dip it in this water, and sprinkle it on the tent and on all the vessels and persons that were in it, or on the one who touched the bone, the slain person or the other corpse, or the grave. ¹⁹ The clean will sprinkle the unclean on the third and on the seventh day, and thus purify them on the seventh day. Then they will wash their garments and bathe in water, and in the evening be clean. ^20 [a]Those who become unclean and fail to purify themselves—those people will be cut off from the assembly, because they defile the sanctuary of the Lord. The purification water has not been splashed over them; they remain unclean. ²¹ This will be a permanent statute for you.

Those who sprinkle the purification water will wash their garments, and those who come in contact with the purification water will be unclean until evening.