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Water that makes people clean

19 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ‘This is another rule in the Lord's law that I am telling to you: Tell the Israelites that they must bring to you a young red cow. It must not have anything wrong with it. And nobody must have put a yoke on it. They must take the cow outside the camp. They must kill it and then give it to Eleazar the priest. Eleazar must take some of the blood from the cow. He must splash it seven times in front of the Tent of Meeting. Then they must burn the whole cow while Eleazar is watching. They must burn its body with the skin, meat, blood and everything that is inside its body. The priest must take some wood, some plants and some red wool. He must throw them on the fire. Then he must wash his clothes and he must wash his body with water. After that, he can come into the camp, but he will not be clean until the evening. And the man who burns the animal must also wash his clothes in water. And he must wash his body in water. He will not be clean until the evening.

Then a man who is clean must pick up all the ashes of the cow. And he must put them outside the camp in a clean place. Keep them safe there for all the Israelites. You must mix them with water to make special water. It will be water for someone who is not clean to make them holy again. It is water to remove sin. 10 The man who picks up the ashes must also wash his clothes. He will not be clean until evening. This rule is for the Israelites and for all the people who are living with them.

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Laws of Purification

19 Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, “This is the [a]ordinance of the law which the Lord has commanded, saying: ‘Speak to the children of Israel, that they bring you a red heifer without [b]blemish, in which there is no (A)defect (B)and on which a yoke has never come. You shall give it to Eleazar the priest, that he may take it (C)outside the camp, and it shall be slaughtered before him; and Eleazar the priest shall take some of its blood with his finger, and (D)sprinkle some of its blood seven times directly in front of the tabernacle of meeting. Then the heifer shall be burned in his sight: (E)its hide, its flesh, its blood, and its offal shall be burned. And the priest shall take (F)cedar wood and (G)hyssop and scarlet, and cast them into the midst of the fire burning the heifer. (H)Then the priest shall wash his clothes, he shall bathe in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp; the priest shall be unclean until evening. And the one who burns it shall wash his clothes in water, bathe in water, and shall be unclean until evening. Then a man who is clean shall gather up (I)the ashes of the heifer, and store them outside the camp in a clean place; and they shall be kept for the congregation of the children of Israel (J)for the water of [c]purification; it is for purifying from sin. 10 And the one who gathers the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until evening. It shall be a statute forever to the children of Israel and to the stranger who dwells among them.

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Footnotes

  1. Numbers 19:2 statute
  2. Numbers 19:2 defect
  3. Numbers 19:9 Lit. impurity