Laws of Purification

19 Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, ² “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. ³ You shall give it to Eleazar the priest, that he may take it ^(C)outside the camp, and it shall be slaughtered before him; ⁴ 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. ⁵ Then the heifer shall be burned in his sight: ^(E)its hide, its flesh, its blood, and its offal shall be burned. ⁶ 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. ^7 (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. ⁸ And the one who burns it shall wash his clothes in water, bathe in water, and shall be unclean until evening. ⁹ 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.

^11 (K)‘He who touches the dead ^[d]body of anyone shall be unclean seven days. ^12 (L)He shall purify himself with the water on the third day and on the seventh day; then he will be clean. But if he does not purify himself on the third day and on the seventh day, he will not be clean. ¹³ Whoever touches the body of anyone who has died, and ^(M)does not purify himself, ^(N)defiles the tabernacle of the Lord. That person shall be cut off from Israel. He shall be unclean, because ^(O)the water of purification was not sprinkled on him; ^(P)his uncleanness is still on him.

¹⁴ ‘This is the law when a man dies in a tent: All who come into the tent and all who are in the tent shall be unclean seven days; ¹⁵ and every ^(Q)open vessel, which has no cover fastened on it, is unclean. ^16 (R)Whoever in the open field touches one who is slain by a sword or who has died, or a bone of a man, or a grave, shall be unclean seven days.

¹⁷ ‘And for an unclean person they shall take some of the ^(S)ashes of the heifer burnt for purification from sin, and ^[e]running water shall be put on them in a vessel. ¹⁸ A clean person shall take ^(T)hyssop and dip it in the water, sprinkle it on the tent, on all the vessels, on the persons who were there, or on the one who touched a bone, the slain, the dead, or a grave. ¹⁹ The clean person shall sprinkle the unclean on the third day and on the seventh day; ^(U)and on the seventh day he shall purify himself, wash his clothes, and bathe in water; and at evening he shall be clean.

²⁰ ‘But the man who is unclean and does not purify himself, that person shall be cut off from among the assembly, because he has ^(V)defiled the sanctuary of the Lord. The water of purification has not been sprinkled on him; he is unclean. ²¹ It shall be a perpetual statute for them. He who sprinkles the water of purification shall wash his clothes; and he who touches the water of purification shall be unclean until evening. ^22 (W)Whatever the unclean person touches shall be unclean; and ^(X)the person who touches it shall be unclean until evening.’ ”

Moses’ Error at Kadesh^(Y)

20 Then^(Z) the children of Israel, the whole congregation, came into the Wilderness of Zin in the first month, and the people stayed in ^(AA)Kadesh; and ^(AB)Miriam died there and was buried there.

^2 (AC)Now there was no water for the congregation; ^(AD)so they gathered together against Moses and Aaron. ³ And the people ^(AE)contended with Moses and spoke, saying: “If only we had died ^(AF)when our brethren died before the Lord! ^4 (AG)Why have you brought up the assembly of the Lord into this wilderness, that we and our animals should die here? ⁵ And why have you made us come up out of Egypt, to bring us to this evil place? It is not a place of grain or figs or vines or pomegranates; nor is there any water to drink.” ⁶ So Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the door of the tabernacle of meeting, and ^(AH)they ^[f]fell on their faces. And ^(AI)the glory of the Lord appeared to them.

⁷ Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ^8 (AJ)“Take the rod; you and your brother Aaron gather the congregation together. Speak to the rock before their eyes, and it will yield its water; thus ^(AK)you shall bring water for them out of the rock, and give drink to the congregation and their animals.” ⁹ So Moses took the rod ^(AL)from before the Lord as He commanded him.

¹⁰ And Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock; and he said to them, ^(AM)“Hear now, you rebels! Must we bring water for you out of this rock?” ¹¹ Then Moses lifted his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod; ^(AN)and water came out abundantly, and the congregation and their animals drank.

¹² Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, “Because ^(AO)you did not believe Me, to ^(AP)hallow Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.”

^13 (AQ)This was the water of ^[g]Meribah, because the children of Israel contended with the Lord, and He was hallowed among them.

Passage Through Edom Refused

^14 (AR)Now Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of ^(AS)Edom. ^(AT)“Thus says your brother Israel: ‘You know all the hardship that has befallen us, ^15 (AU)how our fathers went down to Egypt, ^(AV)and we dwelt in Egypt a long time, ^(AW)and the Egyptians ^[h]afflicted us and our fathers. ^16 (AX)When we cried out to the Lord, He heard our voice and ^(AY)sent the Angel and brought us up out of Egypt; now here we are in Kadesh, a city on the edge of your border. ¹⁷ Please ^(AZ)let us pass through your country. We will not pass through fields or vineyards, nor will we drink water from wells; we will go along the King’s Highway; we will not turn aside to the right hand or to the left until we have passed through your territory.’ ”

¹⁸ Then ^(BA)Edom said to him, “You shall not pass through my land, lest I come out against you with the sword.”

¹⁹ So the children of Israel said to him, “We will go by the Highway, and if I or my livestock drink any of your water, ^(BB)then I will pay for it; let me only pass through on foot, nothing more.”

²⁰ Then he said, ^(BC)“You shall not pass through.” So Edom came out against them with many men and with a strong hand. ²¹ Thus Edom ^(BD)refused to give Israel passage through his territory; so Israel ^(BE)turned away from him.

Death of Aaron

²² Now the children of Israel, the whole congregation, journeyed from ^(BF)Kadesh ^(BG)and came to Mount Hor. ²³ And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in Mount Hor by the border of the land of Edom, saying: ²⁴ “Aaron shall ^[i]be ^(BH)gathered to his people, for he shall not enter the land which I have given to the children of Israel, because you rebelled against My word at the water of Meribah. ^25 (BI)Take Aaron and Eleazar his son, and bring them up to Mount Hor; ²⁶ and strip Aaron of his garments and put them on Eleazar his son; for Aaron shall be gathered to his people and die there.” ²⁷ So Moses did just as the Lord commanded, and they went up to Mount Hor in the sight of all the congregation. ^28 (BJ)Moses stripped Aaron of his garments and put them on Eleazar his son; and ^(BK)Aaron died there on the top of the mountain. Then Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain. ²⁹ Now when all the congregation saw that Aaron was dead, all the house of Israel mourned for Aaron ^(BL)thirty days.