² This is the statute for the ritual which the Lord has commanded. Tell the Israelites to procure for you a red heifer without defect and free from every blemish and on which no yoke has ever been laid.

^3 (A)When it is established which city is nearest the corpse, the elders of that city shall take a heifer that has never been put to work or worn a yoke;

³ They transported the ark of God on a new cart and took it away from the house of Abinadab on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio, sons of Abinadab, were guiding the cart,^(A)