Numbers 19
English Standard Version
Laws for Purification
19 Now the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, 2 “This is the statute of the law that the Lord has commanded: Tell the people of Israel to bring you a red heifer without defect, in which there is no blemish, (A)and on which a yoke has never come. 3 And you shall give it to Eleazar the priest, and (B)it shall be taken outside the camp and slaughtered before him. 4 And Eleazar the priest shall take some of its blood with his finger, and (C)sprinkle some of its blood toward the front of the tent of meeting seven times. 5 And the heifer shall be burned in his sight. (D)Its skin, its flesh, and its blood, with its dung, shall be burned. 6 And the priest shall take (E)cedarwood and hyssop and scarlet yarn, and throw them into the fire burning the heifer. 7 Then the priest (F)shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and afterward he may come into the camp. But the priest shall be unclean until evening. 8 (G)The one who burns the heifer (H)shall wash his clothes in water and bathe his body in water and shall be unclean until evening. 9 And a man who is clean shall gather up (I)the ashes of the heifer and deposit them outside the camp in a (J)clean place. And they shall be kept for the water for (K)impurity for the congregation of the people of Israel; it is a sin offering. 10 And the one who gathers the ashes of the heifer (L)shall wash his clothes and be unclean until evening. And this shall be a perpetual statute for the people of Israel, and for the stranger who sojourns among them.
11 (M)“Whoever touches the dead body of any person shall be unclean seven days. 12 He (N)shall cleanse himself with the water on the third day and on the seventh day, and so be clean. But if he does not cleanse himself on the third day and on the seventh day, he will not become clean. 13 Whoever touches a dead person, the body of anyone who has died, and does not cleanse himself, (O)defiles the tabernacle of the Lord, (P)and that person shall be cut off from Israel; because the water for impurity was not thrown on him, he shall be unclean. His uncleanness is still on him.
14 “This is the law when someone dies in a tent: everyone who comes into the tent and everyone who is in the tent shall be unclean seven days. 15 And every (Q)open vessel that has no cover fastened on it is unclean. 16 (R)Whoever in the open field touches someone who was killed with a sword or who died naturally, or touches a human bone or a (S)grave, shall be unclean seven days. 17 For the unclean they shall take (T)some ashes of the burnt sin offering, and fresh[a] water shall be added in a vessel. 18 Then a clean person shall take (U)hyssop and dip it in the water and sprinkle it on the tent and on all the furnishings and on the persons who were there and on whoever touched the bone, or the slain or the dead or the grave. 19 And the clean person shall sprinkle it on the unclean (V)on the third day and on the seventh day. (W)Thus on the seventh day he shall cleanse him, and he shall (X)wash his clothes and bathe himself in water, and at evening he shall be clean.
20 “If the man who is unclean does not cleanse himself, (Y)that person shall be cut off from the midst of the assembly, since he has defiled the sanctuary of the Lord. Because the water for impurity has not been thrown on him, he is unclean. 21 And it shall be a statute forever for them. The one who sprinkles the water for impurity shall wash his clothes, and the one who touches the water for impurity shall be unclean until evening. 22 And (Z)whatever the unclean person touches shall be unclean, and anyone who touches it shall be unclean until evening.”
Footnotes
- Numbers 19:17 Hebrew living
Numbers 19
Common English Bible
Instructions about the red cow and the water of purification
19 The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron: 2 This is the regulation in the Instruction that the Lord commanded. Tell the Israelites that they must bring you a red cow without defect, which is flawless and on which no yoke has been laid. 3 You will give it to Eleazar the priest, and he will take it outside the camp and slaughter it in front of him. 4 Eleazar the priest will take some of its blood with his finger and sprinkle it seven times in front of the meeting tent. 5 Then he will burn the cow in front of him, its skin, flesh, and blood, with its dung. 6 The priest will take cedarwood, hyssop, and crimson cloth and throw them into the fire where the cow is burning. 7 Then the priest will wash his clothes and bathe his body in water. Afterward the priest will enter the camp, but he will be unclean until evening. 8 The one who burned the cow will wash his clothes in water and bathe his body in water, but he will be unclean until evening. 9 A person who is clean will gather the ashes of the cow and place them outside the camp in a clean place. They will be kept for the water of purification for the Israelite community as a purification offering. 10 The one who gathers the ashes of the cow will wash his clothes but will be unclean until evening. This will be a permanent regulation for the Israelites and for the immigrant who lives among them.
Contact with a dead body
11 The person who touches the dead body of any human will be unclean for seven days. 12 That person must be cleansed with water on the third and seventh days to be clean. If he fails to be cleansed with water on the third and seventh days, he will not be clean. 13 Anyone who touches the body of a human who has died and doesn’t cleanse himself defiles the Lord’s dwelling. Such persons must be cut off from Israel because the water of purification wasn’t sprinkled on them. They remain unclean.
14 This is the instruction: When anyone dies in a tent, all who go into the tent and all who are in the tent are unclean for seven days. 15 Any open jar without a sealed cover on it is unclean. 16 Anyone in the open field who touches a person slain by the sword, or who died naturally, or a human bone or a grave, will be unclean for seven days. 17 For the unclean person, they will take some of the ashes of the purification offering and place fresh water with it in a jar. 18 Then a clean person will take hyssop, dip it into the water, and sprinkle it on the tent, on all the jars, on the people who were there, and on anyone who touched bone, the slain, the dead, or the grave. 19 On the third day and the seventh day the clean person will sprinkle it on the unclean, so that he will have purified him on the seventh day. He will then wash his clothes, bathe in water, and be clean at evening. 20 Any person who is unclean and didn’t cleanse himself will be cut off from the assembly, because he has defiled the Lord’s sanctuary. He didn’t have the water of purification sprinkled on him. He is unclean. 21 This will be a permanent regulation for them. The one who sprinkles the water of purification will wash his own clothes. Anyone who touches the water of purification will be unclean until evening. 22 Whoever the unclean person touches will be unclean, and the one who touches the unclean will be unclean until evening.
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible