The Water of Cleansing

19 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron: ² “This is a requirement of the law that the Lord has commanded: Tell the Israelites to bring you a red heifer^(A) without defect or blemish^(B) and that has never been under a yoke.^{(C) 3} Give it to Eleazar^(D) the priest; it is to be taken outside the camp^(E) and slaughtered in his presence. ⁴ Then Eleazar the priest is to take some of its blood on his finger and sprinkle^(F) it seven times toward the front of the tent of meeting. ⁵ While he watches, the heifer is to be burned—its hide, flesh, blood and intestines.^{(G) 6} The priest is to take some cedar wood, hyssop^(H) and scarlet wool^(I) and throw them onto the burning heifer. ⁷ After that, the priest must wash his clothes and bathe himself with water.^(J) He may then come into the camp, but he will be ceremonially unclean till evening. ⁸ The man who burns it must also wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he too will be unclean till evening.

⁹ “A man who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer^(K) and put them in a ceremonially clean place^(L) outside the camp. They are to be kept by the Israelite community for use in the water of cleansing;^(M) it is for purification from sin.^{(N) 10} The man who gathers up^(O) the ashes of the heifer must also wash his clothes, and he too will be unclean till evening.^(P) This will be a lasting ordinance^(Q) both for the Israelites and for the foreigners residing among them.^(R)

¹¹ “Whoever touches a human corpse^(S) will be unclean for seven days.^{(T) 12} They must purify themselves with the water on the third day and on the seventh day;^(U) then they will be clean. But if they do not purify themselves on the third and seventh days, they will not be clean.^{(V) 13} If they fail to purify themselves after touching a human corpse,^(W) they defile the Lord’s tabernacle.^(X) They must be cut off from Israel.^(Y) Because the water of cleansing has not been sprinkled on them, they are unclean;^(Z) their uncleanness remains on them.

¹⁴ “This is the law that applies when a person dies in a tent: Anyone who enters the tent and anyone who is in it will be unclean for seven days, ¹⁵ and every open container^(AA) without a lid fastened on it will be unclean.

¹⁶ “Anyone out in the open who touches someone who has been killed with a sword or someone who has died a natural death,^(AB) or anyone who touches a human bone^(AC) or a grave,^(AD) will be unclean for seven days.^(AE)

¹⁷ “For the unclean person, put some ashes^(AF) from the burned purification offering into a jar and pour fresh water^(AG) over them. ¹⁸ Then a man who is ceremonially clean is to take some hyssop,^(AH) dip it in the water and sprinkle^(AI) the tent and all the furnishings and the people who were there. He must also sprinkle anyone who has touched a human bone or a grave^(AJ) or anyone who has been killed or anyone who has died a natural death. ¹⁹ The man who is clean is to sprinkle^(AK) those who are unclean on the third and seventh days, and on the seventh day he is to purify them.^(AL) Those who are being cleansed must wash their clothes^(AM) and bathe with water, and that evening they will be clean. ²⁰ But if those who are unclean do not purify themselves, they must be cut off from the community, because they have defiled^(AN) the sanctuary of the Lord.^(AO) The water of cleansing has not been sprinkled on them, and they are unclean.^{(AP) 21} This is a lasting ordinance^(AQ) for them.

“The man who sprinkles the water of cleansing must also wash his clothes, and anyone who touches the water of cleansing will be unclean till evening. ²² Anything that an unclean^(AR) person touches becomes unclean, and anyone who touches it becomes unclean till evening.”

11 Jephthah^(A) the Gileadite was a mighty warrior.^(B) His father was Gilead;^(C) his mother was a prostitute.^{(D) 2} Gilead’s wife also bore him sons, and when they were grown up, they drove Jephthah away. “You are not going to get any inheritance in our family,” they said, “because you are the son of another woman.” ³ So Jephthah fled from his brothers and settled in the land of Tob,^(E) where a gang of scoundrels^(F) gathered around him and followed him.

⁴ Some time later, when the Ammonites^(G) were fighting against Israel, ⁵ the elders of Gilead went to get Jephthah from the land of Tob. ⁶ “Come,” they said, “be our commander, so we can fight the Ammonites.”

⁷ Jephthah said to them, “Didn’t you hate me and drive me from my father’s house?^(H) Why do you come to me now, when you’re in trouble?”

⁸ The elders of Gilead said to him, “Nevertheless, we are turning to you now; come with us to fight the Ammonites, and you will be head^(I) over all of us who live in Gilead.”

⁹ Jephthah answered, “Suppose you take me back to fight the Ammonites and the Lord gives them to me—will I really be your head?”

¹⁰ The elders of Gilead replied, “The Lord is our witness;^(J) we will certainly do as you say.” ¹¹ So Jephthah went with the elders^(K) of Gilead, and the people made him head and commander over them. And he repeated^(L) all his words before the Lord in Mizpah.^(M)

¹² Then Jephthah sent messengers to the Ammonite king with the question: “What do you have against me that you have attacked my country?”

¹³ The king of the Ammonites answered Jephthah’s messengers, “When Israel came up out of Egypt, they took away my land from the Arnon^(N) to the Jabbok,^(O) all the way to the Jordan. Now give it back peaceably.”

¹⁴ Jephthah sent back messengers to the Ammonite king, ¹⁵ saying:

²⁸ The king of Ammon, however, paid no attention to the message Jephthah sent him.

²⁹ Then the Spirit^(AO) of the Lord came on Jephthah. He crossed Gilead and Manasseh, passed through Mizpah^(AP) of Gilead, and from there he advanced against the Ammonites.^{(AQ) 30} And Jephthah made a vow^(AR) to the Lord: “If you give the Ammonites into my hands, ³¹ whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in triumph^(AS) from the Ammonites will be the Lord’s, and I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering.^(AT)”

³² Then Jephthah went over to fight the Ammonites, and the Lord gave them into his hands. ³³ He devastated twenty towns from Aroer to the vicinity of Minnith,^(AU) as far as Abel Keramim. Thus Israel subdued Ammon.

The Blood of Christ

¹¹ But when Christ came as high priest^(A) of the good things that are now already here,^[a](B) he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle^(C) that is not made with human hands,^(D) that is to say, is not a part of this creation. ¹² He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves;^(E) but he entered the Most Holy Place^(F) once for all^(G) by his own blood,^(H) thus obtaining^[b] eternal redemption. ¹³ The blood of goats and bulls^(I) and the ashes of a heifer^(J) sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. ¹⁴ How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit^(K) offered himself^(L) unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences^(M) from acts that lead to death,^[c](N) so that we may serve the living God!^(O)

¹⁵ For this reason Christ is the mediator^(P) of a new covenant,^(Q) that those who are called^(R) may receive the promised^(S) eternal inheritance^(T)—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.^(U)

¹⁶ In the case of a will,^[d] it is necessary to prove the death of the one who made it, ¹⁷ because a will is in force only when somebody has died; it never takes effect while the one who made it is living. ¹⁸ This is why even the first covenant was not put into effect without blood.^{(V) 19} When Moses had proclaimed^(W) every command of the law to all the people, he took the blood of calves,^(X) together with water, scarlet wool and branches of hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll and all the people.^{(Y) 20} He said, “This is the blood of the covenant, which God has commanded you to keep.”^{[e](Z) 21} In the same way, he sprinkled with the blood both the tabernacle and everything used in its ceremonies. ²² In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood,^(AA) and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.^(AB)

²³ It was necessary, then, for the copies^(AC) of the heavenly things to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. ²⁴ For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with human hands that was only a copy of the true one;^(AD) he entered heaven itself,^(AE) now to appear for us in God’s presence.^{(AF) 25} Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place^(AG) every year with blood that is not his own.^{(AH) 26} Otherwise Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world.^(AI) But he has appeared^(AJ) once for all^(AK) at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself.^{(AL) 27} Just as people are destined to die once,^(AM) and after that to face judgment,^{(AN) 28} so Christ was sacrificed once^(AO) to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time,^(AP) not to bear sin,^(AQ) but to bring salvation^(AR) to those who are waiting for him.^(AS)

¹⁰ “You are Israel’s teacher,”^(A) said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? ¹¹ Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know,^(B) and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony.^{(C) 12} I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? ¹³ No one has ever gone into heaven^(D) except the one who came from heaven^(E)—the Son of Man.^{[a](F) 14} Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness,^(G) so the Son of Man must be lifted up,^{[b](H) 15} that everyone who believes^(I) may have eternal life in him.”^[c](J)

¹⁶ For God so loved^(K) the world that he gave^(L) his one and only Son,^(M) that whoever believes^(N) in him shall not perish but have eternal life.^{(O) 17} For God did not send his Son into the world^(P) to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.^{(Q) 18} Whoever believes in him is not condemned,^(R) but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.^{(S) 19} This is the verdict: Light^(T) has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.^{(U) 20} Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.^{(V) 21} But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.