Numbers 19
Living Bible
19 1-3 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Here is another of my laws: Tell the people of Israel to bring you a red heifer without defect, one that has never been yoked. Give her to Eleazar the priest and he shall take her outside the camp and someone shall kill her as he watches. 4 Eleazar shall take some of her blood upon his finger and sprinkle it seven times toward the front of the Tabernacle. 5 Then someone shall burn the heifer as he watches—her hide, meat, blood, and dung. 6 Eleazar shall take cedar wood and hyssop branches and scarlet thread, and throw them into the burning pile.
7 “Then he must wash his clothes, and bathe, and afterwards return to the camp and be ceremonially defiled until the evening. 8 And the one who burns the animal must wash his clothes and bathe, and he too shall be defiled until evening. 9 Then someone who is not ceremonially defiled shall gather up the ashes of the heifer and place them in some purified place outside the camp, where they shall be kept for the people of Israel as a source of water for the purification ceremonies, for removal of sin. 10 And the one who gathers up the ashes of the heifer must wash his clothes and be defiled until evening; this is a permanent law for the benefit of the people of Israel and any foreigners living among them.
11 “Anyone who touches a dead human body shall be defiled for seven days, 12 and must purify himself the third and seventh days with water run through the ashes of the red heifer[a]; then he will be purified; but if he does not do this on the third day, he will continue to be defiled even after the seventh day. 13 Anyone who touches a dead person and does not purify himself in the manner specified has defiled the Tabernacle of the Lord, and shall be excommunicated from Israel. The cleansing water was not sprinkled upon him, so the defilement continues.
14 “When a man dies in a tent, these are the various regulations: Everyone who enters the tent, and those who are in it at the time, shall be defiled seven days. 15 Any container in the tent without a lid over it is defiled.
16 “If someone out in a field touches the corpse of someone who has been killed in battle or who has died in any other way, or if he even touches a bone or a grave, he shall be defiled seven days. 17 To become purified again, ashes from the red heifer sin offering[b] are to be added to spring water in a kettle. 18 Then a person who is not defiled shall take hyssop branches and dip them into the water and sprinkle the water upon the tent and upon all the pots and pans in the tent, and upon anyone who has been defiled by being in the tent, or by touching a bone, or touching someone who has been killed or is otherwise dead, or has touched a grave. 19 This shall take place on the third and seventh days; then the defiled person must wash his clothes and bathe himself, and that evening he will be out from under the defilement.
20 “But anyone who is defiled and doesn’t purify himself shall be excommunicated, for he has defiled the sanctuary of the Lord, and the water to cleanse him has not been sprinkled upon him; so he remains defiled. 21 This is a permanent law. The man who sprinkles the water must afterwards wash his clothes; and anyone touching the water shall be defiled until evening. 22 And anything a defiled person touches shall be defiled until evening.”
Footnotes
- Numbers 19:12 run through the ashes of the red heifer, implied; see v. 17.
- Numbers 19:17 ashes from the red heifer sin offering, literally, “ashes of the burnt sin offering.”
民數記 19
Chinese Contemporary Bible (Traditional)
紅母牛的灰
19 耶和華對摩西和亞倫說： 2 「要吩咐以色列人遵行我頒佈的以下律法條例。
「以色列人要牽來一頭毫無殘疾、從未負過軛的紅母牛。 3 你們要把牛交給以利亞撒祭司，然後牽到營外，當著他的面把牛宰了。 4 以利亞撒祭司要用指頭蘸牛血，向會幕前面彈七次。 5 然後，要當著他的面焚燒紅母牛，牛的皮、肉、血和糞都要燒掉。 6 祭司要把香柏木、牛膝草、朱紅色線扔進燒牛的火裡。 7 之後，祭司要洗衣沐浴，才能回營，但要等到傍晚才能潔淨。 8 負責燒牛的人也要洗衣、沐浴，並且要等到傍晚才能潔淨。 9 要由潔淨的人把紅母牛灰收起來，放在營外潔淨的地方，用於給以色列會眾製作除穢水，作除罪之用。 10 收起牛灰的人也要洗淨衣服，等到傍晚才能潔淨。以色列人和寄居的外族人都要永遠遵行這定例。
11 「碰過屍體的人，七天不潔淨。 12 他要在第三天和第七天用除穢水自潔，才能潔淨，否則就不能潔淨。 13 若有人碰過屍體卻不自潔，他就玷污了耶和華的聖幕，要將他從以色列人中剷除，因為除穢水沒有灑在他身上，污穢還留在他身上。 14 若有人死在帳篷裡，當時走進帳篷的或在場的人都七天不潔淨。 15 帳篷裡沒有蓋的敞口器皿都不潔淨。 16 人若在野外碰過被殺或自然死亡之人的屍體，或碰過死人的骸骨或墳墓，就七天不潔淨。 17 要拿些除罪用的紅母牛灰，放在器皿裡，倒上清水， 18 然後由潔淨的人拿牛膝草蘸這水灑在帳篷及裡面所有的人和器具上，也要灑在碰過骸骨、墳墓、被殺者屍體或自然死亡者屍體的人身上。 19 要由潔淨的人在第三天和第七天把水灑在不潔淨的人身上。到第七天，接受潔淨禮的人要洗衣、沐浴，等到傍晚才能潔淨。 20 若有人沾了污穢卻沒有用除穢水自潔，他就不潔淨，要將他從會眾中剷除，因為他玷污了耶和華的聖所。 21 你們要永遠遵行這定例。灑除穢水的人要洗淨衣服。碰過除穢水的人要等到傍晚才能潔淨。 22 不潔淨的人碰過的東西都不潔淨，碰過這些東西的人傍晚之前都不潔淨。」
Numbers 19
King James Version
19 And the Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying,
2 This is the ordinance of the law which the Lord hath commanded, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring thee a red heifer without spot, wherein is no blemish, and upon which never came yoke:
3 And ye shall give her unto Eleazar the priest, that he may bring her forth without the camp, and one shall slay her before his face:
4 And Eleazar the priest shall take of her blood with his finger, and sprinkle of her blood directly before the tabernacle of the congregation seven times:
5 And one shall burn the heifer in his sight; her skin, and her flesh, and her blood, with her dung, shall he burn:
6 And the priest shall take cedar wood, and hyssop, and scarlet, and cast it into the midst of the burning of the heifer.
7 Then the priest shall wash his clothes, and he shall bathe his flesh in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp, and the priest shall be unclean until the even.
8 And he that burneth her shall wash his clothes in water, and bathe his flesh in water, and shall be unclean until the even.
9 And a man that is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer, and lay them up without the camp in a clean place, and it shall be kept for the congregation of the children of Israel for a water of separation: it is a purification for sin.
10 And he that gathereth the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the even: and it shall be unto the children of Israel, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among them, for a statute for ever.
11 He that toucheth the dead body of any man shall be unclean seven days.
12 He shall purify himself with it on the third day, and on the seventh day he shall be clean: but if he purify not himself the third day, then the seventh day he shall not be clean.
13 Whosoever toucheth the dead body of any man that is dead, and purifieth not himself, defileth the tabernacle of the Lord; and that soul shall be cut off from Israel: because the water of separation was not sprinkled upon him, he shall be unclean; his uncleanness is yet upon him.
14 This is the law, when a man dieth in a tent: all that come into the tent, and all that is in the tent, shall be unclean seven days.
15 And every open vessel, which hath no covering bound upon it, is unclean.
16 And whosoever toucheth one that is slain with a sword in the open fields, or a dead body, or a bone of a man, or a grave, shall be unclean seven days.
17 And for an unclean person they shall take of the ashes of the burnt heifer of purification for sin, and running water shall be put thereto in a vessel:
18 And a clean person shall take hyssop, and dip it in the water, and sprinkle it upon the tent, and upon all the vessels, and upon the persons that were there, and upon him that touched a bone, or one slain, or one dead, or a grave:
19 And the clean person shall sprinkle upon the unclean on the third day, and on the seventh day: and on the seventh day he shall purify himself, and wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and shall be clean at even.
20 But the man that shall be unclean, and shall not purify himself, that soul shall be cut off from among the congregation, because he hath defiled the sanctuary of the Lord: the water of separation hath not been sprinkled upon him; he is unclean.
21 And it shall be a perpetual statute unto them, that he that sprinkleth the water of separation shall wash his clothes; and he that toucheth the water of separation shall be unclean until even.
22 And whatsoever the unclean person toucheth shall be unclean; and the soul that toucheth it shall be unclean until even.
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.