Purification Ritual

19 The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, “This is the legal statute that the Lord has commanded: Instruct the Israelites to bring you an unblemished red cow that has no defect and has never been yoked.(A) Give it to the priest Eleazar,(B) and he will have it brought outside the camp and slaughtered in his presence. The priest Eleazar is to take some of its blood with his finger and sprinkle it seven times toward the front of the tent of meeting. The cow is to be burned in his sight. Its hide, flesh, and blood are to be burned along with its waste. The priest is to take cedar wood, hyssop, and crimson yarn,(C) and throw them onto the fire where the cow is burning. Then the priest must wash his clothes and bathe his body in water; after that he may enter the camp, but he will remain ceremonially unclean until evening. The one who burned the cow must also wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and he will remain unclean until evening.

“A man who is clean is to gather up the cow’s ashes and deposit them outside the camp in a ceremonially clean place. The ashes will be kept by the Israelite community for preparing the water to remove impurity; it is a sin offering.(D) 10 Then the one who gathers up the cow’s ashes must wash his clothes, and he will remain unclean until evening. This is a permanent statute for the Israelites and for the alien who resides among them.

11 “The person who touches any human corpse will be unclean for seven days. 12 He is to purify himself with the water[a] on the third day and the seventh day; then he will be clean.(E) But if he does not purify himself on the third and seventh days, he will not be clean. 13 Anyone who touches a body of a person who has died, and does not purify himself, defiles the tabernacle of the Lord. That person will be cut off from Israel. He remains unclean because the water for impurity has not been sprinkled on him, and his uncleanness is still on him.

14 “This is the law when a person dies in a tent: everyone who enters the tent and everyone who is already in the tent will be unclean for seven days, 15 and any open container without a lid tied on it is unclean. 16 Anyone in the open field who touches a person who has been killed by the sword or has died, or who even touches a human bone, or a grave, will be unclean for seven days. 17 For the purification of the unclean person, they are to take some of the ashes of the burnt sin offering, put them in a jar, and add fresh water to them. 18 A person who is clean is to take hyssop, dip it in the water, and sprinkle the tent, all the furnishings, and the people who were there. He is also to sprinkle the one who touched a bone, a grave, a corpse, or a person who had been killed.

19 “The one who is clean is to sprinkle the unclean person on the third day and the seventh day. After he purifies the unclean person on the seventh day, the one being purified must wash his clothes and bathe in water, and he will be clean by evening. 20 But a person who is unclean and does not purify himself, that person will be cut off from the assembly because he has defiled the sanctuary of the Lord.(F) The water for impurity has not been sprinkled on him; he is unclean. 21 This is a permanent statute for them. The person who sprinkles the water for impurity is to wash his clothes, and whoever touches the water for impurity will be unclean until evening. 22 Anything the unclean person touches will become unclean, and anyone who touches it will be unclean until evening.”

Notas al pie

  1. 19:12 Or ashes; lit with it

Ceremony of the Red Heifer

19 The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, “This is a statute of the law that the Lord has commanded: Tell the Israelites to bring you a red heifer without defect, in which there is no blemish and on which no yoke has been laid.(A) You shall give it to the priest Eleazar, and it shall be taken outside the camp and slaughtered in his presence.(B) The priest Eleazar shall take some of its blood with his finger and sprinkle it seven times toward the front of the tent of meeting.(C) Then the heifer shall be burned in his sight; its skin, its flesh, and its blood, with its entrails,[a] shall be burned. The priest shall take cedarwood, hyssop, and crimson material and throw them into the fire in which the heifer is burning.(D) Then the priest shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and afterward he may come into the camp, but the priest shall remain unclean until evening.(E) The one who burns the heifer[b] shall wash his clothes in water and bathe his body in water; he shall remain unclean until evening. Then someone who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer and deposit them outside the camp in a clean place, and they shall be kept for the congregation of the Israelites for the water for cleansing. It is a purification offering.(F) 10 The one who gathers the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes and be unclean until evening.

“This shall be a perpetual statute for the Israelites and for the alien residing among them. 11 Those who touch the dead body of any human being shall be unclean seven days.(G) 12 They shall purify themselves with the water on the third day and on the seventh day and so be clean, but if they do not purify themselves on the third day and on the seventh day, they will not become clean.(H) 13 All who touch a corpse, the body of a human being who has died, and do not purify themselves defile the tabernacle of the Lord; such persons shall be cut off from Israel. Since water for cleansing was not dashed on them, they remain unclean; their uncleanness is still on them.(I)

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 open vessel with no cover fastened on it is unclean. 16 Whoever in the open field touches one who has been killed by a sword or who has died naturally,[c] or a human bone, or a grave shall be unclean seven days.(J) 17 For the unclean they shall take some ashes of the burnt purification offering, and running water shall be added in a vessel;(K) 18 then a clean person shall take hyssop, dip it in the water, and sprinkle it on the tent, on all the furnishings, on the persons who were there, and on whoever touched the bone, the slain, the corpse, or the grave. 19 The clean person shall sprinkle the unclean ones on the third day and on the seventh day, thus purifying them on the seventh day. Then they shall wash their clothes and bathe themselves in water, and at evening they shall be clean.(L) 20 Any who are unclean but do not purify themselves, those persons shall be cut off from the assembly, for they have defiled the sanctuary of the Lord. Since the water for cleansing has not been dashed on them, they are unclean.(M)

21 “It shall be a perpetual statute for them. The one who sprinkles the water for cleansing shall wash his clothes, and whoever touches the water for cleansing shall be unclean until evening. 22 Whatever the unclean person touches shall be unclean, and anyone who touches it shall be unclean until evening.”(N)

Notas al pie

  1. 19.5 Or dung
  2. 19.8 Heb it
  3. 19.16 Heb lacks naturally