The Offering for Cleansing

19 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ² “These are the ·teachings [statutes; ordinances; requirements] that the Lord commanded. Tell the ·Israelites [^Lsons/^Tchildren of Israel] to get a young red ·cow [^Theifer] that does not have ·anything wrong with it [^La defect and is without a blemish] and that has never ·been worked [^Lworn a yoke]. ³ Give the ·cow [^Theifer] to Eleazar the priest; he will take it outside the camp and ·kill [slaughter] it in his presence. ⁴ Then Eleazar the priest must put some of its blood on his finger and sprinkle it seven times toward the front of the Meeting Tent. ⁵ The whole ·cow [^Theifer] must be burned while he watches; the skin, the meat, the blood, and ·the intestines [^Lits dung] must all be burned. ⁶ Then the priest must take a cedar stick, a hyssop branch, and a red string [^Cthe redness of the heifer and these objects probably represent blood] and throw them onto the burning ·cow [^Theifer]. ⁷ After the priest has washed himself and his clothes with water, he may come back into the camp, but he will be unclean [^Cin a ritual sense] until evening. ⁸ The man who burns the ·cow [^Theifer] must wash himself and his clothes in water; he will be unclean until evening.

⁹ “Then someone who is clean [^Cin a ritual sense] will collect the ashes from the ·cow [^Theifer] and put them in a clean place outside the camp. The ·Israelites [^Lcommunity/congregation/assembly of the sons/^Tchildren of Israel] will keep these ashes to use in the cleansing water, in a ·special ceremony to cleanse away sin [^Lsin offering; or purification offering; Lev. 4:3]. ¹⁰ The man who collected the ·cow’s [^Theifer’s] ashes must wash his clothes and be unclean until evening. This is a lasting ·rule [statute; ordinance; requirement] ·for the Israelites [^Lin their midst] and for the ·foreigners [resident aliens] among them.