Numbers 19:1-10

New International Version

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) ³Give it to Eleazar^(D) the priest; it is to be taken outside the camp^(E) and slaughtered in his presence. ⁴Then 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. ⁵While he watches, the heifer is to be burned—its hide, flesh, blood and intestines.^(G) ⁶The priest is to take some cedar wood, hyssop^(H) and scarlet wool^(I) and throw them onto the burning heifer. ⁷After 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. ⁸The 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) ¹⁰The 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)

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Numbers 19:1-10

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. ³And you shall give it to Eleazar the priest, and ^(B)it shall be taken outside the camp and slaughtered before him. ⁴And 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. ⁵And the heifer shall be burned in his sight. ^(D)Its skin, its flesh, and its blood, with its dung, shall be burned. ⁶And the priest shall take ^(E)cedarwood and hyssop and scarlet yarn, and throw them into the fire burning the heifer. ⁷Then 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. ⁹And 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. ¹⁰And 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.