Laws of Purification

19 Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, ² “This is the ^[a]ordinance of the law which the Lord has commanded, saying: ‘Speak to the children of Israel, that they bring you a red heifer without ^[b]blemish, in which there is no ^(A)defect ^(B)and on which a yoke has never come. ³ You shall give it to Eleazar the priest, that he may take it ^(C)outside the camp, and it shall be slaughtered before him; ⁴ and Eleazar the priest shall take some of its blood with his finger, and ^(D)sprinkle some of its blood seven times directly in front of the tabernacle of meeting. ⁵ Then the heifer shall be burned in his sight: ^(E)its hide, its flesh, its blood, and its offal shall be burned. ⁶ And the priest shall take ^(F)cedar wood and ^(G)hyssop and scarlet, and cast them into the midst of the fire burning the heifer. ^7 (H)Then the priest shall wash his clothes, he shall bathe in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp; the priest shall be unclean until evening. ⁸ And the one who burns it shall wash his clothes in water, bathe in water, and shall be unclean until evening. ⁹ Then a man who is clean shall gather up ^(I)the ashes of the heifer, and store them outside the camp in a clean place; and they shall be kept for the congregation of the children of Israel ^(J)for the water of ^[c]purification; it is for purifying from sin. ¹⁰ And the one who gathers the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until evening. It shall be a statute forever to the children of Israel and to the stranger who dwells among them.

^11 (K)‘He who touches the dead ^[d]body of anyone shall be unclean seven days. ^12 (L)He shall purify himself with the water on the third day and on the seventh day; then he will be clean. But if he does not purify himself on the third day and on the seventh day, he will not be clean. ¹³ Whoever touches the body of anyone who has died, and ^(M)does not purify himself, ^(N)defiles the tabernacle of the Lord. That person shall be cut off from Israel. He shall be unclean, because ^(O)the water of purification was not sprinkled on him; ^(P)his uncleanness is still on him.

¹⁴ ‘This is the law when a man dies in a tent: All who come into the tent and all who are in the tent shall be unclean seven days; ¹⁵ and every ^(Q)open vessel, which has no cover fastened on it, is unclean. ^16 (R)Whoever in the open field touches one who is slain by a sword or who has died, or a bone of a man, or a grave, shall be unclean seven days.

¹⁷ ‘And for an unclean person they shall take some of the ^(S)ashes of the heifer burnt for purification from sin, and ^[e]running water shall be put on them in a vessel. ¹⁸ A clean person shall take ^(T)hyssop and dip it in the water, sprinkle it on the tent, on all the vessels, on the persons who were there, or on the one who touched a bone, the slain, the dead, or a grave. ¹⁹ The clean person shall sprinkle the unclean on the third day and on the seventh day; ^(U)and on the seventh day he shall purify himself, wash his clothes, and bathe in water; and at evening he shall be clean.

²⁰ ‘But the man who is unclean and does not purify himself, that person shall be cut off from among the assembly, because he has ^(V)defiled the sanctuary of the Lord. The water of purification has not been sprinkled on him; he is unclean. ²¹ It shall be a perpetual statute for them. He who sprinkles the water of purification shall wash his clothes; and he who touches the water of purification shall be unclean until evening. ^22 (W)Whatever the unclean person touches shall be unclean; and ^(X)the person who touches it shall be unclean until evening.’ ”

Moses’ Error at Kadesh^(Y)

20 Then^(Z) the children of Israel, the whole congregation, came into the Wilderness of Zin in the first month, and the people stayed in ^(AA)Kadesh; and ^(AB)Miriam died there and was buried there.

^2 (AC)Now there was no water for the congregation; ^(AD)so they gathered together against Moses and Aaron. ³ And the people ^(AE)contended with Moses and spoke, saying: “If only we had died ^(AF)when our brethren died before the Lord! ^4 (AG)Why have you brought up the assembly of the Lord into this wilderness, that we and our animals should die here? ⁵ And why have you made us come up out of Egypt, to bring us to this evil place? It is not a place of grain or figs or vines or pomegranates; nor is there any water to drink.” ⁶ So Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the door of the tabernacle of meeting, and ^(AH)they ^[f]fell on their faces. And ^(AI)the glory of the Lord appeared to them.

⁷ Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ^8 (AJ)“Take the rod; you and your brother Aaron gather the congregation together. Speak to the rock before their eyes, and it will yield its water; thus ^(AK)you shall bring water for them out of the rock, and give drink to the congregation and their animals.” ⁹ So Moses took the rod ^(AL)from before the Lord as He commanded him.

¹⁰ And Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock; and he said to them, ^(AM)“Hear now, you rebels! Must we bring water for you out of this rock?” ¹¹ Then Moses lifted his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod; ^(AN)and water came out abundantly, and the congregation and their animals drank.

¹² Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, “Because ^(AO)you did not believe Me, to ^(AP)hallow Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.”

^13 (AQ)This was the water of ^[g]Meribah, because the children of Israel contended with the Lord, and He was hallowed among them.

Passage Through Edom Refused

^14 (AR)Now Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of ^(AS)Edom. ^(AT)“Thus says your brother Israel: ‘You know all the hardship that has befallen us, ^15 (AU)how our fathers went down to Egypt, ^(AV)and we dwelt in Egypt a long time, ^(AW)and the Egyptians ^[h]afflicted us and our fathers. ^16 (AX)When we cried out to the Lord, He heard our voice and ^(AY)sent the Angel and brought us up out of Egypt; now here we are in Kadesh, a city on the edge of your border. ¹⁷ Please ^(AZ)let us pass through your country. We will not pass through fields or vineyards, nor will we drink water from wells; we will go along the King’s Highway; we will not turn aside to the right hand or to the left until we have passed through your territory.’ ”

¹⁸ Then ^(BA)Edom said to him, “You shall not pass through my land, lest I come out against you with the sword.”

¹⁹ So the children of Israel said to him, “We will go by the Highway, and if I or my livestock drink any of your water, ^(BB)then I will pay for it; let me only pass through on foot, nothing more.”

²⁰ Then he said, ^(BC)“You shall not pass through.” So Edom came out against them with many men and with a strong hand. ²¹ Thus Edom ^(BD)refused to give Israel passage through his territory; so Israel ^(BE)turned away from him.

Death of Aaron

²² Now the children of Israel, the whole congregation, journeyed from ^(BF)Kadesh ^(BG)and came to Mount Hor. ²³ And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in Mount Hor by the border of the land of Edom, saying: ²⁴ “Aaron shall ^[i]be ^(BH)gathered to his people, for he shall not enter the land which I have given to the children of Israel, because you rebelled against My word at the water of Meribah. ^25 (BI)Take Aaron and Eleazar his son, and bring them up to Mount Hor; ²⁶ and strip Aaron of his garments and put them on Eleazar his son; for Aaron shall be gathered to his people and die there.” ²⁷ So Moses did just as the Lord commanded, and they went up to Mount Hor in the sight of all the congregation. ^28 (BJ)Moses stripped Aaron of his garments and put them on Eleazar his son; and ^(BK)Aaron died there on the top of the mountain. Then Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain. ²⁹ Now when all the congregation saw that Aaron was dead, all the house of Israel mourned for Aaron ^(BL)thirty days.

Dedication to Theophilus

1 Inasmuch as many have taken in hand to set in order a narrative of those ^(A)things which ^[a]have been fulfilled among us, ² just as those who ^(B)from the beginning were ^(C)eyewitnesses and ministers of the word ^(D)delivered them to us, ³ it seemed good to me also, having ^[b]had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write to you an orderly account, ^(E)most excellent Theophilus, ^4 (F)that you may know the certainty of those things in which you were instructed.

John’s Birth Announced to Zacharias

⁵ There was ^(G)in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias, ^(H)of the division of ^(I)Abijah. His ^(J)wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. ⁶ And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. ⁷ But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both well advanced in years.

⁸ So it was, that while he was serving as priest before God in the order of his division, ⁹ according to the custom of the priesthood, ^[c]his lot fell ^(K)to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord. ^10 (L)And the whole multitude of the people was praying outside at the hour of incense. ¹¹ Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing on the right side of ^(M)the altar of incense. ¹² And when Zacharias saw him, ^(N)he was troubled, and fear fell upon him.

¹³ But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your prayer is heard; and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and ^(O)you shall call his name John. ¹⁴ And you will have joy and gladness, and ^(P)many will rejoice at his birth. ¹⁵ For he will be ^(Q)great in the sight of the Lord, and ^(R)shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, ^(S)even from his mother’s womb. ¹⁶ And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. ^17 (T)He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, ‘to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,’ and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

¹⁸ And Zacharias said to the angel, ^(U)“How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is well advanced in years.”

¹⁹ And the angel answered and said to him, “I am ^(V)Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and was sent to speak to you and bring you ^[d]these glad ^(W)tidings. ²⁰ But behold, ^(X)you will be mute and not able to speak until the day these things take place, because you did not believe my words which will be fulfilled in their own time.”

²¹ And the people waited for Zacharias, and marveled that he lingered so long in the temple. ²² But when he came out, he could not speak to them; and they perceived that he had seen a vision in the temple, for he beckoned to them and remained speechless.

²³ So it was, as soon as ^(Y)the days of his service were completed, that he departed to his own house. ²⁴ Now after those days his wife Elizabeth conceived; and she hid herself five months, saying, ²⁵ “Thus the Lord has dealt with me, in the days when He looked on me, to ^(Z)take away my reproach among people.”

Prayer for Relief from Tormentors

To the Chief Musician. Set to ^[a]“The Silent Dove in Distant Lands.” A Michtam of David when the ^(A)Philistines captured him in Gath.