Laws for Purification

19 Now the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, “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. And you shall give it to Eleazar the priest, and (B)it shall be taken outside the camp and slaughtered before him. And 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. And the heifer shall be burned in his sight. (D)Its skin, its flesh, and its blood, with its dung, shall be burned. And the priest shall take (E)cedarwood and hyssop and scarlet yarn, and throw them into the fire burning the heifer. Then 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. (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. And 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. 10 And 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.

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The Red Heifer

19 The Lord told Moses and Aaron, “This is the ordinance of the law that the Lord commanded that the Israelis be told: They are to bring you a spotless red heifer, without physical defect, that has never been fitted with a yoke. They are to deliver it to Eleazar the priest, and it is to be brought outside the camp and slaughtered in his presence. Then Eleazar the priest is to take blood from it with his finger and sprinkle the blood in front of the Tent of Meeting. The entire heifer is to be incinerated in his presence, including its skin, its flesh, its blood, and its dung. Then the priest is to take some cedar[a] wood, hyssop, and scarlet material and throw it into the middle of the burning heifer. The priest is to wash his clothes and bathe himself[b] with water, after which he may enter the camp, but he is to remain unclean until evening. Whoever takes part in the burning is to wash his clothes and bathe himself[c] in water and is to remain unclean until the evening. Then someone[d] who is clean is to gather the ashes of the heifer and lay them outside the camp in a clean place. This is to be done for the community of Israel to use for water of purification from sin. 10 Whoever gathers the ashes of the heifer is to wash his clothes and is to remain unclean until the evening. This ordinance is to remain for the benefit of both the Israelis and the resident aliens who live among them.”

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Footnotes

  1. Numbers 19:6 I.e. a genus of coniferous evergreen in the family Pinaceae; and so throughout the book
  2. Numbers 19:7 Lit. bathe his flesh
  3. Numbers 19:8 Lit. bathe his flesh
  4. Numbers 19:9 Lit. man