On the day you were born your cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water to make you clean, nor were you rubbed with salt or wrapped in cloths.

“Son of man, say to the land, ‘You are a land that has not been cleansed or rained on in the day of wrath.’

Her priests do violence to my law and profane my holy things; they do not distinguish between the holy and the common; they teach that there is no difference between the unclean and the clean; and they shut their eyes to the keeping of my Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them.

“‘Now your impurity is lewdness. Because I tried to cleanse you but you would not be cleansed from your impurity, you will not be clean again until my wrath against you has subsided.

I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols.

“‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: On the day I cleanse you from all your sins, I will resettle your towns, and the ruins will be rebuilt.

They will no longer defile themselves with their idols and vile images or with any of their offenses, for I will save them from all their sinful backsliding, and I will cleanse them. They will be my people, and I will be their God.

“‘For seven months the Israelites will be burying them in order to cleanse the land.

People will be continually employed in cleansing the land. They will spread out across the land and, along with others, they will bury any bodies that are lying on the ground. “‘After the seven months they will carry out a more detailed search.

near a town called Hamonah. And so they will cleanse the land.’

For seven days they are to make atonement for the altar and cleanse it; thus they will dedicate it.

They are to teach my people the difference between the holy and the common and show them how to distinguish between the unclean and the clean.

After he is cleansed, he must wait seven days.