Numbers 19

Modern

Literal

The Red Heifer

¹Then the LORD said to Moses and Aaron,

¹And YHWH spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying,

²“This is the statute of the law that the LORD has commanded: Instruct the Israelites to bring you an unblemished red heifer that has no defect and has never been placed under a yoke.

²“This is the ordinance of the law that YHWH has commanded, saying, speak to the sons of Israel, and they shall bring to you an unblemished red heifer, in which there is no blemish, upon which a yoke never has gone up.

³Give it to Eleazar the priest, and he will have it brought outside the camp and slaughtered in his presence.

³And you shall give it to Eleazar the priest, and he shall bring it out toward the outside of the camp, and it shall be slaughtered before him.

⁴Eleazar the priest is to take some of its blood on his finger and sprinkle it seven times toward the front of the Tent of Meeting.

⁴And Eleazar the priest shall take some of its blood with his finger and sprinkle toward opposite the face of the Tent of Meeting some of its blood seven times.

⁵Then the heifer must be burned in his sight. Its hide, its flesh, and its blood are to be burned, along with its dung.

⁵And the heifer shall be burned before his eyes—its hide and its flesh and its blood and its dung shall be burned.

⁶The priest is to take cedar wood, hyssop, and scarlet wool and throw them onto the burning heifer.

⁶And the priest shall take cedar wood and hyssop and scarlet and cast them into the midst of the burning heifer.

⁷Then the priest must wash his clothes and bathe his body in water; after that he may enter the camp, but he will be ceremonially unclean until evening.

⁷And the priest shall wash his clothes, and he shall bathe his flesh in the water, and afterward he shall come into the camp; and the priest shall be unclean until the evening.

⁸The one who burned the heifer must also wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and he too will be ceremonially unclean until evening.

⁸And the one who burns it shall wash his clothes in the water and bathe his flesh in the water, and shall be unclean until the evening.

⁹Then a man who is ceremonially clean is to gather up the ashes of the heifer and store them in a ceremonially clean place outside the camp. They must be kept by the congregation of Israel for preparing the water of purification; this is for purification from sin.

⁹And a man who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer and store them outside of the camp in a clean place, and they shall be kept for the congregation of the sons of Israel for the water of purification; it is for purifying from sin.

¹⁰The man who has gathered up the ashes of the heifer must also wash his clothes, and he will be ceremonially unclean until evening. This is a permanent statute for the Israelites and for the foreigner residing among them.

¹⁰And the one who gathers the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes and be unclean until the evening. And it shall be a statute forever for the sons of Israel and for the sojourner who is sojourning in their midst.

Purification of the Unclean

¹¹Whoever touches any dead body will be unclean for seven days.

¹¹And He who touches against the dead body of any man shall be unclean seven days.

¹²He must 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 and seventh days, he will not be clean.

¹²He shall cleanse himself from sin with the water on the third day, and on the seventh day he will be clean. But if he does not cleanse himself from sin on the third day, and on the seventh day, he will not be clean.

¹³Anyone who touches a human corpse and fails to purify himself defiles the tabernacle of the LORD. That person must be cut off from Israel. He remains unclean, because the water of purification has not been sprinkled on him, and his uncleanness is still on him.

¹³Anyone who touches the dead body of a man who has died, and does not cleanse himself from sin, he defiles the tabernacle of YHWH, and that person shall be cut off from Israel because the water of purification was not sprinkled on him. He shall be unclean; his uncleanness is on him still.

¹⁴This is the law when a person dies in a tent: Everyone who enters the tent and everyone already in the tent will be unclean for seven days,

¹⁴This is the law of the man when he dies in a tent: All who come into the tent and all who are in the tent shall be unclean seven days.

¹⁵and any open container without a lid fastened on it is unclean.

¹⁵And every open vessel that has no cover fastened on it is unclean.

¹⁶Anyone in the open field who touches someone who has been killed by the sword or has died of natural causes, or anyone who touches a human bone or a grave, will be unclean for seven days.

¹⁶And whoever touches in the open field 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.

¹⁷For the purification of the unclean person, take some of the ashes of the burnt sin offering, put them in a jar, and pour fresh water^a over them.

¹⁷And they shall take for the unclean some of the ashes of the burning for sin, and shall be put on them living water in a vessel.

¹⁸Then a man who is ceremonially clean is to take some hyssop, dip it in the water, and sprinkle the tent, all the furnishings, and the people who were there. He is also to sprinkle the one who touched a bone, a grave, or a person who has died or been slain.

¹⁸And a man who is ceremonially clean shall take hyssop and dip it in the water and sprinkle it on the tent and on all the vessels and on the persons who were there, or on the one who touched against a bone, or against the slain, or against the dead, or against a grave.

¹⁹The man who is ceremonially clean is to sprinkle the unclean person on the third day and on the seventh day. After he purifies the unclean person on the seventh day, the one being cleansed must wash his clothes and bathe in water, and that evening he will be clean.

¹⁹And the clean one shall sprinkle it on the unclean on the third day and on the seventh day, and he shall cleanse him from sin on the seventh day and wash his clothes and bathe in the water, and he shall be clean at the evening.

²⁰But if a person who is unclean does not purify himself, he will be cut off from the assembly, because he has defiled the sanctuary of the LORD. The water of purification has not been sprinkled on him; he is unclean.

²⁰And the man who is unclean and does not cleanse himself from sin, that person shall be cut off from the midst of the assembly, because he has defiled the sanctuary of YHWH. The water of purification has not been sprinkled on him; he is unclean.

²¹This is a permanent statute for the people: The one who sprinkles the water of purification must wash his clothes, and whoever touches the water of purification will be unclean until evening.

²¹And it shall be for them an everlasting statute. He who sprinkles the water of purification shall wash his clothes, and he who touches the water of purification shall be unclean until the evening.

²²Anything the unclean person touches will become unclean, and anyone who touches it will be unclean until evening.”

²²And whatever the unclean one touches in it shall be unclean, and the person who touches it shall be unclean until the evening.”