1 Then the Loʀᴅ spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, 2 “This is the statute of the law which the Loʀᴅ has commanded, saying, ‘Speak to the sons of Israel that they bring you an ALev 22:20-25unblemished red heifer in which is no defect and BDeut 21:3on which a yoke has never 1Lit come upbeen placed. 3  ‘You shall give it to ANum 3:4Eleazar the priest, and it shall BLev 4:11, 12, 21; Num 19:9be brought outside the camp and be slaughtered in his presence. 4  ‘Next Eleazar the priest shall take some of its blood with his finger and ALev 4:6, 17; 16:14sprinkle some of its blood toward the front of the tent of meeting seven times. 5  ‘Then the heifer shall be burned in his sight; AEx 29:14; Lev 4:11, 12its hide and its flesh and its blood, with its refuse, shall be burned. 6  ‘The priest shall take ALev 14:4cedar wood and hyssop and scarlet material and cast it into the midst of the 1Lit burning of the heiferburning heifer. 7  ‘The priest ALev 16:26, 28; 22:6shall then wash his clothes and bathe his 1Lit fleshbody in water, and afterward come into the camp, but the priest shall be unclean until evening. 8  ‘The one who burns it shall also wash his clothes in water and bathe his 1Lit fleshbody in water, and shall be unclean until evening. 9  ‘Now a man who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer and deposit them outside the camp in a clean place, and 1Lit it shall be to the congregation...Israel, for a guarding as water of impuritythe congregation of the sons of Israel shall keep it as ANum 8:7; 31:23water to remove impurity; it is 2Or a sin offeringpurification from sin. 10  ‘The one who gathers the ashes of the heifer ANum 19:7shall wash his clothes and be unclean until evening; and it shall be a perpetual statute to the sons of Israel and to the alien who sojourns among them.

11 ‘ALev 21:1, 11; Num 5:2; 6:6; Acts 21:26, 27The one who touches the corpse of any 1Lit soul of manperson shall be unclean for seven days. 12  ‘That one shall ANum 19:19; 31:19purify himself from uncleanness with 1Lit itthe water on the third day and on the seventh day, and 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  ‘ALev 7:21; 22:3-7Anyone who touches a corpse, the 1Lit soulbody of a man who has died, and does not purify himself, BLev 15:31; 20:3; Num 19:20defiles the 2Lit dwelling placetabernacle of the Loʀᴅ; and that person shall be cut off from Israel. Because the water for impurity was not 3Or thrownCNum 19:19sprinkled on him, he shall be unclean; his uncleanness is still on him.

14 ‘This is the law when a man dies in a tent: everyone who comes into the tent and everyone who is in the tent shall be unclean for seven days. 15  ‘Every open vessel, which has no covering 1Lit cordtied down on it, shall be unclean. 16  ‘ANum 31:19Also, anyone who in the open field touches one who has been slain with a sword or who has died naturally, or a human bone or a grave, shall be unclean for seven days. 17  ‘Then for the unclean person they shall take some of the 1Lit dustashes of the 2Lit burning of theburnt 3Or sin offeringANum 19:9purification from sin and 4Lit livingflowing water shall be 5Lit putadded to them in a vessel. 18  ‘A clean person shall take hyssop and dip it in the water, and sprinkle it on the tent and on all the furnishings and on the persons who were there, and on the one who touched the bone or the one slain or the one dying naturally or the grave. 19  ‘Then the clean person AEzek 36:25; Heb 10:22shall sprinkle on the unclean on the third day and on the seventh day; and on the seventh day he shall purify him from uncleanness, and he shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and shall be clean by evening.

20 ‘But the man who is unclean and does not purify himself from uncleanness, that person shall be cut off from the midst of the assembly, because he has ANum 19:13defiled the sanctuary of the Loʀᴅ; the water for impurity has not been sprinkled on him, he is unclean. 21  ‘So it shall be a perpetual statute for them. And he ANum 19:7who sprinkles the water for impurity shall wash his clothes, and he who touches the water for impurity shall be unclean until evening. 22  ‘ALev 5:2, 3; 7:21; 22:5, 6Furthermore, anything that the unclean person touches shall be unclean; and the person who touches it shall be unclean until evening.’ ”