Numbers 19

1 The LORD spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,

Yahweh spoke to Moses and Aaron. He said,

2 “This is the statute of the law which the LORD has commanded. Tell the children of Israel to bring you a red heifer without spot, in which is no defect, and which was never yoked.

“This is a statute, a law which I am commanding you: Say to the people of Israel that they must bring to you a red heifer without flaw or blemish, and which has never carried a yoke.

3 You shall give her to Eleazar the priest, and he shall bring her outside of the camp, and one shall kill her before his face.

Give the heifer to Eleazar the priest. He must bring it outside the camp, and someone must kill it in front of him.

4 Eleazar the priest shall take some of her blood with his finger, and sprinkle her blood toward the front of the Tent of Meeting seven times.

Eleazar the priest must take some of its blood with his finger and sprinkle it seven times toward the front of the tent of meeting.

5 One shall burn the heifer in his sight; her skin, and her meat, and her blood, with her dung, shall he burn.

Another priest must burn the heifer in his sight. He must burn its hide, flesh, and its blood with its dung.

6 The priest shall take cedar wood, hyssop, and scarlet, and cast it into the middle of the burning of the heifer.

The priest must take cedarwood, hyssop, and scarlet wool, and throw it all into the middle of the burning heifer.

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

Then he must wash his clothes and bathe in water. Then he may come into the camp, where he will remain unclean until the evening.

8 He who burns her shall wash his clothes in water, and bathe his flesh in water, and shall be unclean until the evening.

The one who has burned the heifer must wash his clothes in water and bathe in water. He will remain unclean until the evening.

9 “A man who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer, and lay them up outside of the camp in a clean place; and it shall be kept for the congregation of the children of Israel for use in water for cleansing impurity. It is a sin offering.

Someone who is clean must gather up the heifer's ashes and put them outside the camp in a clean place. These ashes must be kept for the community of the people of Israel. They will mix the ashes with water for purification from sin, since the ashes were from a sin offering.

10 He who gathers the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the evening. It shall be to the children of Israel, and to the stranger who lives as a foreigner among them, for a statute forever.

The one who gathered the heifer's ashes must wash his clothes. He will remain unclean until the evening. This will be a permanent law for the people of Israel and the foreigners who stay with them.

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

Whoever touches the dead body of any man will be unclean for seven days.

12 He shall purify himself with water on the third day, and on the seventh day he shall be clean; but if he doesn’t purify himself the third day, then the seventh day he shall not be clean.

Such a person must purify himself on the third day and on the seventh day. Then he will be clean. But if he does not purify himself the third day, then he will not be clean on the seventh day.

13 Whoever touches a dead person, the body of a man who has died, and doesn’t purify himself, defiles the LORD’s tabernacle; and that soul shall be cut off from Israel; because the water for impurity was not sprinkled on him, he shall be unclean. His uncleanness is yet on him.

Whoever touches a dead person, the body of a man who has died, and does not purify himself—this person defiles Yahweh's tabernacle. That person must be cut off from Israel because the water for impurity was not sprinkled on him. He will remain unclean; his uncleanness will remain 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 seven days.

This is the law for when someone dies in a tent. Everyone who goes into the tent and everyone who is already in the tent will be unclean for seven days.

15 Every open vessel, which has no covering bound on it, is unclean.

Every open container with no cover becomes unclean.

16 “Whoever in the open field touches one who is slain with a sword, or a dead body, or a bone of a man, or a grave, shall be unclean seven days.

Similarly, anyone outside a tent who touches someone who has been killed with a sword, any other dead body, a human bone, or a grave—that person will be unclean for seven days.

17 “For the unclean, they shall take of the ashes of the burning of the sin offering; and running water shall be poured on them in a vessel.

Do this for the unclean person: Take some ashes from the burnt sin offering and mix them in a jar with fresh water.

18 A clean person shall take hyssop, dip it in the water, and sprinkle it on the tent, on all the vessels, on the persons who were there, and on him who touched the bone, or the slain, or the dead, or the grave.

Someone who is clean must then take hyssop, dip it in the water, and sprinkle it on the tent, on all the containers inside the tent, on the persons who were there, and on anyone who touched the bone, the one who was killed, the one who died, or the grave.

19 The clean person shall sprinkle on the unclean on the third day, and on the seventh day. On the seventh day, he shall purify him. He shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water, and shall be clean at evening.

On the third day and on the seventh day, the clean person must sprinkle the unclean person. On the seventh day the unclean person must purify himself. He must wash his clothes and bathe in water. At evening he will become clean.

20 But the man who shall be unclean, and shall not purify himself, that soul shall be cut off from among the assembly, because he has defiled the sanctuary of the LORD. The water for impurity has not been sprinkled on him. He is unclean.

But anyone who remains unclean, who refuses to purify himself—that person will be cut off from the community, because he has defiled Yahweh's sanctuary. The water for impurity has not been sprinkled on him; he remains unclean.

21 It shall be a perpetual statute to them. He who sprinkles the water for impurity shall wash his clothes, and he who touches the water for impurity shall be unclean until evening.

This will be an ongoing law concerning these situations. The one who sprinkles the water for impurity must wash his clothes. The one who touches the water for impurity will become unclean until evening.

22 “Whatever the unclean person touches shall be unclean; and the soul that touches it shall be unclean until evening.”

Whatever the unclean person touches will become unclean. The person who touches it will become unclean until evening.”