Numbers, 19

1. Yahweh spoke to Moses and Aaron and said:

1. Now the LORD said to Moses and to Aaron,

2. 'This is a decree of the Law which Yahweh has prescribed. Tell the Israelites, they are to bring you a red heifer without fault or blemish that has never borne the yoke.

2. "This is the statute of the law which the LORD has commanded: Tell the people of Israel to bring you a red heifer without defect, in which there is no blemish, and upon which a yoke has never come.

3. You will give it to the priest Eleazar. It will then be taken outside the camp and slaughtered in his presence.

3. And you shall give her to Elea'zar the priest, and she shall be taken outside the camp and slaughtered before him;

4. The priest Eleazar will then take some of the victim's blood on his finger, and sprinkle this blood seven times towards the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.

4. and Elea'zar the priest shall take some of her blood with his finger, and sprinkle some of her blood toward the front of the tent of meeting seven times.

5. The heifer will then be burnt while he looks on; its hide, flesh, blood and offal will be burnt.

5. And the heifer shall be burned in his sight; her skin, her flesh, and her blood, with her dung, shall be burned;

6. The priest will then take some cedar wood, hyssop and scarlet material and throw them on the fire where the heifer is burning.

6. and the priest shall take cedarwood and hyssop and scarlet stuff, and cast them into the midst of the burning of the heifer.

7. He will then wash his clothes and bathe himself; after which he will go back to the camp, though he will remain unclean until evening.

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

8. The man who has burnt the heifer will wash his clothes and bathe himself and will remain unclean until evening.

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

9. The man who gathers up the ashes of the heifer must be ritually clean; he will deposit them outside the camp, in a clean place. They will be kept for the ritual use of the Israelite community for making water for purification; it is a sacrifice for sin.

9. And a man who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer, and deposit them outside the camp in a clean place; and they shall be kept for the congregation of the people of Israel for the water for impurity, for the removal of sin.

10. The man who has gathered up the ashes of the heifer will wash his clothes and remain unclean until evening. For the Israelites as for the resident alien, this will be a perpetual decree.

10. And he who gathers the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until evening. And this shall be to the people of Israel, and to the stranger who sojourns among them, a perpetual statute.

11. 'Anyone who touches the corpse of anyone whatever will be unclean for seven days.

11. "He who touches the dead body of any person shall be unclean seven days;

12. Such a person must be purified with these waters on the third and seventh day and will then be clean; otherwise he will not be clean.

12. he shall cleanse himself with the water on the third day and on the seventh day, and so be clean; but if he does not cleanse himself on the third day and on the seventh day, he will not become clean.

13. Anyone who touches the corpse of anyone who has died and is not purified, defiles Yahweh's Dwelling; such a person will be outlawed from Israel, since the water for purification has not been sprinkled over him; he is unclean, and his uncleanness remains in him.

13. Whoever touches a dead person, the body of any man who has died, and does not cleanse himself, defiles the tabernacle of the LORD, and that person shall be cut off from Israel; because the water for impurity was not thrown upon him, he shall be unclean; his uncleanness is still on him.

14. 'This is the law when someone dies in a tent. Anyone who goes into the tent, or anyone who is already in it, will be unclean for seven days,

14. "This is the law when a man dies in a tent: every one who comes into the tent, and every one who is in the tent, shall be unclean seven days.

15. and every open vessel with no cover tied over it will also be unclean.

15. And every open vessel, which has no cover fastened upon it, is unclean.

16. 'Anyone in the open country who touches a murder victim, a corpse, human bones or a grave will be unclean for seven days.

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.

17. 'For someone thus unclean, some of the ashes of the victim burnt as a sacrifice for sin will be taken and spring water must be poured over them, in a vessel.

17. For the unclean they shall take some ashes of the burnt sin offering, and running water shall be added in a vessel;

18. Someone who is ritually clean will then take some hyssop and dip it in the water. This person will then sprinkle the tent, all the vessels and people who were there, and similarly anyone who has touched human bones, a murder victim, a corpse or a grave.

18. then a clean person shall take hyssop, and dip it in the water, and sprinkle it upon the tent, and upon all the furnishings, and upon the persons who were there, and upon him who touched the bone, or the slain, or the dead, or the grave;

19. On the third and the seventh day the clean one will sprinkle the unclean, who on the seventh day will be clean. The latter will then wash his clothes and bathe in water, and in the evening he will be clean.

19. and the clean person shall sprinkle upon the unclean on the third day and on the seventh day; thus on the seventh day he shall cleanse him, and he shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water, and at evening he shall be clean.

20. Anyone who fails to be purified in this way will be outlawed from the community, and would defile Yahweh's sanctuary. Such a person is unclean, not having been sprinkled with the water for purification.

20. "But the man who is unclean and does not cleanse himself, that person shall be cut off from the midst of the assembly, since he has defiled the sanctuary of the LORD; because the water for impurity has not been thrown upon him, he is unclean.

21. 'This will be a perpetual decree for them. The person who sprinkles the water for purification will wash his clothes, and anyone who touches the water for purification will be unclean until evening.

21. And it shall be a perpetual statute for 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.

22. Anything that an unclean person touches will be unclean, and anyone who touches it will be unclean until evening.'

22. And whatever the unclean person touches shall be unclean; and any one who touches it shall be unclean until evening."