1 And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying,
2 This is the
ordinance of the law which the LORD hath commanded, saying, Speak unto the
children of Israel, that they bring thee a red heifer without spot, wherein is no
blemish, and upon
which never came yoke:
3 And
ye shall give her unto Eleazar the priest, that he may bring her forth without
the camp, and one shall slay her before his face:
4 And
Eleazar the priest shall take of her blood with his finger, and sprinkle of her
blood directly before the tabernacle of the congregation seven times:
5 And one shall
burn the heifer in his sight; her skin, and her flesh, and her blood, with her
dung, shall he burn:
6 And
the priest shall take cedar wood, and hyssop, and scarlet, and cast it into
the midst of the burning of the 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 even.
8 And
he that burneth her shall wash his clothes in water, and bathe his flesh in
water, and shall be unclean until the even.
9 And
a man that is clean
shall gather up the ashes of the heifer, and lay them up
without the camp in a clean place, and it shall be kept for the congregation of
the children of Israel for a water of separation: it is a
purification for sin.
10 And
he that gathereth the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes, and be
unclean until the even: and it shall be unto the children of Israel, and unto
the stranger that sojourneth among them, for a statute for ever.
11 He
that toucheth the dead body of any man shall be unclean seven days.
12 He
shall purify himself with it on the third day, and on the seventh day he shall
be clean: but if he purify not himself the third day, then the seventh day he
shall not be clean.
13 Whosoever
toucheth the dead body of any man that is dead, and purifieth not himself,
defileth the tabernacle of the LORD; and that soul shall be cut off from
Israel: because the water of separation was not sprinkled upon him, he shall be
unclean; his uncleanness is yet upon him.
14 This is the
law, when a man dieth in a tent: all that come into the tent, and all that is in the
tent, shall be unclean seven days.
15 And
every open vessel, which hath no covering bound upon it, is unclean.
16 And
whosoever toucheth one that is slain with a sword in the open fields, or a dead
body, or a bone of a man, or a grave, shall be unclean seven days.
17 And
for an unclean person they shall take of the ashes of the
burnt heifer of purification for sin, and running water shall be put thereto in
a vessel:
18 And
a clean person shall take hyssop, and dip it in the water, and sprinkle it upon
the tent, and upon all the vessels, and upon the persons that were there, and
upon him that touched a bone, or one slain, or one dead, or a grave:
19 And
the clean person shall
sprinkle upon the unclean on the third day, and on the seventh day: and on the
seventh day he shall purify himself, and wash his clothes, and bathe himself in
water, and shall be clean at even.
20 But
the man that shall be unclean, and shall not purify himself, that soul shall be
cut off from among the congregation, because he hath defiled the sanctuary of
the LORD: the water of separation hath not been sprinkled upon him; he is unclean.
21 And
it shall be a perpetual statute unto them, that he that sprinkleth the water of
separation shall wash his clothes; and he that toucheth the water of separation
shall be unclean until even.
22 And
whatsoever the unclean person toucheth shall be unclean; and the
soul that toucheth it shall be unclean until even.
