Numbers 19:11–20

Contact with a Corpse

¹¹Whoever touches a corpse is ritually unclean for seven days. ¹²He must purify himself with the water for purification on the third day and on the seventh day, and then he will be clean. But if he does not purify himself on both the third and the seventh day, he will not be clean. ¹³Whoever touches a corpse and does not purify himself remains unclean, because the water for purification has not been thrown over him. He defiles the Lord’s Tent, and he will no longer be considered one of God’s people.

¹⁴If someone dies in a tent, anyone who is in the tent at the time of death or who enters it becomes ritually unclean for seven days. ¹⁵Every jar and pot in the tent that has no lid^o on it also becomes unclean. ¹⁶If someone touches a person who has been killed or has died a natural death out of doors or if someone touches a human bone or a grave, he becomes unclean for seven days.

¹⁷To remove the uncleanness, some ashes from the red cow which was burnt to remove sin shall be taken and put in a pot, and fresh water added. ¹⁸In the first case, someone who is ritually clean is to take a sprig of hyssop, dip it in the water, and sprinkle the tent, everything in it, and the people who were there. In the second case, someone who is ritually clean is to sprinkle the water on the man who had touched the human bone or the dead body or the grave. ¹⁹On the third day and on the seventh the person who is ritually clean is to sprinkle the water on the unclean person. On the seventh day he is to purify the man, who, after washing his clothes and pouring water over himself, becomes ritually clean at sunset.

²⁰Anyone who has become ritually unclean and does not purify himself remains unclean, because the water for purification has not been thrown over him. He defiles the Lord’s Tent and will no longer be considered one of God’s people.