Numbers 19:1–10

Ordinance of the Red Heifer

¹Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying,

²“This is the statute of the law which the Lord has commanded, saying, ‘Speak to the sons of Israel that they bring you an ^aunblemished red heifer in which is no defect and ^bon which a yoke has never ¹been placed.

³‘You shall give it to ^aEleazar the priest, and it shall ^bbe 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 ^asprinkle some of its blood toward the front of the tent of meeting seven times.

⁵‘Then the heifer shall be burned in his sight; ^aits hide and its flesh and its blood, with its refuse, shall be burned.

⁶‘The priest shall take ^acedar wood and hyssop and scarlet material and cast it into the midst of the ¹burning heifer.

⁷‘The priest ^ashall then wash his clothes and bathe his ¹body 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 ¹body 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 ¹the congregation of the sons of Israel shall keep it as ^awater to remove impurity; it is ²purification from sin.

¹⁰‘The one who gathers the ashes of the heifer ^ashall 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.