Numbers 19–20

The Water of Cleansing

19The Lord said to Moses and Aaron: ²“This is a requirement of the law that the Lord has commanded: Tell the Israelites to bring you a red heifer^s without defect or blemish^t and that has never been under a yoke.^{u 3}Give it to Eleazar^v the priest; it is to be taken outside the camp^w and slaughtered in his presence. ⁴Then Eleazar the priest is to take some of its blood on his finger and sprinkle^x it seven times toward the front of the tent of meeting. ⁵While he watches, the heifer is to be burned—its hide, flesh, blood and intestines.^{y 6}The priest is to take some cedar wood, hyssop^z and scarlet wool^a and throw them onto the burning heifer. ⁷After that, the priest must wash his clothes and bathe himself with water.^b He may then come into the camp, but he will be ceremonially unclean till evening. ⁸The man who burns it must also wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he too will be unclean till evening.

⁹“A man who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer^c and put them in a ceremonially clean place^d outside the camp. They are to be kept by the Israelite community for use in the water of cleansing;^e it is for purification from sin.^{f 10}The man who gathers up^g the ashes of the heifer must also wash his clothes, and he too will be unclean till evening.^h This will be a lasting ordinanceⁱ both for the Israelites and for the foreigners residing among them.^j

¹¹“Whoever touches a human corpse^k will be unclean for seven days.^{l 12}They must purify themselves with the water on the third day and on the seventh day;^m then they will be clean. But if they do not purify themselves on the third and seventh days, they will not be clean.^{n 13}If they fail to purify themselves after touching a human corpse,^o they defile the Lord’s tabernacle.^p They must be cut off from Israel.^q Because the water of cleansing has not been sprinkled on them, they are unclean;^r their uncleanness remains on them.

¹⁴“This is the law that applies when a person dies in a tent: Anyone who enters the tent and anyone who is in it will be unclean for seven days, ¹⁵and every open container^s without a lid fastened on it will be unclean.

¹⁶“Anyone out in the open who touches someone who has been killed with a sword or someone who has died a natural death,^t or anyone who touches a human bone^u or a grave,^v will be unclean for seven days.^w

¹⁷“For the unclean person, put some ashes^x from the burned purification offering into a jar and pour fresh water^y over them. ¹⁸Then a man who is ceremonially clean is to take some hyssop,^z dip it in the water and sprinkle^a the tent and all the furnishings and the people who were there. He must also sprinkle anyone who has touched a human bone or a grave^b or anyone who has been killed or anyone who has died a natural death. ¹⁹The man who is clean is to sprinkle^c those who are unclean on the third and seventh days, and on the seventh day he is to purify them.^d Those who are being cleansed must wash their clothes^e and bathe with water, and that evening they will be clean. ²⁰But if those who are unclean do not purify themselves, they must be cut off from the community, because they have defiled^f the sanctuary of the Lord.^g The water of cleansing has not been sprinkled on them, and they are unclean.^{h 21}This is a lasting ordinanceⁱ for them.

“The man who sprinkles the water of cleansing must also wash his clothes, and anyone who touches the water of cleansing will be unclean till evening. ²²Anything that an unclean^j person touches becomes unclean, and anyone who touches it becomes unclean till evening.”

Water From the Rock

20In the first month the whole Israelite community arrived at the Desert of Zin,^k and they stayed at Kadesh.^l There Miriam^m died and was buried.

²Now there was no waterⁿ for the community,^o and the people gathered in opposition^p to Moses and Aaron. ³They quarreled^q with Moses and said, “If only we had died when our brothers fell dead^r before the Lord!^{s 4}Why did you bring the Lord’s community into this wilderness,^t that we and our livestock should die here?^{u 5}Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to this terrible place? It has no grain or figs, grapevines or pomegranates.^v And there is no water to drink!^w”

⁶Moses and Aaron went from the assembly to the entrance to the tent of meeting^x and fell facedown,^y and the glory of the Lord^z appeared to them. ⁷The Lord said to Moses, ⁸“Take the staff,^a and you and your brother Aaron gather the assembly together. Speak to that rock before their eyes and it will pour out its water.^b You will bring water out of the rock for the community so they and their livestock can drink.”

⁹So Moses took the staff^c from the Lord’s presence,^d just as he commanded him. ¹⁰He and Aaron gathered the assembly together^e in front of the rock and Moses said to them, “Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?”^{f 11}Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff. Water^g gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank.

¹²But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy^h in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them.”ⁱ

¹³These were the waters of Meribah,^aj where the Israelites quarreled^k with the Lord and where he was proved holy among them.^l

Edom Denies Israel Passage

¹⁴Moses sent messengers from Kadesh^m to the king of Edom,ⁿ saying:

“This is what your brother Israel says: You know^o about all the hardships^p that have come on us. ¹⁵Our ancestors went down into Egypt,^q and we lived there many years.^r The Egyptians mistreated^s us and our ancestors, ¹⁶but when we cried out to the Lord, he heard our cry^t and sent an angel^u and brought us out of Egypt.^v

“Now we are here at Kadesh, a town on the edge of your territory.^{w 17}Please let us pass through your country. We will not go through any field or vineyard, or drink water from any well. We will travel along the King’s Highway and not turn to the right or to the left until we have passed through your territory.^x”

¹⁸But Edom^y answered:

“You may not pass through here; if you try, we will march out and attack you with the sword.^z”

¹⁹The Israelites replied:

“We will go along the main road, and if we or our livestock^a drink any of your water, we will pay for it.^b We only want to pass through on foot—nothing else.”

²⁰Again they answered:

“You may not pass through.^c”

Then Edom^d came out against them with a large and powerful army. ²¹Since Edom refused to let them go through their territory,^e Israel turned away from them.^f

The Death of Aaron

²²The whole Israelite community set out from Kadesh^g and came to Mount Hor.^{h 23}At Mount Hor, near the border of Edom,ⁱ the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ²⁴“Aaron will be gathered to his people.^j He will not enter the land I give the Israelites, because both of you rebelled against my command^k at the waters of Meribah.^{l 25}Get Aaron and his son Eleazar and take them up Mount Hor.^{m 26}Remove Aaron’s garmentsⁿ and put them on his son Eleazar, for Aaron will be gathered to his people;^o he will die there.”

²⁷Moses did as the Lord commanded: They went up Mount Hor^p in the sight of the whole community. ²⁸Moses removed Aaron’s garments and put them on his son Eleazar.^q And Aaron died there^r on top of the mountain. Then Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain, ²⁹and when the whole community learned that Aaron had died,^s all the Israelites mourned for him^t thirty days.