Numbers 19:1–10

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