Laws of Purification
1 Now theLordspoke to Moses and Aaron, saying,
2 “Thisisthe ordinance of the law which theLordhas commanded, saying: ‘Speak to the children of Israel, that they bring you a red heifer without blemish, in which thereisnodefectandon which a yoke has never come.
3 You shall give it to Eleazar the priest, that he may take itoutside the camp, and it shall be slaughtered before him;
4 and Eleazar the priest shall take some of its blood with his finger, andsprinkle some of its blood seven times directly in front of the tabernacle of meeting.
5 Then the heifer shall be burned in his sight:its hide, its flesh, its blood, and its offal shall be burned.
6 And the priest shall takecedar wood andhyssop and scarlet, and casttheminto the midst of the fire burning the heifer.
7 Then the priest shall wash his clothes, he shall bathe in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp; the priest shall be unclean until evening.
8 And the one who burns it shall wash his clothes in water, bathe in water, and shall be unclean until evening.
9 Then a manwhoisclean shall gather upthe ashes of the heifer, and storethemoutside the camp in a clean place; and they shall be kept for the congregation of the children of Israelfor the water of purification; itisfor purifying from sin.
10 And the one who gathers the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until evening. It shall be a statute forever to the children of Israel and to the stranger who dwells among them.
11 ‘He who touches the dead body of anyone shall be unclean seven days.
12 He shall purify himself with the water on the third day and on the seventh day;thenhe will be clean. But if he does not purify himself on the third day and on the seventh day, he will not be clean.
13 Whoever touches the body of anyone who has died, anddoes not purify himself,defiles the tabernacle of theLord. That person shall be cut off from Israel. He shall be unclean, becausethe water of purification was not sprinkled on him;his uncleannessisstill on him.
14 ‘Thisisthe law when a man dies in a tent: All who come into the tent and all whoarein the tent shall be unclean seven days;
15 and everyopen vessel, which has no cover fastened on it,isunclean.
16 Whoever in the open field touches one who is slain by a sword or who has died, or a bone of a man, or a grave, shall be unclean seven days.
17 ‘And for an uncleanpersonthey shall take some of theashes of the heifer burnt for purification from sin, and running water shall be put on them in a vessel.
18 A clean person shall takehyssop and dipitin the water, sprinkleiton the tent, on all the vessels, on the persons who were there, or on the one who touched a bone, the slain, the dead, or a grave.
19 The cleanpersonshall sprinkle the unclean on the third day and on the seventh day;and on the seventh day he shall purify himself, wash his clothes, and bathe in water; and at evening he shall be clean.
20 ‘But the man who is unclean and does not purify himself, that person shall be cut off from among the assembly, because he hasdefiled the sanctuary of theLord. The water of purification has not been sprinkled on him; heisunclean.
21 It shall be a perpetual statute for them. He who sprinkles the water of purification shall wash his clothes; and he who touches the water of purification shall be unclean until evening.
22 Whatever the uncleanpersontouches shall be unclean; andthe person who touchesitshall be unclean until evening.’ ”