Numbers 19:17-22

17 For the unclean they shall take 1some ashes of the burnt sin offering, and fresh[a] water shall be added in a vessel.
18 Then a clean person shall take 2hyssop and dip it in the water and sprinkle it on the tent and on all the furnishings and on the persons who were there and on whoever touched the bone, or the slain or the dead or the grave.
19 And the clean person shall sprinkle it on the unclean 3on the third day and on the seventh day. 4Thus on the seventh day he shall cleanse him, and he shall 5wash his clothes and bathe himself in water, and at evening he shall be clean.
20 "If the man who is unclean does not cleanse himself, 6that person shall be cut off from the midst of the assembly, since he has defiled the sanctuary of the LORD. Because the water for impurity has not been thrown on him, he is unclean.
21 And it shall be a statute forever for them. The one who sprinkles the water for impurity shall wash his clothes, and the one who touches the water for impurity shall be unclean until evening.
22 And 7whatever the unclean person touches shall be unclean, and anyone who touches it shall be unclean until evening."

Numbers 19:17-22 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO NUMBERS 19

This chapter contains a law for making a water for purification for sin, the ingredients of which are the ashes of a red heifer burnt, about which many things are observed, Nu 19:1-10; the use of the water made of them, to purify such as were unclean by the touch of a dead body, Nu 19:11-13; some rules are given, by which it might be known who were unclean on account of a dead body, Nu 19:14-16; the manner of purifying such persons, Nu 19:17-19; and the punishment of those that should neglect purification, Nu 19:20-22.

Cross References 7

Footnotes 1

The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.