Numbers 19:9-19

9 And a man who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer and lay them up outside the camp in a clean place, and it shall be kept for the congregation of the children of Israel for a water of separation: it is a purification for sin.
10 And he that gathereth the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes and be unclean until the evening. And it shall be unto the children of Israel, and unto the stranger who sojourneth among them, for a statute for ever.
11 "`He that toucheth the dead body of any man shall be unclean seven days.
12 He shall purify himself with the water on the third day, and on the seventh day he shall be clean; but if he purify not himself the third day, then the seventh day he shall not be clean.
13 Whosoever toucheth the dead body of any man who is dead and purifieth not himself, defileth the tabernacle of the LORD, and that soul shall be cut off from Israel. Because the water of separation was not sprinkled upon him, he shall be unclean; his uncleanness is yet upon him.
14 "`This is the law when a man dieth in a tent: All who come into the tent, and all who are in the tent, shall be unclean seven days.
15 And every open vessel, which hath no covering bound upon it, is unclean.
16 And whosoever toucheth one who is slain with a sword in the open fields, or a dead body, or a bone of a man, or a grave, shall be unclean seven days.
17 And for an unclean person they shall take of the ashes of the burnt heifer of purification for sin, and running water shall be put thereto in a vessel.
18 And a clean person shall take hyssop and dip it in the water, and sprinkle it upon the tent and upon all the vessels and upon the persons who were there, and upon him that touched a bone or one slain or one dead or a grave.
19 And the clean person shall sprinkle upon the unclean on the third day and on the seventh day; and on the seventh day he shall purify himself, and wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and shall be clean at evening.

Numbers 19:9-19 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.

Third Millennium Bible (TMB), New Authorized Version, Copyright 1998 by Deuel Enterprises, Inc., Gary, SD 57237. All rights reserved.