Numbers 19:1-9

1 And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron,

2 This is the rule of the law which the Lord has made, saying, Give orders to the children of Israel to give you a red cow without any mark on her, and on which the yoke has never been put:

3 Give her to Eleazar the priest and let him take her outside the tent-circle and have her put to death before him.

4 Then let Eleazar the priest take some of her blood on his finger, shaking the blood seven times in the direction of the front of the Tent of meeting:

5 And the cow is to be burned before him, her skin and her flesh and her blood and her waste are to be burned:

6 Then let the priest take cedar-wood and hyssop and red thread, and put them into the fire where the cow is burning.

7 And the priest, after washing his clothing and bathing his body in water, may come back to the tent-circle, and will be unclean till evening.

8 And he who does the burning is to have his clothing washed and his body bathed in water and be unclean till evening.

9 Then let a man who is clean take the dust of the burned cow and put it outside the tent-circle in a clean place, where it is to be kept for the children of Israel and used in making the water which takes away what is unclean: it is a sin-offering.

Numbers 19:1-9 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.