Numbers 19:16

16 Anyone in the open field who touches someone who has been killed by the sword or has died of natural causes, or anyone who touches a human bone or a grave, will be unclean for seven days.

Numbers 19:16 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 19:16

And whosoever toucheth one that is slain with a sword in the
open fields
That is killed by another, that dies a violent death, either by the sword or other means; one that touched such an one was unclean, or that touched the sword with which he was slain, as the Targum of Jonathan adds: "or a dead body": that dies a natural death, or suddenly, or in any way:

or a bone off a man;
dug out of a grave, and lying by itself:

or a grave;
the Targum adds, either the covering or side of a grave:

shall be unclean seven days;
all which has respect to the defiling nature of sin, which is the cause of death and the grave.

Numbers 19:16 In-Context

14 This is the law when a person dies in a tent: Everyone who enters the tent and everyone already in the tent will be unclean for seven days,

15 and any open container without a lid fastened on it is unclean.

16 Anyone in the open field who touches someone who has been killed by the sword or has died of natural causes, or anyone who touches a human bone or a grave, will be unclean for seven days.

17 For the purification of the unclean person, take some of the ashes of the burnt sin offering, put them in a jar, and pour fresh water over them.

18 Then a man who is ceremonially clean is to take some hyssop, dip it in the water, and sprinkle the tent, all the furnishings, and the people who were there. He is also to sprinkle the one who touched a bone, a grave, or a person who has died or been slain.