Numbers 19:2-12

2 This is the statute of the law which Jehovah hath commanded, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring thee a red heifer without blemish, wherein is no defect, and upon which never came yoke;
3 and ye shall give it to Eleazar the priest, and he shall bring it outside the camp, and one shall slaughter it before him.
4 And Eleazar the priest shall take of its blood with his finger, and shall sprinkle of its blood directly before the tent of meeting seven times.
5 And one shall burn the heifer before his eyes; its skin and its flesh, and its blood, with its dung, shall he burn.
6 And the priest shall take cedar-wood, and hyssop, and scarlet, and cast them into the midst of the burning of the heifer.
7 And the priest shall wash his garments, and he shall bathe his flesh in water, and afterwards he shall come into the camp; and the priest shall be unclean until the even;
8 and he that hath burned it shall wash his garments in water, and bathe his flesh in water, and shall be unclean until the even.
9 And a clean man shall gather the ashes of the heifer, and deposit them outside the camp in a clean place, and it shall be kept for the assembly of the children of Israel for a water of separation: it is a purification for sin.
10 And he that hath gathered the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the even. And it shall be unto the children of Israel, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among them, an everlasting statute.
11 He that toucheth a dead person, any dead body of a man, shall be unclean seven days.
12 He shall purify himself with it 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.

Numbers 19:2-12 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.

Footnotes 4

  • [a]. Consume wholly: so ver. 17. See Ex. 29.34; Lev. 4.12.
  • [b]. Or 'sin-offering:' see ch. 8.7, Gen. 4.7.
  • [c]. Lit. 'soul.'
  • [d]. Lit. 'purify from sin;' and so all through this passage.
The Darby Translation is in the public domain.