Numbers 19:11-13

11 “Whoever touches a human corpse will be unclean for seven days.

12 They must purify themselves with the water on the third day and on the seventh day; then they will be clean. But if they do not purify themselves on the third and seventh days, they will not be clean.

13 If they fail to purify themselves after touching a human corpse, they defile the LORD’s tabernacle. They must be cut off from Israel. Because the water of cleansing has not been sprinkled on them, they are unclean; their uncleanness remains on them.

Numbers 19:11-13 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

• 1. S Leviticus 21:1; Numbers 5:2
• 2. S Leviticus 8:33; Numbers 31:19
• 3. ver 19; Numbers 31:19
• 4. ver 20; 2 Chronicles 26:21
• 5. S Leviticus 21:11; Leviticus 20:3
• 6. S Leviticus 15:31; 2 Chronicles 36:14; Psalms 79:1
• 7. Leviticus 7:20; Leviticus 22:3
• 8. ver 22; Haggai 2:13