Numbers 19:1-10

1 The LORD said to Moses and Aaron,

2 “Here is another legal requirement commanded by the LORD : Tell the people of Israel to bring you a red heifer, a perfect animal that has no defects and has never been yoked to a plow.

3 Give it to Eleazar the priest, and it will be taken outside the camp and slaughtered in his presence.

4 Eleazar will take some of its blood on his finger and sprinkle it seven times toward the front of the Tabernacle.

5 As Eleazar watches, the heifer must be burned—its hide, meat, blood, and dung.

6 Eleazar the priest must then take a stick of cedar, a hyssop branch, and some scarlet yarn and throw them into the fire where the heifer is burning.

7 “Then the priest must wash his clothes and bathe himself in water. Afterward he may return to the camp, though he will remain ceremonially unclean until evening.

8 The man who burns the animal must also wash his clothes and bathe himself in water, and he, too, will remain unclean until evening.

9 Then someone who is ceremonially clean will gather up the ashes of the heifer and deposit them in a purified place outside the camp. They will be kept there for the community of Israel to use in the water for the purification ceremony. This ceremony is performed for the removal of sin.

10 The man who gathers up the ashes of the heifer must also wash his clothes, and he will remain ceremonially unclean until evening. This is a permanent law for the people of Israel and any foreigners who live among them.

Numbers 19:1-10 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

• [a]. Hebrew the Tent of Meeting.
• [b]. Or juniper.