1
The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying:
2
This is a statute of the law that the Lord has commanded: Tell the Israelites to bring you a red heifer without defect, in which there is no blemish and on which no yoke has been laid.
3
You shall give it to the priest Eleazar, and it shall be taken outside the camp and slaughtered in his presence.
4
The priest Eleazar shall take some of its blood with his finger and sprinkle it seven times towards the front of the tent of meeting.
5
Then the heifer shall be burned in his sight; its skin, its flesh, and its blood, with its dung, shall be burned.
6
The priest shall take cedarwood, hyssop, and crimson material, and throw them into the fire in which the heifer is burning.
7
Then the priest shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and afterwards he may come into the camp; but the priest shall remain unclean until evening.
8
The one who burns the heifer shall wash his clothes in water and bathe his body in water; he shall remain unclean until evening.
9
Then someone who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer, and deposit them outside the camp in a clean place; and they shall be kept for the congregation of the Israelites for the water for cleansing. It is a purification offering.
10
The one who gathers the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes and be unclean until evening. This shall be a perpetual statute for the Israelites and for the alien residing among them.