Numbers 19:1-7

1 The LORD spoke to Moshe and to Aharon, saying,

2 This is the statute of the law which the LORD has commanded, saying, Speak to the children of Yisra'el, that they bring you a red heifer without spot, in which is no blemish, [and] on which never came yoke.

3 You shall give her to El`azar the Kohen, and he shall bring her forth outside of the camp, and one shall kill her before his face:

4 and El`azar the Kohen shall take of her blood with his finger, and sprinkle her blood toward the front of the tent of meeting seven times.

5 One shall burn the heifer in his sight; her skin, and her flesh, and her blood, with her dung, shall he burn:

6 and the Kohen shall take cedar-wood, and hyssop, and scarlet, and cast it into the midst of the burning of the heifer.

7 Then the Kohen shall wash his clothes, and he shall bathe his flesh in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp, and the Kohen shall be unclean until the even.

Numbers 19:1-7 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.