Numbers 19:10-20

10 And he that gathers the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes and be unclean until the evening; and it shall be unto the sons of Israel and unto the stranger that sojourns among them for a perpetual statute.

11 He that touches the dead body of any human person shall be unclean seven days.

12 They shall remove the sin from themselves with that water on the third day, and on the seventh day they shall be clean; but if they do not remove the sin from themselves the third day, then the seventh day they shall not be clean.

13 Whoever touches the dead body of anyone that is dead and does not remove the sin has defiled the tabernacle of the LORD; and that person shall be cut off from Israel; because the water of separation was not sprinkled upon him, he shall be unclean, and his uncleanness shall be upon him.

14 This is the law when anyone dies in a tent; all that come into the tent and all that are in the tent shall be unclean seven days.

15 And every open vessel which has no lid fastened upon it shall be unclean.

16 And whoever touches one that is slain with a sword in the open fields or a dead body or a human bone or a grave, shall be unclean seven days.

17 And for the unclean person they shall take of the dust of the heifer that was burnt as sin and put living water over it in a vessel;

18 and a clean person shall take hyssop and dip it in the water and sprinkle it upon the tent and upon all the stuff and upon the persons that were there and upon the one that touched the bone or the one slain or the one dead or the grave.

19 And the clean person shall sprinkle upon the unclean on the third day and on the seventh day; and when he has removed the sin from them the seventh day, he shall then wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and shall be clean in the evening.

20 But the man that shall be unclean and shall not cause the sin to be removed from himself, that person shall be cut off from among the congregation because he has defiled the tabernacle of the LORD; the water of separation has not been sprinkled upon him; he is unclean.

Numbers 19:10-20 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.