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Numbers 19 :: New International Version (NIV)

The Water of Cleansing

Num 19:1The LORD said to Moses and Aaron:
Num 19:2“This is a requirement of the law that the LORD has commanded: Tell the Israelites to bring you a red heifer without defect or blemish and that has never been under a yoke.
Num 19:3Give it to Eleazar the priest; it is to be taken outside the camp and slaughtered in his presence.
Num 19:4Then Eleazar the priest is to take some of its blood on his finger and sprinkle it seven times toward the front of the tent of meeting.
Num 19:5While he watches, the heifer is to be burned—its hide, flesh, blood and intestines.
Num 19:6The priest is to take some cedar wood, hyssop and scarlet wool and throw them onto the burning heifer.
Num 19:7After that, the priest must wash his clothes and bathe himself with water. He may then come into the camp, but he will be ceremonially unclean till evening.
Num 19:8The man who burns it must also wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he too will be unclean till evening.
Num 19:9“A man who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer and put them in a ceremonially clean place outside the camp. They are to be kept by the Israelite community for use in the water of cleansing; it is for purification from sin.
Num 19:10The man who gathers up the ashes of the heifer must also wash his clothes, and he too will be unclean till evening. This will be a lasting ordinance both for the Israelites and for the foreigners residing among them.
Num 19:11“Whoever touches a human corpse will be unclean for seven days.
Num 19:12They 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.
Num 19:13If 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.
Num 19:14“This is the law that applies when a person dies in a tent: Anyone who enters the tent and anyone who is in it will be unclean for seven days,
Num 19:15and every open container without a lid fastened on it will be unclean.
Num 19:16“Anyone out in the open who touches someone who has been killed with a sword or someone who has died a natural death, or anyone who touches a human bone or a grave, will be unclean for seven days.
Num 19:17“For the unclean person, put some ashes from the burned purification offering into a jar and pour fresh water over them.
Num 19:18Then a man who is ceremonially clean is to take some hyssop, dip it in the water and sprinkle the tent and all the furnishings and the people who were there. He must also sprinkle anyone who has touched a human bone or a grave or anyone who has been killed or anyone who has died a natural death.
Num 19:19The man who is clean is to sprinkle those who are unclean on the third and seventh days, and on the seventh day he is to purify them. Those who are being cleansed must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and that evening they will be clean.
Num 19:20But if those who are unclean do not purify themselves, they must be cut off from the community, because they have defiled the sanctuary of the LORD. The water of cleansing has not been sprinkled on them, and they are unclean.
Num 19:21This is a lasting ordinance for them. “The man who sprinkles the water of cleansing must also wash his clothes, and anyone who touches the water of cleansing will be unclean till evening.
Num 19:22Anything that an unclean person touches becomes unclean, and anyone who touches it becomes unclean till evening.”
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