Numbers 19

(1) Using a Sacrifice’s Ashes for Purification

Then the Existing One told Aaron and Moses,

“Here’s something you guys need to do.

“Tell Israel’s descendants to bring you a healthy red cow that doesn’t have any flaws and has never been hooked up to a work harness. They’ll need to bring it to Priest Eleazar, then it needs to be brought outside of the camp and slaughtered in front of him. Priest Eleazar will need to take some of its blood with his finger and sprinkle it toward the front of My meeting tent seven times. Then the entire cow needs to be burned in front of him, including its skin, meat, blood, and refuse. Then the priest needs to take cedar wood, hyssop, and red fabric, and throw them all into the middle of the burning cow.

“The priest will then need to wash his clothes and take a shower. After that, he can enter back into the camp—but he’ll be unclean until the evening. And whoever burns the cow will also need to wash his clothes and take a shower—and he’ll be unclean until the evening too.

“At that point, someone who is clean will need to gather the cow’s ashes and put them in a clean location outside the camp. The Israelites will use the ashes in the water they use for removing impurity.

“This is an offering for Israel’s corruption. The person who gathers the cow’s ashes will need to wash his clothes and be unclean until the evening.

“This will be an ongoing custom for Israel’s descendants, as well as the foreigners who live with them. 

(11) When Someone Touches a Corpse

“If anyone ever touches a human corpse, that person will be impure for 7 days. He’ll need to purify himself with the water on the third day and again on seventh day—then he’ll be clean.

“If he fails to purify himself on those days, he’ll remain impure.

“If someone touches a human corpse and doesn’t purify himself, that person defiles the Existing One’s house and needs to be severed from Israel. Since the water for impurity wasn’t sprinkled on him, he’ll remain impure. 

(14) When Someone Dies Indoors

“And here’s what you need to do when someone dies in their tent.

“Everyone who steps foot into that tent and everyone in the tent will be impure for 7 days. Every open container without a lid on it will be impure. (Even if someone is outdoors and they touch a corpse, a human bone, or grave, that person will be impure for 7 days.)

“The impure person will need to take some of the ashes from the burnt corruption offering, and living water needs to be poured on them out of a container. Someone who is clean will then need to take some hyssop, dip it in the water, and sprinkle it on the tent, on all its furnishings, on everyone who was there, and  on the person who touched the corpse/grave/bone.

“The clean person will need to sprinkle it on all the unclean items on the third and again on the seventh day. On the seventh day, he will purify the unclean person. He’ll need to wash his clothes and take a shower, then he’ll be clean by the evening. 

(20) Israelites Must Always Purify Themselves

“But if there’s ever a person who becomes impure but doesn’t purify himself, he needs to be cut off from the rest of the population for defiling the Existing One’s sacred place. Since the water for impurity hasn’t been sprinkled on him, he’ll continue being impure.

“This will be an ongoing custom for Israel. Whoever sprinkles the water for impurity will need to wash his clothes, and whoever touches the water for impurity will be impure until the evening.

“Also, anything that an impure person touches will become impure, and if someone else touches one of those things, they will also become impure.”