Laws for Purification

Numbers 19

1 Now the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, 2 "This is the statute of the law that the Lord has commanded: Tell the people of Israel to bring you a red heifer without defect, in which there is no blemish, m and on which a yoke has never come. 3 And you shall give it to Eleazar the priest, and n it shall be taken outside the camp and slaughtered before him. 4 And Eleazar the priest shall take some of its blood with his finger, and o sprinkle some of its blood toward the front of the tent of meeting seven times. 5 And the heifer shall be burned in his sight. p Its skin, its flesh, and its blood, with its dung, shall be burned. 6 And the priest shall take q cedarwood and hyssop and scarlet yarn, and throw them into the fire burning the heifer. 7 Then the priest r shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and afterward he may come into the camp. But the priest shall be unclean until evening. 8 s The one who burns the heifer r shall wash his clothes in water and bathe his body in water and shall be unclean until evening. 9 And a man who is clean shall gather up t the ashes of the heifer and deposit them outside the camp in a u clean place. And they shall be kept for the water for v impurity for the congregation of the people of Israel; it is a sin offering. 10 And the one who gathers the ashes of the heifer r shall wash his clothes and be unclean until evening. And this shall be a perpetual statute for the people of Israel, and for the stranger who sojourns among them.

11 w "Whoever touches the dead body of any person shall be unclean seven days. 12 He x shall cleanse himself with the water on the third day and on the seventh day, and so be clean. But if he does not cleanse himself on the third day and on the seventh day, he will not become clean. 13 Whoever touches a dead person, the body of anyone who has died, and does not cleanse himself, y defiles the tabernacle of the Lord, z and that person shall be cut off from Israel; because the water for impurity was not thrown on him, he shall be unclean. His uncleanness is still on him.

14 "This is the law when someone dies in a tent: everyone who comes into the tent and everyone who is in the tent shall be unclean seven days. 15 And every a open vessel that has no cover fastened on it is unclean. 16 b Whoever in the open field touches someone who was killed with a sword or who died naturally, or touches a human bone or a c grave, shall be unclean seven days. 17 For the unclean they shall take d some ashes of the burnt sin offering, and fresh 1 water shall be added in a vessel. 18 Then a clean person shall take e hyssop and dip it in the water and sprinkle it on the tent and on all the furnishings and on the persons who were there and on whoever touched the bone, or the slain or the dead or the grave. 19 And the clean person shall sprinkle it on the unclean f on the third day and on the seventh day. g Thus on the seventh day he shall cleanse him, and he shall h wash his clothes and bathe himself in water, and at evening he shall be clean.

20 "If the man who is unclean does not cleanse himself, i that person shall be cut off from the midst of the assembly, since he has defiled the sanctuary of the Lord. Because the water for impurity has not been thrown on him, he is unclean. 21 And it shall be a statute forever for them. The one who sprinkles the water for impurity shall wash his clothes, and the one who touches the water for impurity shall be unclean until evening. 22 And j whatever the unclean person touches shall be unclean, and anyone who touches it shall be unclean until evening."

  1. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 21:3
    And the elders of the city that is nearest to the slain man shall take a heifer that has never been worked and that has not pulled in a yoke.
    1 Samuel 6:7
    Now then, take and prepare a new cart and two milk cows on which there has never come a yoke, and yoke the cows to the cart, but take their calves home, away from them.
  2. Cross References
    Leviticus 4:12
    All the rest of the bull - he shall carry outside the camp to a clean place, to the ash heap, and shall burn it up on a fire of wood. On the ash heap it shall be burned up.
    Hebrews 13:11
    For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy places by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin are burned outside the camp.
  3. Cross References
    Leviticus 4:6
    And the priest shall dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle part of the blood seven times before the Lord in front of the veil of the sanctuary.
    Leviticus 4:17
    And the priest shall dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle it seven times before the Lord in front of the veil.
    Leviticus 16:14
    And he shall take some of the blood of the bull and sprinkle it with his finger on the front of the mercy seat on the east side, and in front of the mercy seat he shall sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times.
    Leviticus 16:19
    And he shall sprinkle some of the blood on it with his finger seven times, and cleanse it and consecrate it from the uncleannesses of the people of Israel.
    Hebrews 9:13
    For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh.
  4. Cross References
    Exodus 29:14
    But the flesh of the bull and its skin and its dung you shall burn with fire outside the camp; it is a sin offering.
    Leviticus 4:11 - 12
    But the skin of the bull and all its flesh, with its head, its legs, its entrails, and its dung -
  5. Cross References
    Leviticus 14:4
    The priest shall command them to take for him who is to be cleansed two live clean birds and cedarwood and scarlet yarn and hyssop.
    Leviticus 14:6
    He shall take the live bird with the cedarwood and the scarlet yarn and the hyssop, and dip them and the live bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the fresh water.
    Leviticus 14:49
    And for the cleansing of the house he shall take two small birds, with cedarwood and scarlet yarn and hyssop.
  6. Cross References
    Leviticus 11:25
    And whoever carries any part of their carcass shall wash his clothes and be unclean until the evening.
  7. Cross References
    Numbers 19:5
    And the heifer shall be burned in his sight. Its skin, its flesh, and its blood, with its dung, shall be burned.
  8. Cross References
    Numbers 19:7
    Then the priest shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and afterward he may come into the camp. But the priest shall be unclean until evening.
  9. Cross References
    Hebrews 9:13
    For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh.
  10. Cross References
    Leviticus 4:12
    All the rest of the bull - he shall carry outside the camp to a clean place, to the ash heap, and shall burn it up on a fire of wood. On the ash heap it shall be burned up.
    Leviticus 6:11
    Then he shall take off his garments and put on other garments and carry the ashes outside the camp to a clean place.
    Leviticus 10:14
    But the breast that is waved and the thigh that is contributed you shall eat in a clean place, you and your sons and your daughters with you, for they are given as your due and your sons' due from the sacrifices of the peace offerings of the people of Israel.
  11. Cross References
    Numbers 19:13
    Whoever touches a dead person, the body of anyone who has died, and does not cleanse himself, defiles the tabernacle of the Lord, and that person shall be cut off from Israel; because the water for impurity was not thrown on him, he shall be unclean. His uncleanness is still on him.
    Numbers 19:20 - 21
    If the man who is unclean does not cleanse himself, that person shall be cut off from the midst of the assembly, since he has defiled the sanctuary of the Lord. Because the water for impurity has not been thrown on him, he is unclean.
    Numbers 31:23
    Everything that can stand the fire, you shall pass through the fire, and it shall be clean. Nevertheless, it shall also be purified with the water for impurity. And whatever cannot stand the fire, you shall pass through the water.
  12. Cross References
    Numbers 19:7
    Then the priest shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and afterward he may come into the camp. But the priest shall be unclean until evening.
  13. Cross References
    Numbers 19:16
    Whoever in the open field touches someone who was killed with a sword or who died naturally, or touches a human bone or a grave, shall be unclean seven days.
    Numbers 5:2
    Command the people of Israel that they put out of the camp everyone who is leprous or has a discharge and everyone who is unclean through contact with the dead.
    Numbers 9:6
    And there were certain men who were unclean through touching a dead body, so that they could not keep the Passover on that day, and they came before Moses and Aaron on that day.
    Numbers 9:10
    Speak to the people of Israel, saying, If any one of you or of your descendants is unclean through touching a dead body, or is on a long journey, he shall still keep the Passover to the Lord.
    Numbers 31:19
    Encamp outside the camp seven days. Whoever of you has killed any person and whoever has touched any slain, purify yourselves and your captives on the third day and on the seventh day.
  14. Cross References
    Numbers 31:19
    Encamp outside the camp seven days. Whoever of you has killed any person and whoever has touched any slain, purify yourselves and your captives on the third day and on the seventh day.
  15. Cross References
    Numbers 19:20
    If the man who is unclean does not cleanse himself, that person shall be cut off from the midst of the assembly, since he has defiled the sanctuary of the Lord. Because the water for impurity has not been thrown on him, he is unclean.
    Leviticus 15:31
    "Thus you shall keep the people of Israel separate from their uncleanness, lest they die in their uncleanness by defiling my tabernacle that is in their midst."
  16. Cross References
    Exodus 30:33
    Whoever compounds any like it or whoever puts any of it on an outsider shall be cut off from his people.'
  17. Cross References
    Numbers 31:20
    You shall purify every garment, every article of skin, all work of goats' hair, and every article of wood.
    Leviticus 11:32
    And anything on which any of them falls when they are dead shall be unclean, whether it is an article of wood or a garment or a skin or a sack, any article that is used for any purpose. It must be put into water, and it shall be unclean until the evening; then it shall be clean.
  18. Cross References
    Numbers 19:11
    Whoever touches the dead body of any person shall be unclean seven days.
  19. Cross References
    Matthew 23:27
    Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness.
    Luke 11:44
    Woe to you! For you are like unmarked graves, and people walk over them without knowing it.
  20. Cross References
    Hebrews 9:13
    For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh.
  21. Cross References
    Exodus 12:22
    Take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and touch the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. None of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning.
  22. Cross References
    Numbers 19:12
    He shall cleanse himself with the water on the third day and on the seventh day, and so be clean. But if he does not cleanse himself on the third day and on the seventh day, he will not become clean.
  23. Cross References
    Leviticus 14:9
    And on the seventh day he shall shave off all his hair from his head, his beard, and his eyebrows. He shall shave off all his hair, and then he shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and he shall be clean.
  24. Cross References
    Leviticus 11:25
    And whoever carries any part of their carcass shall wash his clothes and be unclean until the evening.
  25. Cross References
    Exodus 30:33
    Whoever compounds any like it or whoever puts any of it on an outsider shall be cut off from his people.
  26. Cross References
    Numbers 19:11
    Whoever touches the dead body of any person shall be unclean seven days.
    Haggai 2:13
    Then Haggai said, "If someone who is unclean by contact with a dead body touches any of these, does it become unclean?" The priests answered and said, "It does become unclean.
English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.
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