[1] And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, [2] This is the rule of the law
which the Lord has made, saying, Give orders to the children of Israel to
give you a red cow without any mark on her, and on which the yoke has never
been put: [3] Give her to Eleazar the priest and let him take her outside
the tent-circle and have her put to death before him. [4] Then let Eleazar
the priest take some of her blood on his finger, shaking the blood seven
times in the direction of the front of the Tent of meeting: [5] And the cow
is to be burned before him, her skin and her flesh and her blood and her
waste are to be burned: [6] Then let the priest take cedar-wood and hyssop
and red thread, and put them into the fire where the cow is burning. [7]
And the priest, after washing his clothing and bathing his body in water,
may come back to the tent-circle, and will be unclean till evening. [8] And
he who does the burning is to have his clothing washed and his body bathed
in water and be unclean till evening. [9] Then let a man who is clean take
the dust of the burned cow and put it outside the tent-circle in a clean
place, where it is to be kept for the children of Israel and used in making
the water which takes away what is unclean: it is a sin-offering. [10] And
he who takes up the dust of the burned cow is to have his clothing washed
with water and be unclean till evening: this is to be a law for ever, for
the children of Israel as well as for the man from another country who is
living among them. [11] Anyone touching a dead body will be unclean for
seven days: [12] On the third day and on the seventh day he is to make
himself clean with the water, and so he will be clean: but if he does not
do this on the third day and on the seventh day, he will not be clean. [13]
Anyone touching the body of a dead man without making himself clean in this
way, makes the House of the Lord unclean; and that man will be cut off from
Israel: because the water was not put on him, he will be unclean; his
unclean condition is unchanged. [14] This is the law when death comes to a
man in his tent: everyone who comes into the tent, and everyone who is in
the tent, will be unclean for seven days. [15] And every open vessel
without a cover fixed on it will be unclean. [16] And anyone touching one
who has been put to death with the sword in the open country, or the body
of one who has come to his end by a natural death, or a man's bone, or the
resting-place of a dead body, will be unclean for seven days. [17] And for
the unclean, they are to take the dust of the burning of the sin-offering,
and put flowing water on it in a vessel: [18] And a clean person is to take
hyssop and put it in the water, shaking it over the tent, and all the
vessels, and the people who were there, and over him by whom the bone, or
the body of one who has been put to death with the sword, or the body of
one who has come to his end by a natural death, or the resting-place was
touched. [19] Let the clean person do this to the unclean on the third day
and on the seventh day: and on the seventh day he is to make him clean; and
after washing his clothing and bathing himself in water, he will be clean
in the evening. [20] But the man who, being unclean, does not make himself
clean in this way, will be cut off from the meeting of the people, because
he has made the holy place of the Lord unclean: the water has not been put
on him, he is unclean. [21] This is to be a law for them for ever: he who
puts the water on the unclean person is to have his clothing washed; and
anyone touching the water will be unclean till evening. [22] Anything
touched by the unclean person will be unclean; and any person touching it
will be unclean till evening.
