New Living Translation | International Standard Version |
1The LORD said to Moses and Aaron, | 1The LORD told Moses and Aaron, |
2“Here is another legal requirement commanded by the LORD: Tell the people of Israel to bring you a red heifer, a perfect animal that has no defects and has never been yoked to a plow. | 2"This is the ordinance of the law that the LORD commanded that the Israelis be told: They are to bring you a spotless red heifer, without physical defect, that has never been fitted with a yoke. |
3Give it to Eleazar the priest, and it will be taken outside the camp and slaughtered in his presence. | 3They are to deliver it to Eleazar the priest, and it is to be brought outside the camp and slaughtered in his presence. |
4Eleazar will take some of its blood on his finger and sprinkle it seven times toward the front of the Tabernacle. | 4Then Eleazar the priest is to take blood from it with his finger and sprinkle the blood in front of the Tent of Meeting. |
5As Eleazar watches, the heifer must be burned—its hide, meat, blood, and dung. | 5The entire heifer is to be incinerated in his presence, including its skin, its flesh, its blood, and its dung. |
6Eleazar the priest must then take a stick of cedar, a hyssop branch, and some scarlet yarn and throw them into the fire where the heifer is burning. | 6Then the priest is to take some cedar wood, hyssop, and scarlet material and throw it into the middle of the burning heifer. |
7“Then the priest must wash his clothes and bathe himself in water. Afterward he may return to the camp, though he will remain ceremonially unclean until evening. | 7The priest is to wash his clothes and bathe himself with water, after which he may enter the camp, but he is to remain unclean until evening. |
8The man who burns the animal must also wash his clothes and bathe himself in water, and he, too, will remain unclean until evening. | 8Whoever takes part in the burning is to wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and is to remain unclean until the evening. |
9Then someone who is ceremonially clean will gather up the ashes of the heifer and deposit them in a purified place outside the camp. They will be kept there for the community of Israel to use in the water for the purification ceremony. This ceremony is performed for the removal of sin. | 9Then someone who is unclean is to gather the ashes of the heifer and lay them outside the camp in a clean place. This is to be done for the community of Israel to use for water of purification from sin. |
10The man who gathers up the ashes of the heifer must also wash his clothes, and he will remain ceremonially unclean until evening. This is a permanent law for the people of Israel and any foreigners who live among them. | 10Whoever gathers the ashes of the heifer is to wash his clothes and is to remain unclean until the evening. This ordinance is to remain for the benefit of both the Israelis and the resident aliens who live among them." |
11“All those who touch a dead human body will be ceremonially unclean for seven days. | 11"Whoever comes in contact with the body of a dead person is to remain unclean for seven days. |
12They must purify themselves on the third and seventh days with the water of purification; then they will be purified. But if they do not do this on the third and seventh days, they will continue to be unclean even after the seventh day. | 12He is to purify himself on the third day and he will be clean on the seventh day. But if he can't purify himself on the third day then he can't be clean on the seventh day. |
13All those who touch a dead body and do not purify themselves in the proper way defile the LORD’s Tabernacle, and they will be cut off from the community of Israel. Since the water of purification was not sprinkled on them, their defilement continues. | 13Anyone who comes in contact with a dead person (that is, with the corpse of a human being who has died), but who does not purify himself, defiles the LORD's tent. That person is to be eliminated from Israel, because the water of impurity wasn't sprinkled on him. He remains unclean and his uncleanness will remain with him. |
14“This is the ritual law that applies when someone dies inside a tent: All those who enter that tent and those who were inside when the death occurred will be ceremonially unclean for seven days. | 14"This is the procedure to follow when a man dies in his tent: Everyone who enters the tent and everyone in it is to remain unclean for seven days. |
15Any open container in the tent that was not covered with a lid is also defiled. | 15Every open vessel that has no covering fastened around it is to be considered unclean. |
16And if someone in an open field touches the corpse of someone who was killed with a sword or who died a natural death, or if someone touches a human bone or a grave, that person will be defiled for seven days. | 16Whoever is out in an open field and touches the body of someone who was killed by a sword, or a dead body, or someone's bones, or a grave, he is to be considered unclean for seven days. |
17“To remove the defilement, put some of the ashes from the burnt purification offering in a jar, and pour fresh water over them. | 17"Now as for the unclean, they are to take ashes from the burning sin offering, and pour running water on it inside a vessel. |
18Then someone who is ceremonially clean must take a hyssop branch and dip it into the water. That person must sprinkle the water on the tent, on all the furnishings in the tent, and on the people who were in the tent; also on the person who touched a human bone, or touched someone who was killed or who died naturally, or touched a grave. | 18A clean person is to take some hyssop, dip it in water, and then sprinkle it on the tent, on every vessel, and on whoever was there (that is, on whoever touched the bones, the killed person, or the dead body, including whoever dug the grave). |
19On the third and seventh days the person who is ceremonially clean must sprinkle the water on those who are defiled. Then on the seventh day the people being cleansed must wash their clothes and bathe themselves, and that evening they will be cleansed of their defilement. | 19The clean person is to sprinkle the unclean person on the third day and seventh day and then he is to purify himself on the seventh day, wash his clothes, and bathe with water. He is to be considered clean at evening. |
20“But those who become defiled and do not purify themselves will be cut off from the community, for they have defiled the sanctuary of the LORD. Since the water of purification has not been sprinkled on them, they remain defiled. | 20"The person who is unclean but who doesn't purify himself is to be eliminated from contact with the assembly, since he has defiled the LORD's sanctuary and the water of impurity wasn't sprinkled on him. He is to be considered unclean |
21This is a permanent law for the people. Those who sprinkle the water of purification must afterward wash their clothes, and anyone who then touches the water used for purification will remain defiled until evening. | 21as a continuing reminder to them. Whoever sprinkles the water of impurity is to wash his clothes, and whoever comes in contact with the water of impurity is to remain unclean until evening. |
22Anything and anyone that a defiled person touches will be ceremonially unclean until evening.” | 22Furthermore, anything that the unclean person touches is to be considered unclean and the person who touches him is to be considered unclean until the evening." |
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. | The Holy Bible: International Standard Version® Release 2.1 Copyright © 1996-2012 The ISV Foundation ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INTERNATIONALLY. |
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