Numbers 19:1-8 ▼

1 The LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron:

2 This is the statute for the ritual which the LORD has commanded. Tell the Israelites to procure for you a red heifer without defect and free from every blemish and on which no yoke has ever been laid.

3 You will give it to Eleazar the priest, and it will be led outside the camp and slaughtered in his presence.

4 Eleazar the priest will take some of its blood on his finger and sprinkle it seven times toward the front of the tent of meeting.

5 Then the heifer will be burned in his sight; it will be burned with its hide and flesh, its blood and dung;

6 and the priest will take cedar wood, hyssop and scarlet yarn and throw them into the fire in which the heifer is being burned.

7 The priest shall then wash his garments and bathe his body in water, afterward he may enter the camp. The priest remains unclean until the evening.

8 Likewise, the one who burned the heifer shall wash his garments in water, bathe his body in water, and be unclean until evening.