Numbers 19:1-8 ▼

1 The LORD said to 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.

3 Give it to Eleazar the priest, and it will be taken outside the camp and slaughtered in his presence.

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

5 As Eleazar watches, the heifer must be burned—its hide, meat, blood, and dung.

6 Eleazar 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.

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.

8 The man who burns the animal must also wash his clothes and bathe himself in water, and he, too, will remain unclean until evening.