Numbers 19:1-9 ▼

1 Then the LORD said to Moses and Aaron,

2 “This is the statute of the law that the LORD has commanded: Instruct the Israelites to bring you an unblemished red heifer that has no defect and has never been placed under a yoke.

3 Give it to Eleazar the priest, and he will have it brought outside the camp and slaughtered in his presence.

4 Eleazar the priest is to 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 must be burned in his sight. Its hide, its flesh, and its blood are to be burned, along with its dung.

6 The priest is to take cedar wood, hyssop, and scarlet wool and throw them onto the burning heifer.

7 Then the priest must wash his clothes and bathe his body in water; after that he may enter the camp, but he will be ceremonially unclean until evening.

8 The one who burned the heifer must also wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and he too will be ceremonially unclean until evening.

9 Then a man who is ceremonially clean is to gather up the ashes of the heifer and store them in a ceremonially clean place outside the camp. They must be kept by the congregation of Israel for preparing the water of purification; this is for purification from sin.