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Venerdi, 29 marzo 2024 - Santi Simplicio e Costantino ( Letture di oggi)

Numbers 19


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1Yahweh spoke to Moses and Aaron and said:2'This is a decree of the Law which Yahweh has prescribed. Tel the Israelites, they are to bring you ared heifer without fault or blemish that has never borne the yoke.3You will give it to the priest Eleazar. It wil then be taken outside the camp and slaughtered in hispresence.4The priest Eleazar wil then take some of the victim's blood on his finger, and sprinkle this bloodseven times towards the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.5The heifer wil then be burnt while he looks on; its hide, flesh, blood and offal wil be burnt.6The priest wil then take some cedar wood, hyssop and scarlet material and throw them on the firewhere the heifer is burning.7He will then wash his clothes and bathe himself; after which he wil go back to the camp, though hewil remain unclean until evening.8The man who has burnt the heifer wil wash his clothes and bathe himself and will remain uncleanuntil evening.9The man who gathers up the ashes of the heifer must be ritually clean; he will deposit them outsidethe camp, in a clean place. They wil be kept for the ritual use of the Israelite community for making water forpurification; it is a sacrifice for sin.10The man who has gathered up the ashes of the heifer wil wash his clothes and remain unclean untilevening. For the Israelites as for the resident alien, this wil be a perpetual decree.11'Anyone who touches the corpse of anyone whatever wil be unclean for seven days.12Such a person must be purified with these waters on the third and seventh day and will then beclean; otherwise he wil not be clean.13Anyone who touches the corpse of anyone who has died and is not purified, defiles Yahweh'sDwelling; such a person wil be outlawed from Israel, since the water for purification has not been sprinkled overhim; he is unclean, and his uncleanness remains in him.14'This is the law when someone dies in a tent. Anyone who goes into the tent, or anyone who isalready in it, wil be unclean for seven days,15and every open vessel with no cover tied over it wil also be unclean.16'Anyone in the open country who touches a murder victim, a corpse, human bones or a grave wil beunclean for seven days.17'For someone thus unclean, some of the ashes of the victim burnt as a sacrifice for sin wil be takenand spring water must be poured over them, in a vessel.18Someone who is ritual y clean wil then take some hyssop and dip it in the water. This person wilthen sprinkle the tent, all the vessels and people who were there, and similarly anyone who has touched humanbones, a murder victim, a corpse or a grave.19On the third and the seventh day the clean one wil sprinkle the unclean, who on the seventh day wilbe clean. The latter wil then wash his clothes and bathe in water, and in the evening he wil be clean.20Anyone who fails to be purified in this way wil be outlawed from the community, and would defileYahweh's sanctuary. Such a person is unclean, not having been sprinkled with the water for purification.21'This wil be a perpetual decree for them. The person who sprinkles the water for purification wilwash his clothes, and anyone who touches the water for purification wil be unclean until evening.22Anything that an unclean person touches wil be unclean, and anyone who touches it wil be uncleanuntil evening.'