Numbers 19

NEW JERUSALEM	NEW AMERICAN BIBLE
1 Yahweh spoke to Moses and Aaron and said:	1 The LORD said to Moses and Aaron:
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.	2 "This is the regulation which the law of the LORD prescribes. Tell the Israelites to procure for you a red heifer that is free from every blemish and defect and on which no yoke has ever been laid.
3 You will give it to the priest Eleazar. It wil then be taken outside the camp and slaughtered in hispresence.	3 This is to be given to Eleazar the priest, to be led outside the camp and slaughtered in his presence.
4 The 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.	4 Eleazar the priest shall take some of its blood on his finger and sprinkle it seven times toward the front of the meeting tent.
5 The heifer wil then be burnt while he looks on; its hide, flesh, blood and offal wil be burnt.	5 Then the heifer shall be burned in his sight, with its hide and flesh, its blood and offal;
6 The priest wil then take some cedar wood, hyssop and scarlet material and throw them on the firewhere the heifer is burning.	6 and the priest shall take some cedar wood, hyssop and scarlet yarn and throw them into the fire in which the heifer is being burned.
7 He will then wash his clothes and bathe himself; after which he wil go back to the camp, though hewil remain unclean until evening.	7 The priest shall then wash his garments and bathe his body in water. He remains unclean until the evening, and only afterward may he return to the camp.
8 The man who has burnt the heifer wil wash his clothes and bathe himself and will remain uncleanuntil evening.	8 Likewise, he who burned the heifer shall wash his garments, bathe his body in water, and be unclean until evening.
9 The 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.	9 Finally, a man who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer and deposit them in a clean place outside the camp. There they are to be kept for preparing lustral water for the Israelite community. The heifer is a sin offering.
10 The 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.	10 He who has gathered up the ashes of the heifer shall also wash his garments and be unclean until evening. This is a perpetual ordinance, both for the Israelites and for the aliens residing among them.
11 'Anyone who touches the corpse of anyone whatever wil be unclean for seven days.	11 "Whoever touches the dead body of any human being shall be unclean for seven days;
12 Such a person must be purified with these waters on the third and seventh day and will then beclean; otherwise he wil not be clean.	12 he shall purify himself with the water on the third and on the seventh day, and then he will be clean again. But if he fails to purify himself on the third and on the seventh day, he will not become clean.
13 Anyone 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.	13 Everyone who fails to purify himself after touching the body of any deceased person, defiles the Dwelling of the LORD and shall be cut off from Israel. Since the lustral water has not been splashed over him, he remains unclean: his uncleanness still clings to 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,	14 "This is the law: When a man dies in a tent, everyone who enters the tent, as well as everyone already in it, shall be unclean for seven days;
15 and every open vessel with no cover tied over it wil also be unclean.	15 likewise, every vessel that is open, or with its lid unfastened, shall 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.	16 Moreover, everyone who in the open country touches a dead person, whether he was slain by the sword or died naturally, or who touches a human bone or a grave, shall be unclean 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.	17 For anyone who is thus unclean, ashes from the sin offering shall be put in a vessel, and spring water shall be poured on them.
18 Someone 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.	18 Then a man who is clean shall take some hyssop, dip it in this water, and sprinkle it on the tent and on all the vessels and persons that were in it, or on him who touched a bone, a slain person or other dead body, or a grave.
19 On 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.	19 The clean man shall sprinkle the unclean on the third and on the seventh day; thus purified on the seventh day, he shall wash his garments and bathe his body in water, and in the evening he will be clean again.
20 Anyone 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.	20 Any unclean man who fails to have himself purified shall be cut off from the community, because he defiles the sanctuary of the LORD. As long as the lustral water has not been splashed over him, he remains unclean.
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.	21 This shall be a perpetual ordinance for you. "One who sprinkles the lustral water shall wash his garments, and anyone who comes in contact with this water shall be unclean until evening.
22 Anything that an unclean person touches wil be unclean, and anyone who touches it wil be uncleanuntil evening.'	22 Moreover, whatever the unclean person touches becomes unclean itself, and anyone who touches it becomes unclean until evening."