| English Standard Version | Christian Standard Bible |
| 1Now the LORD spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, | 1The LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, |
| 2“This is the statute of the law that the LORD has commanded: Tell the people of Israel to bring you a red heifer without defect, in which there is no blemish, and on which a yoke has never come. | 2"This is the legal statute that the LORD has commanded: Instruct the Israelites to bring you an unblemished red cow that has no defect and has never been yoked. |
| 3And you shall give it to Eleazar the priest, and it shall be taken outside the camp and slaughtered before him. | 3Give it to the priest Eleazar, and he will have it brought outside the camp and slaughtered in his presence. |
| 4And Eleazar the priest shall take some of its blood with his finger, and sprinkle some of its blood toward the front of the tent of meeting seven times. | 4The priest Eleazar is to take some of its blood with his finger and sprinkle it seven times toward the front of the tent of meeting. |
| 5And the heifer shall be burned in his sight. Its skin, its flesh, and its blood, with its dung, shall be burned. | 5The cow is to be burned in his sight. Its hide, flesh, and blood, are to be burned along with its waste. |
| 6And the priest shall take cedarwood and hyssop and scarlet yarn, and throw them into the fire burning the heifer. | 6The priest is to take cedar wood, hyssop, and crimson yarn, and throw them onto the fire where the cow is burning. |
| 7Then the priest shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and afterward he may come into the camp. But the priest shall be unclean until evening. | 7Then the priest must wash his clothes and bathe his body in water; after that he may enter the camp, but he will remain ceremonially unclean until evening. |
| 8The one who burns the heifer shall wash his clothes in water and bathe his body in water and shall be unclean until evening. | 8The one who burned the cow must also wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and he will remain unclean until evening. |
| 9And a man who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer and deposit them outside the camp in a clean place. And they shall be kept for the water for impurity for the congregation of the people of Israel; it is a sin offering. | 9"A man who is clean is to gather up the cow's ashes and deposit them outside the camp in a ceremonially clean place. The ashes will be kept by the Israelite community for preparing the water to remove impurity; it is a sin offering. |
| 10And the one who gathers the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes and be unclean until evening. And this shall be a perpetual statute for the people of Israel, and for the stranger who sojourns among them. | 10Then the one who gathers up the cow's ashes must wash his clothes, and he will remain unclean until evening. This is a permanent statute for the Israelites and for the alien who resides among them. |
| 11“Whoever touches the dead body of any person shall be unclean seven days. | 11"The person who touches any human corpse will be unclean for seven days. |
| 12He shall cleanse himself with the water on the third day and on the seventh day, and so be clean. But if he does not cleanse himself on the third day and on the seventh day, he will not become clean. | 12He is to purify himself with the water on the third day and the seventh day; then he will be clean. But if he does not purify himself on the third and seventh days, he will not be clean. |
| 13Whoever touches a dead person, the body of anyone who has died, and does not cleanse himself, defiles the tabernacle of the LORD, and that person shall be cut off from Israel; because the water for impurity was not thrown on him, he shall be unclean. His uncleanness is still on him. | 13Anyone who touches a body of a person who has died, and does not purify himself, defiles the tabernacle of the LORD. That person will be cut off from Israel. He remains unclean because the water for impurity has not been sprinkled on him, and his uncleanness is still on him. |
| 14“This is the law when someone dies in a tent: everyone who comes into the tent and everyone who is in the tent shall be unclean seven days. | 14"This is the law when a person dies in a tent: everyone who enters the tent and everyone who is already in the tent will be unclean for seven days, |
| 15And every open vessel that has no cover fastened on it is unclean. | 15and any open container without a lid tied on it is unclean. |
| 16Whoever in the open field touches someone who was killed with a sword or who died naturally, or touches a human bone or a grave, shall be unclean seven days. | 16Anyone in the open field who touches a person who has been killed by the sword or has died, or who even touches a human bone, or a grave, will be unclean for seven days. |
| 17For the unclean they shall take some ashes of the burnt sin offering, and fresh water shall be added in a vessel. | 17For the purification of the unclean person, they are to take some of the ashes of the burnt sin offering, put them in a jar, and add fresh water to them. |
| 18Then a clean person shall take hyssop and dip it in the water and sprinkle it on the tent and on all the furnishings and on the persons who were there and on whoever touched the bone, or the slain or the dead or the grave. | 18A person who is clean is to take hyssop, dip it in the water, and sprinkle the tent, all the furnishings, and the people who were there. He is also to sprinkle the one who touched a bone, a grave, a corpse, or a person who had been killed. |
| 19And the clean person shall sprinkle it on the unclean on the third day and on the seventh day. Thus on the seventh day he shall cleanse him, and he shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water, and at evening he shall be clean. | 19"The one who is clean is to sprinkle the unclean person on the third day and the seventh day. After he purifies the unclean person on the seventh day, the one being purified must wash his clothes and bathe in water, and he will be clean by evening. |
| 20“If the man who is unclean does not cleanse himself, that person shall be cut off from the midst of the assembly, since he has defiled the sanctuary of the LORD. Because the water for impurity has not been thrown on him, he is unclean. | 20But a person who is unclean and does not purify himself, that person will be cut off from the assembly because he has defiled the sanctuary of the LORD. The water for impurity has not been sprinkled on him; he is unclean. |
| 21And it shall be a statute forever for them. The one who sprinkles the water for impurity shall wash his clothes, and the one who touches the water for impurity shall be unclean until evening. | 21This is a permanent statute for them. The person who sprinkles the water for impurity is to wash his clothes, and whoever touches the water for impurity will be unclean until evening. |
| 22And whatever the unclean person touches shall be unclean, and anyone who touches it shall be unclean until evening.” | 22Anything the unclean person touches will become unclean, and anyone who touches it will be unclean until evening." |
| ESV Text Edition: 2016. The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. All rights reserved. | The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. |
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