| NET Bible | Christian Standard Bible |
| 1The LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron: | 1The LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, |
| 2"This is the ordinance of the law which the LORD has commanded: 'Instruct the Israelites to bring you a red heifer without blemish, which has no defect and has never carried a yoke. | 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. |
| 3You must give it to Eleazar the priest so that he can take it outside the camp, and it must be slaughtered before him. | 3Give it to the priest Eleazar, and he will have it brought outside the camp and slaughtered in his presence. |
| 4Eleazar the priest is to take some of its blood with his finger, and sprinkle some of the blood seven times directly in front of the tent of meeting. | 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. |
| 5Then the heifer must be burned in his sight--its skin, its flesh, its blood, and its offal is to 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 must take cedar wood, hyssop, and scarlet wool and throw them into the midst of the fire where the heifer is burning. | 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 must wash his clothes and bathe himself in water, and afterward he may come into the camp, but the priest will be ceremonially 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 it must wash his clothes in water and bathe himself in water. He will be ceremonially 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. |
| 9"'Then a man who is ceremonially clean must gather up the ashes of the red heifer and put them in a ceremonially clean place outside the camp. They must be kept for the community of the Israelites for use in the water of purification--it is a purification for sin. | 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. |
| 10The one who gathers the ashes of the heifer must wash his clothes and be ceremonially unclean until evening. This will be a permanent ordinance both for the Israelites and the resident foreigner who lives 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 corpse of any person will be ceremonially unclean seven days. | 11"The person who touches any human corpse will be unclean for seven days. |
| 12He must purify himself with water on the third day and on the seventh day, and so will be clean. But if he does not purify himself on the third day and the seventh day, then he will not be 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. |
| 13Anyone who touches the corpse of any dead person and does not purify himself defiles the tabernacle of the LORD. And that person must be cut off from Israel, because the water of purification was not sprinkled on him. He will be unclean; his uncleanness remains 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 a man dies in a tent, anyone who comes into the tent and all who are in the tent will be ceremonially 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 container that has no covering fastened on it is unclean. | 15and any open container without a lid tied on it is unclean. |
| 16And whoever touches the body of someone killed with a sword in the open fields, or the body of someone who died of natural causes, or a human bone, or a grave, will 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. |
| 17"'For a ceremonially unclean person you must take some of the ashes of the heifer burnt for purification from sin and pour fresh running water over them 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 ceremonially clean person must take hyssop, dip it in the water, and sprinkle it on the tent, on all its furnishings, and on the people who were there, or on the one who touched a bone, or one killed, or one who died, or a 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 must sprinkle the unclean on the third day and on the seventh day; and on the seventh day he must purify him, and then he must wash his clothes, and bathe in water, and he will be clean in the evening. | 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. |
| 20But the man who is unclean and does not purify himself, that person must be cut off from among the community, because he has polluted the sanctuary of the LORD; the water of purification was not sprinkled on him, so 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. |
| 21"'So this will be a perpetual ordinance for them: The one who sprinkles the water of purification must wash his clothes, and the one who touches the water of purification will 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 will be unclean, and the person who touches it will be unclean until evening.'" | 22Anything the unclean person touches will become unclean, and anyone who touches it will be unclean until evening." |
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