Numbers 19

All 22 verses in the Clear Bible Translation. Tap a verse to compare the KJV and read what it means.

Read Numbers 19 in the Bible reader, with audio →

1. 1The LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron and said,
2. 2"This is what the law requires, as the LORD has commanded: Tell the Israelites to bring you a red heifer that has no spot or defect and has never worn a yoke.
3. 3Give it to Eleazar the priest. He will have it taken outside the camp, and it will be slaughtered in his presence.
4. 4Eleazar the priest shall take some of her blood with his finger and sprinkle some of her blood directly before the tabernacle of the congregation 7 times.
5. 5While he watches, someone must burn the entire heifer — its skin, its flesh, its blood, and its dung.
6. 6The priest must then take cedar wood, hyssop, and scarlet yarn and throw them into the fire where the heifer is burning.
7. 7After that, the priest must wash his clothes and bathe himself in water. He may then return to the camp, but he will remain unclean until evening.
8. 8The person who burned the heifer must also wash his clothes and bathe in water, and he too will be unclean until evening.
9. 9Someone who is ceremonially clean must gather up the ashes of the heifer and store them in a clean place outside the camp. These ashes will be kept for the Israelite community to mix with water for purification. This is a sin offering.
10. 10The person who gathers the ashes must wash his clothes and will be unclean until evening. This is a permanent law for both the Israelites and any foreigners living among them.
11. 11Anyone who touches a dead human body will be unclean for seven days.
12. 12He must purify himself with the water on the third day and again on the seventh day, and then he will be clean. But if he doesn't purify himself on the third day, he won't be clean on the seventh day either.
13. 13Anyone who touches a dead body and fails to go through purification has defiled the LORD's Tabernacle. That person must be cut off from Israel. Because the purification water was never sprinkled on him, he remains unclean — his defilement stays on him.
14. 14Here is the rule when someone dies inside a tent: everyone who enters that tent and everyone already inside it will be unclean for seven days.
15. 15Any open container that doesn't have a lid fastened on it is also unclean.
16. 16Anyone out in the open who touches someone killed by a sword, or any dead body, or a human bone, or a grave, will be unclean for seven days.
17. 17To purify an unclean person, take some of the ashes from the burned sin offering and put them in a container, then pour fresh running water over them.
18. 18A person who is ceremonially clean must take a branch of hyssop, dip it in the water, and sprinkle it on the tent, on all the vessels, on the people who were there, and on anyone who touched a bone, someone slain, someone dead, or a grave.
19. 19The clean person shall sprinkle upon the unclean on the 3rd day and on the 7th day. On the 7th day, he shall purify himself, wash his clothes, bathe himself in water, and be clean at evening.
20. 20But if someone who is unclean refuses to go through purification, that person must be cut off from the community, because he has defiled the LORD's sanctuary. The purification water was never sprinkled on him — he is still unclean.
21. 21This will be a permanent law for them: the person who sprinkles the purification water must wash his clothes, and anyone who touches the purification water will be unclean until evening.
22. 22Whatever an unclean person touches becomes unclean, and anyone who touches that object will be unclean until evening."