¶ And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying,

This is the ordinance¹ of the law which the LORD hath commanded, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring thee a red heifer² without spot, wherein is no blemish³, and upon which⁴ never came yoke:

And ye shall give her unto Eleazar the priest, that he may bring her forth without the camp⁵, and one shall slay her before his face:

And Eleazar the priest shall take of her blood with his finger, and sprinkle⁶ of her blood directly before the tabernacle of the congregation seven times:

⁷And one shall burn the heifer in his sight; her skin, and her flesh, and her blood, with her dung, shall he burn:

⁸And the priest shall take cedar wood, and hyssop, and scarlet, and cast it into the midst of the burning of the heifer.

⁹Then the priest shall wash his clothes, and he shall bathe his flesh in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp, and the priest shall be unclean until the even.

And he that burneth her shall wash his clothes in water, and bathe his flesh in water, and shall be unclean until the even.

And a man that is clean¹⁰ shall gather up the ashes of the heifer, and lay them up¹¹ without the camp in a clean place, and it shall be kept for the congregation of the children of Israel for a water of separation¹²: it is a purification for sin.

¶ And he that gathereth the ashes of the heifer shall wash his¹³ clothes, and be unclean until the even: and it shall be¹⁴ unto the children of Israel, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among them, for a statute for ever.

¶ He that toucheth the dead¹⁵ body of any man¹⁶ shall be unclean seven days.

He shall purify¹⁷ himself with it on the third day¹⁸, and on the seventh day he shall be clean: but if he purify not himself the third day, then the seventh day he shall not be clean.

Whosoever toucheth the dead body of any man that is dead, and purifieth¹⁹ not himself, defileth the tabernacle of the LORD; and that soul shall be cut off from Israel: because the water²⁰ of separation was not sprinkled upon him, he shall be unclean; his uncleanness²¹ is yet upon him.

This is the law, when a man dieth in a tent: all that come into the tent, and all that is in the tent, shall be unclean seven days.

²²And every open vessel, which hath no covering bound upon it, is unclean.

And whosoever toucheth²³ one that is slain with a sword in the open fields, or a dead body, or a bone²⁴ of a man, or a grave²⁵, shall be unclean seven days.

And for an unclean person they shall take of the ashes²⁶ of the burnt heifer of purification for sin, and running water shall be put thereto²⁷ in a vessel:

²⁸And a clean person shall take hyssop, and dip it in the water, and sprinkle it upon the tent, and upon all the vessels, and upon the persons that were there, and upon him that touched a bone, or one slain, or one dead, or a grave:

And the clean person shall sprinkle²⁹ upon the unclean on the third day, and on the seventh day: and on the seventh day he³⁰ shall purify himself, and wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and shall be clean at even.

¶ But the man that shall be unclean, and shall not³¹ purify himself, that soul shall be cut off from among the congregation, because he hath defiled the sanctuary of the LORD: the water of separation hath not been sprinkled upon him; he is unclean.

³²And it shall be a perpetual statute unto them, that he that sprinkleth the water of separation shall wash his clothes; and he that toucheth the water of separation shall be unclean until even.

And whatsoever³³ the unclean person toucheth shall be unclean; and the soul³⁴ that toucheth it shall be unclean until even.