| Holman Christian Standard Bible | International Standard Version |
| 1The LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, " | 1The LORD told Moses and Aaron, |
| 2This 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. | 2"This is the ordinance of the law that the LORD commanded that the Israelis be told: They are to bring you a spotless red heifer, without physical defect, that has never been fitted with a yoke. |
| 3Give it to Eleazar the priest, and he will have it brought outside the camp and slaughtered in his presence. | 3They are to deliver it to Eleazar the priest, and it is to be brought outside the camp and slaughtered in his presence. |
| 4Eleazar the priest is to take some of its blood with his finger and sprinkle it seven times toward the front of the tent of meeting. | 4Then Eleazar the priest is to take blood from it with his finger and sprinkle the blood in front of the Tent of Meeting. |
| 5The cow must be burned in his sight. Its hide, flesh, and blood, are to be burned along with its dung. | 5The entire heifer is to be incinerated in his presence, including its skin, its flesh, its blood, and its dung. |
| 6The priest is to take cedar wood, hyssop, and crimson yarn, and throw them onto the fire where the cow is burning. | 6Then the priest is to take some cedar wood, hyssop, and scarlet material and throw it into the middle of the burning heifer. |
| 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. | 7The priest is to wash his clothes and bathe himself with water, after which he may enter the camp, but he is to remain 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." | 8Whoever takes part in the burning is to wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and is to remain unclean until the evening. |
| 9A 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 must be kept by the Israelite community for preparing the water to remove impurity; it is a sin offering. | 9Then someone who is unclean is to gather the ashes of the heifer and lay them outside the camp in a clean place. This is to be done for the community of Israel to use for water of purification from sin. |
| 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 foreigner who resides among them." | 10Whoever gathers the ashes of the heifer is to wash his clothes and is to remain unclean until the evening. This ordinance is to remain for the benefit of both the Israelis and the resident aliens who live among them." |
| 11The person who touches any human corpse will be unclean for seven days. | 11"Whoever comes in contact with the body of a dead person is to remain unclean for seven days. |
| 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. | 12He is to purify himself on the third day and he will be clean on the seventh day. But if he can't purify himself on the third day then he can't be clean on the seventh day. |
| 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." | 13Anyone who comes in contact with a dead person (that is, with the corpse of a human being who has died), but who does not purify himself, defiles the LORD's tent. That person is to be eliminated from Israel, because the water of impurity wasn't sprinkled on him. He remains unclean and his uncleanness will remain with him. |
| 14This 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, | 14"This is the procedure to follow when a man dies in his tent: Everyone who enters the tent and everyone in it is to remain unclean for seven days. |
| 15and any open container without a lid tied on it is unclean. | 15Every open vessel that has no covering fastened around it is to be considered unclean. |
| 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. | 16Whoever is out in an open field and touches the body of someone who was killed by a sword, or a dead body, or someone's bones, or a grave, he is to be considered unclean for seven days. |
| 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. | 17"Now as for the unclean, they are to take ashes from the burning sin offering, and pour running water on it inside a vessel. |
| 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." | 18A clean person is to take some hyssop, dip it in water, and then sprinkle it on the tent, on every vessel, and on whoever was there (that is, on whoever touched the bones, the killed person, or the dead body, including whoever dug the grave). |
| 19The 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. | 19The clean person is to sprinkle the unclean person on the third day and seventh day and then he is to purify himself on the seventh day, wash his clothes, and bathe with water. He is to be considered clean at evening. |
| 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. | 20"The person who is unclean but who doesn't purify himself is to be eliminated from contact with the assembly, since he has defiled the LORD's sanctuary and the water of impurity wasn't sprinkled on him. He is to be considered unclean |
| 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. | 21as a continuing reminder to them. Whoever sprinkles the water of impurity is to wash his clothes, and whoever comes in contact with the water of impurity is to remain unclean until evening. |
| 22Anything the unclean person touches will become unclean, and anyone who touches it will be unclean until evening." | 22Furthermore, anything that the unclean person touches is to be considered unclean and the person who touches him is to be considered unclean until the evening." |
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