红母牛的灰
1耶和华对摩西和亚伦说： 2“要吩咐以色列人遵行我颁布的以下律法条例。
“以色列人要牵来一头毫无残疾、从未负过轭的红母牛。 3你们要把牛交给以利亚撒祭司，然后牵到营外，当着他的面把牛宰了。 4以利亚撒祭司要用指头蘸牛血，向会幕前面弹七次。 5然后，要当着他的面焚烧红母牛，牛的皮、肉、血和粪都要烧掉。 6祭司要把香柏木、牛膝草、朱红色线扔进烧牛的火里。 7之后，祭司要洗衣沐浴，才能回营，但要等到傍晚才能洁净。 8负责烧牛的人也要洗衣、沐浴，并且要等到傍晚才能洁净。 9要由洁净的人把红母牛灰收起来，放在营外洁净的地方，用于给以色列会众制作除秽水，作除罪之用。 10收起牛灰的人也要洗净衣服，等到傍晚才能洁净。以色列人和寄居的外族人都要永远遵行这定例。
11“碰过尸体的人，七天不洁净。 12他要在第三天和第七天用除秽水自洁，才能洁净，否则就不能洁净。 13若有人碰过尸体却不自洁，他就玷污了耶和华的圣幕，要将他从以色列人中铲除，因为除秽水没有洒在他身上，污秽还留在他身上。 14若有人死在帐篷里，当时走进帐篷的或在场的人都七天不洁净。 15帐篷里没有盖的敞口器皿都不洁净。 16人若在野外碰过被杀或自然死亡之人的尸体，或碰过死人的骸骨或坟墓，就七天不洁净。 17要拿些除罪用的红母牛灰，放在器皿里，倒上清水， 18然后由洁净的人拿牛膝草蘸这水洒在帐篷及里面所有的人和器具上，也要洒在碰过骸骨、坟墓、被杀者尸体或自然死亡者尸体的人身上。 19要由洁净的人在第三天和第七天把水洒在不洁净的人身上。到第七天，接受洁净礼的人要洗衣、沐浴，等到傍晚才能洁净。 20若有人沾了污秽却没有用除秽水自洁，他就不洁净，要将他从会众中铲除，因为他玷污了耶和华的圣所。 21你们要永远遵行这定例。洒除秽水的人要洗净衣服。碰过除秽水的人要等到傍晚才能洁净。 22不洁净的人碰过的东西都不洁净，碰过这些东西的人傍晚之前都不洁净。”
The water of cleansing
1The Lord said to Moses and Aaron: 2‘This is a requirement of the law that the Lord has commanded: tell the Israelites to bring you a red heifer without defect or blemish and that has never been under a yoke. 3Give it to Eleazar the priest; it is to be taken outside the camp and slaughtered in his presence. 4Then Eleazar the priest is to take some of its blood on his finger and sprinkle it seven times towards the front of the tent of meeting. 5While he watches, the heifer is to be burned – its hide, flesh, blood and intestines. 6The priest is to take some cedar wood, hyssop and scarlet wool and throw them onto the burning heifer. 7After that, the priest must wash his clothes and bathe himself with water. He may then come into the camp, but he will be ceremonially unclean till evening. 8The man who burns it must also wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he too will be unclean till evening.
9‘A man who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer and put them in a ceremonially clean place outside the camp. They are to be kept by the Israelite community for use in the water of cleansing; it is for purification from sin. 10The man who gathers up the ashes of the heifer must also wash his clothes, and he too will be unclean till evening. This will be a lasting ordinance both for the Israelites and for the foreigners residing among them.
11‘Whoever touches a human corpse will be unclean for seven days. 12They must purify themselves with the water on the third day and on the seventh day; then they will be clean. But if they do not purify themselves on the third and seventh days, they will not be clean. 13If they fail to purify themselves after touching a human corpse, they defile the Lord’s tabernacle. They must be cut off from Israel. Because the water of cleansing has not been sprinkled on them, they are unclean; their uncleanness remains on them.
14‘This is the law that applies when a person dies in a tent: anyone who enters the tent and anyone who is in it will be unclean for seven days, 15and every open container without a lid fastened on it will be unclean.
16‘Anyone out in the open who touches someone who has been killed with a sword or someone who has died a natural death, or anyone who touches a human bone or a grave, will be unclean for seven days.
17‘For the unclean person, put some ashes from the burned purification offering into a jar and pour fresh water over them. 18Then a man who is ceremonially clean is to take some hyssop, dip it in the water and sprinkle the tent and all the furnishings and the people who were there. He must also sprinkle anyone who has touched a human bone or a grave or anyone who has been killed or anyone who has died a natural death. 19The man who is clean is to sprinkle those who are unclean on the third and seventh days, and on the seventh day he is to purify them. Those who are being cleansed must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and that evening they will be clean. 20But if those who are unclean do not purify themselves, they must be cut off from the community, because they have defiled the sanctuary of the Lord. The water of cleansing has not been sprinkled on them, and they are unclean. 21This is a lasting ordinance for them.
‘The man who sprinkles the water of cleansing must also wash his clothes, and anyone who touches the water of cleansing will be unclean till evening. 22Anything that an unclean person touches becomes unclean, and anyone who touches it becomes unclean till evening.’
