Ashes of the Red Cow

¹The Lord commanded Moses and Aaron

²to give the Israelites the following regulations. Bring to Moses and Aaron a red cow which has no defects and which has never been worked,

³and they will give it to Eleazar the priest. It is to be taken outside the camp and killed in his presence.

⁴Then Eleazar is to take some of its blood and with his finger sprinkle it seven times in the direction of the Tent.

⁵The whole animal, including skin, meat, blood, and intestines, is to be burned in the presence of the priest.

⁶Then he is to take some cedar wood, a sprig of hyssop, and a red cord and throw them into the fire.

⁷After that, he is to wash his clothes and pour water over himself, and then he may enter the camp; but he remains ritually unclean until evening.

⁸The one who burned the cow must also wash his clothes and pour water over himself, but he also remains unclean until evening.

⁹Then someone who is ritually clean is to collect the ashes of the cow and put them in a ritually clean place outside the camp, where they are to be kept for the Israelite community to use in preparing the water for removing ritual uncleanness. This ritual is performed to remove sin.

¹⁰The one who collected the ashes must wash his clothes, but he remains unclean until evening. This regulation is valid for all time to come, both for the Israelites and for the foreigners living among them.

Contact with a Corpse

¹¹Those who touch a corpse are ritually unclean for seven days.

¹²They must purify themselves with the water for purification on the third day and on the seventh day, and then they will be clean. But if they do not purify themselves on both the third and the seventh day, they will not be clean.

¹³Those who touch a corpse and do not purify themselves remain unclean, because the water for purification has not been thrown over them. They defile the Lord's Tent, and they will no longer be considered God's people.

¹⁴In the case of a person who dies in a tent, anyone who is in the tent at the time of death or who enters it becomes ritually unclean for seven days.

¹⁵Every jar and pot in the tent that has no lid on it also becomes unclean.

¹⁶If any touch a person who has been killed or has died a natural death outdoors or if any touch a human bone or a grave, they become unclean for seven days.

¹⁷To remove the uncleanness, some ashes from the red cow which was burned to remove sin shall be taken and put in a pot, and fresh water added.

¹⁸In the first case, someone who is ritually clean is to take a sprig of hyssop, dip it in the water, and sprinkle the tent, everything in it, and the people who were there. In the second case, someone who is ritually clean is to sprinkle the water on those who had touched the human bone or the dead body or the grave.

¹⁹On the third day and on the seventh the person who is ritually clean is to sprinkle the water on the unclean persons. On the seventh day he is to purify those, who, after washing their clothes and pouring water over themselves, become ritually clean at sunset.

²⁰Those who have become ritually unclean and do not purify themselves remain unclean, because the water for purification has not been thrown over them. They defile the Lord's Tent and will no longer be considered God's people.

²¹You are to observe this rule for all time to come. The person who sprinkles the water for purification must also wash his clothes; anyone who touches the water remains ritually unclean until evening.

²²Whatever an unclean person touches is unclean, and anyone else who touches it remains unclean until evening.

Events at Kadesh

¹In the first month the whole community of Israel came to the wilderness of Zin and camped at Kadesh. There Miriam died and was buried.

²There was no water where they camped, so the people gathered around Moses and Aaron

³and complained: “It would have been better if we had died in front of the Lord's Tent along with the other Israelites.

⁴Why have you brought us out into this wilderness? Just so that we can die here with our animals?

⁵Why did you bring us out of Egypt into this miserable place where nothing will grow? There's no grain, no figs, no grapes, no pomegranates. There is not even any water to drink!”

⁶Moses and Aaron moved away from the people and stood at the entrance of the Tent. They bowed down with their faces to the ground, and the dazzling light of the Lord's presence appeared to them.

⁷The Lord said to Moses,

⁸“Take the stick that is in front of the Covenant Box, and then you and Aaron assemble the whole community. There in front of them all speak to that rock over there, and water will gush out of it. In this way you will bring water out of the rock for the people, for them and their animals to drink.”

⁹Moses went and got the stick, as the Lord had commanded.

¹⁰He and Aaron assembled the whole community in front of the rock, and Moses said, “Listen, you rebels! Do we have to get water out of this rock for you?”

¹¹Then Moses raised the stick and struck the rock twice with it, and a great stream of water gushed out, and all the people and animals drank.

¹²But the Lord reprimanded Moses and Aaron. He said, “Because you did not have enough faith to acknowledge my holy power before the people of Israel, you will not lead them into the land that I promised to give them.”

¹³This happened at Meribah, where the people of Israel complained against the Lord and where he showed them that he is holy.

The King of Edom Refuses to Let Israel Pass

¹⁴Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom. They said, “This message is from your kinsmen, the tribes of Israel. You know the hardships we have suffered,

¹⁵how our ancestors went to Egypt, where we lived many years. The Egyptians mistreated our ancestors and us,

¹⁶and we cried to the Lord for help. He heard our cry and sent an angel, who led us out of Egypt. Now we are at Kadesh, a town at the border of your territory.

¹⁷Please permit us to pass through your land. We and our cattle will not leave the road or go into your fields or vineyards, and we will not drink from your wells. We will stay on the main road until we are out of your territory.”

¹⁸But the Edomites answered, “We refuse to let you pass through our country! If you try, we will march out and attack you.”

¹⁹The people of Israel said, “We will stay on the main road, and if we or our animals drink any of your water, we will pay for it—all we want is to pass through.”

²⁰The Edomites repeated, “We refuse!” and they marched out with a powerful army to attack the people of Israel.

²¹Because the Edomites would not let the Israelites pass through their territory, the Israelites turned and went another way.

The Death of Aaron

²²The whole community of Israel left Kadesh and arrived at Mount Hor,

²³on the border of Edom. There the Lord said to Moses and Aaron,

²⁴“Aaron is not going to enter the land which I promised to give to Israel; he is going to die, because the two of you rebelled against my command at Meribah.

²⁵Take Aaron and his son Eleazar up Mount Hor,

²⁶and there remove Aaron's priestly robes and put them on Eleazar. Aaron is going to die there.”

²⁷Moses did what the Lord had commanded. They went up Mount Hor in the sight of the whole community,

²⁸and Moses removed Aaron's priestly robes and put them on Eleazar. There on the top of the mountain Aaron died, and Moses and Eleazar came back down.

²⁹The whole community learned that Aaron had died, and they all mourned for him for thirty days.

Concerning Unsolved Murders

¹“Suppose someone is found murdered in a field in the land that the Lord your God is going to give you, and you do not know who killed him.

²Your leaders and judges are to go out and measure the distance from the place where the body was found to each of the nearby towns.

³Then the leaders of the town nearest to where the body was found are to select a young cow that has never been used for work.

⁴They are to take it down to a spot near a stream that never runs dry and where the ground has never been plowed or planted, and there they are to break its neck.

⁵The levitical priests are to go there also, because they are to decide every legal case involving violence. The Lord your God has chosen them to serve him and to pronounce blessings in his name.

⁶Then all the leaders from the town nearest the place where the murdered person was found are to wash their hands over the cow

⁷and say, ‘We did not murder this one, and we do not know who did it.

⁸Lord, forgive your people Israel, whom you rescued from Egypt. Forgive us and do not hold us responsible for the murder of an innocent person.’

⁹And so, by doing what the Lord requires, you will not be held responsible for the murder.

Concerning Women Prisoners of War

¹⁰“When the Lord your God gives you victory in battle and you take prisoners,

¹¹you may see among them a beautiful woman that you like and want to marry.

¹²Take her to your home, where she will shave her head, cut her fingernails,

¹³and change her clothes. She is to stay in your home and mourn for her parents for a month; after that, you may marry her.

¹⁴Later, if you no longer want her, you are to let her go free. Since you forced her to have intercourse with you, you cannot treat her as a slave and sell her.

Concerning the First Son's Inheritance

¹⁵“Suppose a man has two wives and they both bear him sons, but the first son is not the child of his favorite wife.

¹⁶When the man decides how he is going to divide his property among his children, he is not to show partiality to the son of his favorite wife by giving him the share that belongs to the first-born son.

¹⁷He is to give a double share of his possessions to his first son, even though he is not the son of his favorite wife. A man must acknowledge his first son and give him the share he is legally entitled to.

Concerning a Disobedient Son

¹⁸“Suppose someone has a son who is stubborn and rebellious, a son who will not obey his parents, even though they punish him.

¹⁹His parents are to take him before the leaders of the town where he lives and make him stand trial.

²⁰They are to say to them, ‘Our son is stubborn and rebellious and refuses to obey us; he wastes money and is a drunkard.’

²¹Then the men of the city are to stone him to death, and so you will get rid of this evil. Everyone in Israel will hear what has happened and be afraid.

Various Laws

²²“If someone has been put to death for a crime and the body is hung on a post,

²³it is not to remain there overnight. It must be buried the same day, because a dead body hanging on a post brings God's curse on the land. Bury the body, so that you will not defile the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

A Hymn of Praise

¹Sing to the Lord, all the world!

²Worship the Lord with joy; come before him with happy songs!

³Acknowledge that the Lord is God. He made us, and we belong to him; we are his people, we are his flock.

⁴Enter the Temple gates with thanksgiving; go into its courts with praise. Give thanks to him and praise him.

⁵The Lord is good; his love is eternal and his faithfulness lasts forever.