Numbers 19:1-10

International Children’s Bible

The Offering for Cleansing

19 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ² “These are the teachings that the Lord commanded. Tell the Israelites to get a young red cow. It must not have anything wrong with it. It must not have been worked. ³ Give the cow to Eleazar the priest. He will take it outside the camp and kill it. ⁴ Then Eleazar the priest must put some of the blood on his finger. He must sprinkle it seven times toward the front of the Meeting Tent. ⁵ Then the whole cow must be burned while he watches. The skin, the meat, the blood and the intestines must all be burned. ⁶ Then the priest must take a cedar stick, a hyssop branch and a red string. He must throw them onto the burning cow. ⁷ Then the priest must wash himself and his clothes with water. After that, he may come back into the camp. But he will be unclean until evening. ⁸ The man who burns the cow must wash himself and his clothes in water. He will be unclean until evening.

⁹ “Then someone who is clean will collect the ashes from the cow. He will put them in a clean place outside the camp. The Israelites will use these ashes in a special ceremony to cleanse away sin. ¹⁰ The man who collected the cow’s ashes must wash his clothes. He will be unclean until evening. This is a lasting rule. It is for the Israelites and for the foreigners among them.