1And YHWH spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,
2“This is the law of the instruction that YHWH commanded, saying: Speak to the children of Israel that they should take to you an unblemished red cow that has no injury, on which a yoke has not gone.
19:2. law. Legal texts are worked in at various points of the wilderness narrative, thus conveying that not all of the law has been revealed at Sinai, but that the law rather continues to be elaborated upon and added to as the people move closer to the land. Also through this construction the revelation of the law comes to be pictured as an ongoing part of the people’s life, and it is understood to be part of the new, post–exodus generation’s experience—and thus the possession of the people who will carry it into the promised land.
3And you shall give it to Eleazar, the priest, and one shall bring it outside the camp and slaughter it in front of him.
19:3. Eleazar. Here and in the matter of the fire-holders after the Korah rebellion (17:2), Eleazar, Aaron’s oldest surviving son, is directly commanded for the first time. It is as if the text is anticipating the events of the next chapter (20), in which Aaron will suffer the same fate as Moses: to die before reaching the promised land. The conclusion of that story recounts the succession of Eleazar to Aaron’s place as high priest (20:23–28). These first commands to Eleazar thus appear to be a preparation for the moment of succession. Part of the task of a wise leader is to prepare a successor.
4And Eleazar, the priest, shall take some of its blood with his finger and sprinkle some of its blood toward the front of the Tent of Meeting seven times.
5And one shall burn the cow before his eyes. He shall burn its skin and its meat and its blood and its dung.
6And the priest shall take cedarwood and hyssop and scarlet and throw them into the fire of the cow.
7And the priest shall wash his clothes and wash his flesh with water, and after that he shall come to the camp, and the priest shall be impure until evening.
8And the one who burns it shall wash his clothes with water and wash his flesh with water and be impure until evening.
9And a man who is pure shall gather the cow’s ashes and leave them outside the camp in a pure place, and it shall be for the congregation of the children of Israel to be kept for water of impurity, for sin expiation.
10And the one who gathers the cow’s ashes shall wash his clothes and be impure until evening. And it will be for the children of Israel and for the alien who resides among them as an eternal law.
11“One who touches a dead body of any human being will be impure seven days.
12He shall do sin expiation with it on the third day, and on the seventh day he will be pure. And if he will not do sin expiation on the third day, then on the seventh day he will not be pure.
19:12. with it. With the ashes of the red cow.
13Anyone who touches a dead body of a human being who has died and does not do sin expiation has made YHWH’s Tabernacle impure, and that person will be cut off from Israel. Because the water of impurity was not flung on him, he shall be impure. His impurity is still in him.
14“This is the instruction: When a human will die in a tent, anyone who comes into the tent and everything that is in the tent will be impure seven days.
15And any open container, on which there is not a fastened cover: it is impure.
16And anyone who, at an open field, will touch a corpse slain by the sword or a dead body or a human bone or a grave will be impure seven days.
17And they shall take for the one who is impure some of the ashes of the fire of sin expiation, and one shall put living water on it in a container.
19:17. living water. Freshwater flowing from a well or other natural source. See the comment on Lev 14:5.
18And a man who is pure shall take hyssop and dip it in the water and sprinkle it on the tent and on all the items and on the persons who were there and on the one who touched the bone or the slain corpse or the dead body or the grave.
19And the one who is pure shall sprinkle it on the impure on the third day and on the seventh day, so he shall expiate sin from him on the seventh day, and he shall wash his clothes and wash in water and be pure in the evening.
20And if a man will be impure and will not do sin expiation, then that person will be cut off from among the community, because he has made YHWH’s holy place impure. The water of impurity has not been flung on him: he is impure.
21And it will become an eternal law for them. And one who sprinkles the water of impurity shall wash his clothes, and one who touches the water of impurity will be impure until evening.
22And whatever the impure one will touch will be impure, and the person who touches it will be impure until evening.”
