Numbers 19:1

THE MESSAGE

God spoke to Moses and Aaron: "This is the rule from the Revelation that God commands: Tell the People of Israel to get a red cow, a healthy specimen, ritually clean, that has never been in harness. Present it to Eleazar the priest, then take it outside the camp and butcher it while he looks on. Eleazar will take some of the blood on his finger and splash it seven times in the direction of the Tent of Meeting.

Parallel Translations

Hebrew Names Version
The LORD spoke to Moshe and to Aharon, saying,

King James Version
And the Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying,

Lexham English Bible
And Yahweh spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying,

New Century Version
The Lord said to Moses and Aaron,

New English Translation
The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron:

Amplified Bible
Then the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying,

New American Standard Bible
Then the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying,

Geneva Bible (1587)
And the Lorde spake to Moses, and to Aaron, saying,

Legacy Standard Bible
Then Yahweh spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying,

Contemporary English Version
The Lord gave Moses and Aaron the following law: The people of Israel must bring Moses a reddish-brown cow that has nothing wrong with it and that has never been used for plowing.

Complete Jewish Bible
[In regular years read with Parashah 40, in leap years read separately] Adonai said to Moshe and Aharon,

Darby Translation
And Jehovah spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,

Easy-to-Read Version
The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron. He said,

English Standard Version
Now the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,

George Lamsa Translation
AND the LORD spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,

Good News Translation
The Lord commanded Moses and Aaron

Christian Standard Bible®
The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron,

Literal Translation
And Jehovah spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
And the LORDE spake vnto Moses & Aaro & sayde:

American Standard Version
And Jehovah spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying,

Bible in Basic English
And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron,

Bishop's Bible (1568)
And the Lorde spake vnto Moyses & Aaron, saying:

JPS Old Testament (1917)
And the LORD spoke unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying:

King James Version (1611)
And the Lord spake vnto Moses, and vnto Aaron, saying,

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying,

English Revised Version
And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying,

Berean Standard Bible
Then the LORD said to Moses and Aaron,

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And the Lord spak to Moises and to Aaron,

Young's Literal Translation
And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses, and unto Aaron, saying,

Update Bible Version
And Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,

Webster's Bible Translation
And the LORD spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,

World English Bible
Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,

New King James Version
Now the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying,

New Living Translation
The Lord said to Moses and Aaron,

New Life Bible
Now the Lord said to Moses and Aaron,

New Revised Standard
The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying:

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And Yahweh spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying:

Douay-Rheims Bible
And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying:

Revised Standard Version
Now the LORD said to Moses and to Aaron,

New American Standard Bible (1995)
Then the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying,

Contextual Overview

¹ God spoke to Moses and Aaron: "This is the rule from the Revelation that God commands: Tell the People of Israel to get a red cow, a healthy specimen, ritually clean, that has never been in harness. Present it to Eleazar the priest, then take it outside the camp and butcher it while he looks on. Eleazar will take some of the blood on his finger and splash it seven times in the direction of the Tent of Meeting. ⁵"Then under Eleazar's supervision burn the cow, the whole thing—hide, meat, blood, even its dung. The priest then will take a stick of cedar, some sprigs of hyssop, and a piece of scarlet material and throw them on the burning cow. Afterwards the priest must wash his clothes and bathe well with water. He can then come into the camp but he remains ritually unclean until evening. The man who burns the cow must also wash his clothes and bathe with water. He also is unclean until evening. ⁹ "Then a man who is ritually clean will gather the ashes of the cow and place them in a ritually clean place outside the camp. The congregation of Israel will keep them to use in the Water-of-Cleansing, an Absolution-Offering. ¹⁰ "The man who gathered up the ashes must scrub his clothes; he is ritually unclean until evening. This is to be a standing rule for both native-born Israelites and foreigners living among them.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Cross-References

Genesis 18:22
The men set out for Sodom, but Abraham stood in God 's path, blocking his way.

Genesis 19:1
The two angels arrived at Sodom in the evening. Lot was sitting at the city gate. He saw them and got up to welcome them, bowing before them and said, "Please, my friends, come to my house and stay the night. Wash up. You can rise early and be on your way refreshed." They said, "No, we'll sleep in the street."

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And the Lord spake unto Moses, and unto Aaron,.... Not at this time, after the business of the spies, and the affair of Korah, but before the children of Israel departed from Sinai; and so Aben Ezra observes, that this was spoken in the wilderness of Sinai, when the Lord commanded to put unclean persons out of the camp, and when some were defiled with a dead body, and unfit for the passover, Numbers 5:2; and mention is made of the "water of purifying", Numbers 8:7;

saying; as follows.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The principle that death and all pertaining to it, as being the manifestation and result of sin Genesis 2:17, are defiling, and so lead to interruption of the living relationship between God and His people, is not now introduced for the first time, nor is it at all peculiar to the Mosaic law. It was, on the contrary, traditional among the Israelites from the earliest times, it is assumed in various enactments made already (compare Numbers 5:2; Numbers 9:6 ff; Leviticus 10:1, Leviticus 10:7; Leviticus 11:8, Leviticus 11:11, Leviticus 11:24; Leviticus 21:1 ff), and it is traceable in various forms among many nations, both ancient and modern. Moses adopted, here as elsewhere, existing and ancient customs, with significant additions, as helps in the spiritual education of his people.

The ordinance was probably given at this time because the plague which happened Numbers 16:46-50 about the matter of Korah had spread the defilement of death so widely through the camp as to seem to require some special measures of purification, more particularly as the deaths through it were in an extraordinary manner the penalty of sin.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

CHAPTER XIX

The ordinance of the red heifer, 1, 2.

She shall be slain by Eleazar without the camp, and her blood

sprinkled before the tabernacle, 3, 4.

Her whole body and appurtenance shall be reduced to ashes, and

while burning, cedar wood, scarlet, and hyssop, shall be thrown

into the fire, 5, 6.

The priest, and he that burns her, to bathe themselves, and be

reputed unclean till the evening, 7, 8.

Her ashes to be laid up for a water of purification, 9.

How, and in what cases it is to be applied, 10-13.

The law concerning him who dies in a tent, or who is killed in

the open field, 14-16.

How the persons, tent, and vessels are to be purified by the

application of these ashes, 17-19.

The unclean person who does not apply them, to be cut off from

the congregation, 20.

This is to be a perpetual statute, 21, 22.

NOTES ON CHAP. XIX