Keraia
Numbers 19

Numbers 19:16

Purification of the Unclean · Numbers 19:11–22
Read Numbers 19

Translations

Modern
Anyone in the open field who touches someone who has been killed by the sword or has died of natural causes, or anyone who touches a human bone or a grave, will be unclean for seven days.
Traditional
And whosoever toucheth one that is slain with a sword in the open fields, or a dead body, or a bone of a man, or a grave, shall be unclean seven days.
Literal
And whoever touches in the open field one who is slain by a sword or who has died, or a bone of a man, or a grave, shall be unclean seven days.
Latin
Si quis in agro tetigerit cadaver occisi hominis, aut per se mortui, sive os illius, vel sepulchrum, immundus erit septem diebus.

Original

Hebrew
English
Anyone in the open field who touches someone who has been killed by the sword or has died of natural causes, or anyone who touches a human bone or a grave, will be unclean for seven days.

Notes

Numbers 19:14–16

Death made a person ceremonially unclean, and this uncleanness could spread. It could pass to an object or to a place where someone had died (compare Leviticus 15:1–12). This means that anything connected to the dead body could also become unclean. People had to be careful so that impurity did not spread through the camp.

Numbers 19:11–19

If someone touched a human dead body, that person became ceremonially unclean for seven days (compare Leviticus 21:1–3). This meant a person was not allowed to take part in worship until they were made clean.

To become clean again, the person had to use the water of purification. This water was sprinkled on the third day and again on the seventh day.

Numbers 19:1–22

This section explains how ordinary Israelites can become ceremonially clean again after touching a corpse and avoid defiling the Tent of Meeting (see 9:4–12; Leviticus 17:15; 21:1–4, 11–12). God's holiness demands that the place of his presence remains pure and separate from pollution (compare 1 Corinthians 6:9–11, 18–20).

Theme notes and profiles

Baptism Clean, Unclean, and Holy

Glossary

Banish, Banishment Biblical Concept of Law Cleanness and Uncleanness, Regulations Concerning Deuteronomy, Book of Hyssop John the Baptist Numbers, Book of Water of Separation

Topics

Burial were Ceremonially Unclean Burial: Burying Places: Anyone Who Touched, Were Unclean Defilement: Caused by Touching the Dead Defilement: Ceremonial Caused by Touching a Dead Body or a Bone Defilement: Ceremonial Caused by Touching a Grave Mourning: Caused Ceremonial Defilement Sanitation: Carcasses Sanitation: Contagion The Dead: Even Bones of, Caused Uncleanness The Dead: Touching of, Caused Uncleanness The Sword: Those Slain By, Communicated Ceremonial Uncleanness Water of Separation