Numbers 19:4

Translations

Modern

Eleazar the priest is to take some of its blood on his finger and sprinkle it seven times toward the front of the Tent of Meeting.

Traditional

And Eleazar the priest shall take of her blood with his finger, and sprinkle of her blood directly before the tabernacle of the congregation seven times:

Literal

And Eleazar the priest shall take some of its blood with his finger and sprinkle toward opposite the face of the Tent of Meeting some of its blood seven times.

Latin

…et tingens digitum in sanguine ejus, asperget contra fores tabernaculi septem vicibus,

Original

Hebrew

English

Eleazar the priest is to take some of its blood on his finger and sprinkle it seven times toward the front of the Tent of Meeting.

Notes

Numbers 19:3–5

To protect Aaron’s holy status, Eleazar had to perform the red heifer offering because it caused ceremonial impurity (see Leviticus 21:10–12). The red heifer ceremony differed from the regular sacrifice (compare Leviticus 4:3–12).

Numbers 19:1–10

They made the water for the purification ceremony with ashes of the red heifer (19:9). It might be the same as the water of purification in 8:7 (see also 31:19–24). This ceremony needed the ashes of a red heifer. The color probably represented blood (compare Hebrews 9:13–14).

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

Clean, Unclean, and Holy

Related verses

Leviticus 4:6
The priest is to dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle some of it seven times before the LORD, in front of the veil of the sanctuary.
Leviticus 4:17
…and he is to dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle it seven times before the LORD in front of the veil.
Leviticus 16:14
And he is to take some of the bull’s blood and sprinkle it with his finger on the east side of the mercy seat; then he shall sprinkle some of it with his finger seven times before the mercy seat.
Leviticus 16:19
He is to sprinkle some of the blood on it with his finger seven times to cleanse it and consecrate it from the uncleanness of the Israelites.
Hebrews 9:13–14
For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that their bodies are clean,
1 Peter 1:2
…according to the foreknowledge of God the Father and sanctified by the Spirit for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by His blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance.
Hebrews 12:24
…to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

People

Eleazar: Son of Aaron, high priest after his father

Glossary

Biblical Concept of Law Cleanness and Uncleanness, Regulations Concerning Deuteronomy, Book of Eleazar John the Baptist Numbers, Book of Red Heifer

Topics

The Red Heifer: Blood of, Sprinkled Seven Times Before the Tabernacle Types of Christ: Red Heifer Types of the Saviour: The Red Heifer Water of Separation

Numbers 19:4

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