Numbers 19

Numbers 19 gives the ordinance of the red heifer and the water of separation for cleansing from corpse defilement. An unblemished red heifer is killed outside the camp and burned with cedar wood, hyssop, and scarlet. Its ashes are stored and mixed with running water for purification. Contact with a dead body, grave, bone, or death in a tent creates ceremonial uncleanness requiring cleansing on the third and seventh days. The chapter emphasizes the seriousness of death in a holy camp.