Numbers 19:21

Numbers 19:21 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)And it shall be a perpetual statute unto them, that he that sprinkleth the water of separation shall wash his clothes; and he that toucheth the water of separation shall be unclean until even.
• New International Version (NIV)This is a lasting ordinance for them. “The man who sprinkles the water of cleansing must also wash his clothes, and anyone who touches the water of cleansing will be unclean till evening.
• English Standard Version (ESV)And it shall be a statute forever for them. The one who sprinkles the water for impurity shall wash his clothes, and the one who touches the water for impurity shall be unclean until evening.
• New King James Version (NKJV)It shall be a perpetual statute for them. He who sprinkles the water of purification shall wash his clothes; and he who touches the water of purification shall be unclean until evening.

Context of Numbers 19:21

19And the clean person must splash the water on the unclean person on the third day too. And he must do it on the seventh day. On the seventh day he will make the person clean again. Then the person who had not been clean must wash his clothes. And he must wash himself in water. In the evening, that person will become clean. 20The person who is not clean might not wash himself and his clothes. If he does not do it, you must make that person separate from the people. That is because he has made the Lord's Holy Place become unclean. Because the priest did not splash special water on him he will not be clean. This rule is for now and for ever. The man who splashes the special water must also wash his clothes. Any person who touches the special water will not be clean until evening. 22If an unclean person touches anything, that thing also becomes unclean. If anyone touches the unclean person, he also becomes unclean until evening.’

Numbers 19:21 word by word

וְהָיְתָ֥ה לָּהֶ֖ם לְחֻקַּ֣ת עוֹלָ֑ם וּמַזֵּ֤ה מֵֽי־הַנִּדָּה֙ יְכַבֵּ֣ס בְּגָדָ֔יו וְהַנֹּגֵ֙עַ֙ בְּמֵ֣י הַנִּדָּ֔ה יִטְמָ֖א עַד־הָעָֽרֶב׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• And it shall be a perpetualעוֹלָם‛ôlâm ‛ôlâm · forever: enduringH5769
• statuteחֻקָּהchûqqâh · statuteH2708
• unto them, that he that sprinklethנָזָהnâzâh · to sprinkleH5137
• the waterמַיmayim · waterH4325
• of separationנִדָּהniddâh · impurityH5079
• shall washכָּבַסkâbas · to washH3526
• his clothesבֶּ֫גֶדbeged · garmentH899
• and he that touchethנָגַעnâga‛ · to touchH5060
• shall be uncleanטָמֵאţâmê' · to defileH2930
• until evenעֶ֫רֶב‛ereb · eveningH6153

Cross-references for Numbers 19:21

• Leviticus 11:25He must wash his clothes immediately.
• Leviticus 16:26The person who sent the goat away must wash his clothes and his body. He can return to the camp.
• Hebrews 7:19God's Laws that he gave to Moses could not make anything completely right. But now God has brought us something better to hope for. And in that way, we ourselves can come near to God.
• Hebrews 9:10The old rules taught people about different kinds of food and drink. They taught about how people should wash in special ways. Those rules were about people's bodies. They had authority only until the time when God would make things new and better.
• Hebrews 10:4We know that the blood of bulls and of goats cannot remove the punishment for sins.

Commentaries on Numbers 19:21

• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 11-22Verses 11-22 One practical effect of attaching defilement to a dead body, and to all that touched it, etc., would be to insure early burial, and to correct a practice not uncommon in the East, of leaving the deal to be devoured by the wild beasts.Read the comment
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 11-22Verses 11-22 Why did the law make a corpse a defiling thing? Because death is the wages of sin, which entered into the world by it, and reigns by the power of it. The law could not conquer death, nor abolish it, as the gospel does, by bringing life and immortality to light, and so introducing a better hope. As the ashes of the heifer signified the merit of Christ, so the running water signified the power and grace of the blessed Spirit, who is compared to…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 17-22To cleanse with the heifer's ashes, they made a special purifying mixture. They combined ashes from the burnt purification offering with fresh water (compare 5:17).Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 11-2211-22. He that toucheth the dead body of any man shall be unclean--This law is noticed here to show the uses to which the water of separation [Nu 19:9] was applied. The case of a death is one; and as in every family which sustained a bereavement the members of the household became defiled, so in an immense population, where instances of mortality and other cases of uncleanness would be daily occurring, the water of separation must have been in constant…Read the comment

Topics related to Numbers 19:21

• Defilement
• Purification
• Water

In the dictionaries

• Water of separation
• Clean
• Covering
• Defile
• Exodus
• Unclean
• Agrapha
• Chronicles, Books of
• Corpse
• Genealogy

Commentaries on Numbers 19

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Rashi on Tanakh
• Calvin’s Commentaries
• Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings