English Standard Version
Numbers 19:12
12He shall cleanse himself with the water on the third day and on the seventh day, and so be clean. But if he does not cleanse himself on the third day and on the seventh day, he will not become clean.
Numbers 19:12 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)He shall purify himself with it on the third day, and on the seventh day he shall be clean: but if he purify not himself the third day, then the seventh day he shall not be clean.
- New International Version (NIV)They must purify themselves with the water on the third day and on the seventh day; then they will be clean. But if they do not purify themselves on the third and seventh days, they will not be clean.
- New King James Version (NKJV)He shall purify himself with the water on the third day and on the seventh day; then he will be clean. But if he does not purify himself on the third day and on the seventh day, he will not be clean.
- New Living Translation (NLT)They must purify themselves on the third and seventh days with the water of purification; then they will be purified. But if they do not do this on the third and seventh days, they will continue to be unclean even after the seventh day.
Context of Numbers 19:12
10And the one who gathers the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes and be unclean until evening. And this shall be a perpetual statute for the people of Israel, and for the stranger who sojourns among them. 11"Whoever touches the dead body of any person shall be unclean seven days. He shall cleanse himself with the water on the third day and on the seventh day, and so be clean. But if he does not cleanse himself on the third day and on the seventh day, he will not become clean. 13Whoever touches a dead person, the body of anyone who has died, and does not cleanse himself, defiles the tabernacle of the Lord, and that person shall be cut off from Israel; because the water for impurity was not thrown on him, he shall be unclean. His uncleanness is still on him. 14"This is the law when someone dies in a tent: everyone who comes into the tent and everyone who is in the tent shall be unclean seven days.
Read all of Numbers 19Numbers 19:12 word by word
ה֣וּא יִתְחַטָּא־ב֞וֹ בַּיּ֧וֹם הַשְּׁלִישִׁ֛י וּבַיּ֥וֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִ֖י יִטְהָ֑ר וְאִם־לֹ֨א יִתְחַטָּ֜א בַּיּ֧וֹם הַשְּׁלִישִׁ֛י וּבַיּ֥וֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִ֖י לֹ֥א יִטְהָֽר׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Numbers 19:12
- Numbers 19:17For the unclean they shall take some ashes of the burnt sin offering, and fresh water shall be added in a vessel.
- Psalms 51:7Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
- Ezekiel 36:25I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you.
- Acts 15:9and he made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed their hearts by faith.
- Revelation 7:14I said to him, "Sir, you know." And he said to me, "These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
- Numbers 31:19Encamp outside the camp seven days. Whoever of you has killed any person and whoever has touched any slain, purify yourselves and your captives on the third day and on the seventh day.
- Exodus 19:11and be ready for the third day. For on the third day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.
- Leviticus 7:17But what remains of the flesh of the sacrifice on the third day shall be burned up with fire.
- Hosea 6:2After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him.
- 1 Corinthians 15:3For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures,
Commentaries on Numbers 19:12
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 12He shall purify himself with it - בו יתחטא yithchatta bo, literally, he shall sin himself with it. This Hebrew form of speech is common enough among us in other matters. Thus to fleece, to bark, and to skin, do not signify to add a fleece, another bark, or a skin, but to take one away; therefore, to sin himself, in the Hebrew idiom, is not to add sin, but to take it away, to purify. The verb חטא chata signifies to miss the mark, to sin, to purify from…Read the comment
- 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. 11-19If 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.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 19:12
In the dictionaries
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
English Standard Version — © 2001 Crossway Bibles
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