Numbers 19:18

Numbers 19:18 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)And a clean person shall take hyssop, and dip it in the water, and sprinkle it upon the tent, and upon all the vessels, and upon the persons that were there, and upon him that touched a bone, or one slain, or one dead, or a grave:
• New International Version (NIV)Then a man who is ceremonially clean is to take some hyssop, dip it in the water and sprinkle the tent and all the furnishings and the people who were there. He must also sprinkle anyone who has touched a human bone or a grave or anyone who has been killed or anyone who has died a natural death.
• English Standard Version (ESV)Then a clean person shall take hyssop and dip it in the water and sprinkle it on the tent and on all the furnishings and on the persons who were there and on whoever touched the bone, or the slain or the dead or the grave.
• New King James Version (NKJV)A clean person shall take hyssop and dip it in the water, sprinkle it on the tent, on all the vessels, on the persons who were there, or on the one who touched a bone, the slain, the dead, or a grave.

Context of Numbers 19:18

16“Whoever is outdoors and touches someone who was killed or has died naturally or anyone who touches a human bone or a grave will be unclean for seven days. 17“⌞This is what you must do⌟ for people who become unclean from touching a dead body. Put some of the ashes from the red cow that was burned as an offering for sin into a container. Then pour fresh water on them. A person who is clean will take a sprig of hyssop, dip it in the water, and sprinkle the tent, all the furnishings, and all the people who were in the tent ⌞with the dead body⌟. He must also sprinkle any person who has touched a human bone or a grave and any person who has touched someone who has been killed or who has died naturally. 19A person who is clean will sprinkle these types of unclean people on the third day and the seventh day. On the seventh day the clean person will finish taking away their sins. Then they must wash their clothes and bodies, and in the evening they will be clean. 20But if the person who becomes unclean doesn’t have his sin taken away, that person must be excluded from the assembly. He has made the holy place of the Lord unclean. The water to take away uncleanness wasn’t sprinkled on him. He is unclean.

Numbers 19:18 word by word

וְלָקַ֨ח אֵז֜וֹב וְטָבַ֣ל בַּמַּיִם֮ אִ֣ישׁ טָהוֹר֒ וְהִזָּ֤ה עַל־הָאֹ֙הֶל֙ וְעַל־כָּל־הַכֵּלִ֔ים וְעַל־הַנְּפָשׁ֖וֹת אֲשֶׁ֣ר הָֽיוּ־שָׁ֑ם וְעַל־הַנֹּגֵ֗עַ בַּעֶ֙צֶם֙ א֣וֹ בֶֽחָלָ֔ל א֥וֹ בַמֵּ֖ת א֥וֹ בַקָּֽבֶר׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• And a cleanטָהוֹרţâhôr ţâhôr · pureH2889
• personאִישׁ'îysh · manH376
• shall takeלָקַחlâqach · to take: takeH3947
• hyssopאֵזוֹב'êzôb · hyssopH231
• and dipטָבַלţâbal · to dipH2881
• in the waterמַיmayim · waterH4325
• and sprinkleנָזָהnâzâh · to sprinkleH5137
• upon the tentאֹ֫הֶל'ôhel · tentH168
• and upon all the vesselsכְּלִיkelîy · article/utensilH3627
• and upon the personsנֶ֫פֶשׁnephesh · soul: personH5315
• that were there, and upon him that touchedנָגַעnâga‛ · to touchH5060
• a boneעֶ֫צֶם‛etsem · boneH6106
• or one slainחָלָלchâlâl · slain: killedH2491
• or one deadמוּתmûth · to dieH4191
• or a graveקֶ֫בֶרqeber qibrâh · graveH6913

Cross-references for Numbers 19:18

• Numbers 19:9“A man who is clean will collect the ashes from the cow and put them in a clean place outside the camp. They will be kept by the community of Israel and used in the water that takes away uncleanness. The cow is an offering for sin.
• Psalms 51:7Purify me from sin with hyssop, and I will be clean. Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
• Ezekiel 36:25I will sprinkle clean water on you and make you clean instead of unclean. Then I will cleanse you from all your idols.
• John 15:2He removes every one of my branches that doesn’t produce fruit. He also prunes every branch that does produce fruit to make it produce more fruit.
• John 17:17“Use the truth to make them holy. Your words are truth.
• Hebrews 9:14The blood of Christ, who had no defect, does even more. Through the eternal Spirit he offered himself to God and cleansed our consciences from the useless things we had done. Now we can serve the living God.

Commentaries on Numbers 19:18

• 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 19:18

• Burial
• Defilement
• Purification
• Water

In the dictionaries

• Clean
• Covering
• Defile
• Exodus
• Hyssop
• Unclean
• Water of separation
• Agrapha
• Baptism (lutheran Doctrine)
• Chronicles, Books of

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