"This is the ordinance of the law which the Lord has commanded: 'Instruct the Israelites to bring you a red heifer without blemish, which has no defect and has never carried a yoke.

Then the heifer must be burned in his sight -- its skin, its flesh, its blood, and its offal is to be burned.

And the priest must take cedar wood, hyssop, and scarlet wool and throw them into the midst of the fire where the heifer is burning.

"'Then a man who is ceremonially clean must gather up the ashes of the red heifer and put them in a ceremonially clean place outside the camp. They must be kept for the community of the Israelites for use in the water of purification -- it is a purification for sin.

The one who gathers the ashes of the heifer must wash his clothes and be ceremonially unclean until evening. This will be a permanent ordinance both for the Israelites and the resident foreigner who lives among them.

"'For a ceremonially unclean person you must take some of the ashes of the heifer burnt for purification from sin and pour fresh running water over them in a vessel.