Then the heifer shall be burned in his sight: its hide, its flesh, its blood, and its offal shall be burned.
Parallel translations
- WEB One shall burn the heifer in his sight; her skin, and her meat, and her blood, with her dung, shall he burn.
- KJV And one shall burn the heifer in his sight; her skin, and her flesh, and her blood, with her dung, shall he burn:
- BSB Then the heifer must be burned in his sight. Its hide, its flesh, and its blood are to be burned, along with its dung.
- NASB Then the heifer shall be burned in his sight; its hide, its flesh, and its blood, with its refuse, shall be burned.
- NLT As Eleazar watches, the heifer must be burned—its hide, meat, blood, and dung.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The whole heifer, skin, flesh, blood, and dung, was burned in the priest's sight to produce the purifying ashes.
Overview
The complete burning of the animal, including its blood and waste, was unusual and produced the ashes essential to the water of purification. Nothing was reserved; the entire offering was consumed. This total consumption highlights the costliness of cleansing from death's defilement and the thoroughness required for purity before God.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 5
- Exod 29:14But the meat of the bull, and its skin, and its dung, you shall burn with fire outside of the camp: it is a sin offering.
- Lev 4:11–12The bull’s skin, all its meat, with its head, and with its legs, its innards, and its dung,
- Lev 4:21He shall carry the bull outside the camp, and burn it as he burned the first bull. It is the sin offering for the assembly.
- Ps 22:14I am poured out like water. All my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax; it is melted within me.
- Isa 53:10Yet it pleased Yahweh to bruise him. He has caused him to suffer. When you make his soul an offering for sin, he will see his offspring. He will prolong his days, and Yahweh’s pleasure will prosper in his hand.
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Christ at the center
In the wilderness Christ is the water from the rock, the bronze serpent lifted up that the dying might look and live (John 3:14), and the star and scepter that Balaam saw rising out of Jacob.
How Numbers 19:5 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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