Numbers 19:8

19:8 The one who burns it ¹  must wash his clothes in water and bathe himself in water. He will be ceremonially unclean until evening.

Numbers 19:19

19:19 And the clean person must sprinkle the unclean on the third day and on the seventh day; and on the seventh day he must purify him, ²  and then he must wash his clothes, and bathe in water, and he will be clean in the evening.

Numbers 19:21

19:21 “‘So this will be a perpetual ordinance for them: The one who sprinkles ³  the water of purification must wash his clothes, and the one who touches the water of purification will be unclean until evening. ⁴ 

---

¹ sn Here the text makes clear that he had at least one assistant.

² tn The construction uses a simple Piel of חָטָא (khata’, “to purify”) with a pronominal suffix – “he shall purify him.” Some commentators take this to mean that after he sprinkles the unclean then he must purify himself. But that would not be the most natural way to read this form.

³ tn The form has the conjunction with it: וּמַזֵּה (umazzeh). The conjunction subordinates the following as the special law. It could literally be translated “and this shall be…that the one who sprinkles.”

⁴ sn This gives the indication of the weight of the matter, for “until the evening” is the shortest period of ritual uncleanness in the Law. The problem of contamination had to be taken seriously, but this was a relatively simple matter to deal with – if one were willing to obey the Law.