“Look now at Behemoth, ²  which I made as ³  I made you; it eats grass like the ox.

“This is the ordinance of the law which the Lord has commanded: ‘Instruct ¹  the Israelites to bring ²  you a red ³  heifer ⁴  without blemish, which has no defect ⁵  and has never carried a yoke.

“‘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 ¹  for the community of the Israelites for use in the water of purification ²  – it is a purification for sin. ³ 

The Lord ¹  said to him, “Take for me a heifer, a goat, and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.”

When they had eaten them, ¹  no one would have known ²  that they had done so, for they were just as bad-looking as before. Then I woke up.

Everyone who had ¹  blue, purple, or ²  scarlet yarn, fine linen, goats’ hair, ram skins dyed red, or fine leather ³  brought them. ⁴ 

“‘Now if his offering is a peace offering sacrifice, ¹  if he presents an offering from the herd, he must present before the Lord a flawless male or a female. ² 

Then they must put over it a covering of fine leather ¹  and spread over that a cloth entirely of blue, and then they must insert its poles.

They must spread over them a scarlet cloth, and cover the same with a covering of fine leather; and they must insert its poles.

“They must spread a blue cloth on the gold altar, and cover it with a covering of fine leather; and they must insert its poles.

Then they must take all the utensils of the service, with which they serve in the sanctuary, put them in a blue cloth, cover them with a covering of fine leather, and put them on a carrying beam.

They must carry the curtains for the tabernacle and the tent of meeting with its covering, the covering of fine leather that is over it, the curtains for the entrance of the tent of meeting,

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

Then take the ark of the Lord and place it on the cart, and put in a chest beside it the gold objects you are sending to him as a guilt offering. You should then send it on its way.

Now the woman ¹  had a well-fed calf ²  at her home that she quickly slaughtered. Taking some flour, she kneaded bread and baked it without leaven.

Our cattle will be weighted down with produce. ¹  No one will break through our walls, no one will be taken captive, and there will be no terrified cries in our city squares. ² 

Israel has rebelled ¹  like a stubborn heifer! Soon ²  the Lord will put them out to pasture like a lamb in a broad field! ³ 

Each of you will go straight through the gaps in the walls; ¹  you will be thrown out ²  toward Harmon.” ³  The Lord is speaking!

Then ¹  he said to them, “Which of you, if you have a son ²  or an ox that has fallen into a well on a Sabbath day, will not immediately pull him out?”

But Jacob ¹  said to him, “My lord knows that the children are young, ²  and that I have to look after the sheep and cattle that are nursing their young. ³  If they are driven too hard for even a single day, all the animals will die.