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.

“‘This is the law: When a man dies ¹  in a tent, anyone who comes into the tent and all who are in the tent will be ceremonially unclean seven days.

“‘For a ceremonially unclean person you must take ¹  some of the ashes of the heifer ²  burnt for purification from sin and pour ³  fresh running ⁴  water over them in a vessel.

I have not eaten anything when I was in mourning, or removed any of it while ceremonially unclean, or offered any of it to the dead; ¹  I have obeyed you ²  and have done everything you have commanded me.

No one must enter the Lord’s temple except the priests and Levites who are on duty. They may enter because they are ceremonially pure. All the others should carry out their assigned service to the Lord.

He said to them: “Listen to me, you Levites! Now consecrate yourselves, so you can consecrate the temple of the Lord God of your ancestors! ¹  Remove from the sanctuary what is ceremonially unclean!

The priests then entered the Lord’s temple to purify it; they brought out to the courtyard of the Lord’s temple every ceremonially unclean thing they discovered inside. ¹  The Levites took them out to the Kidron Valley.

Because many in the assembly had not consecrated themselves, the Levites slaughtered ¹  the Passover lambs of all who were ceremonially unclean and could not consecrate their sacrifice to the Lord. ² 

The priests and the Levites had purified themselves, every last one, ¹  and they all were ceremonially pure. They sacrificed the Passover lamb for all the exiles, for their colleagues ²  the priests, and for themselves.

And I said, “Ah, sovereign Lord, I have never been ceremonially defiled before. I have never eaten a carcass or an animal torn by wild beasts; from my youth up, unclean meat ¹  has never entered my mouth.”

Or when there is ¹  a person who touches anything ceremonially ²  unclean, whether the carcass of an unclean wild animal, or the carcass of an unclean domesticated animal, or the carcass of an unclean creeping thing, even if he did not realize it, ³  but he himself has become unclean and is guilty; ⁴ 

Also, the breast of the wave offering and the thigh of the contribution offering you must eat in a ceremonially ¹  clean place, you and your sons and daughters with you, for they have been given as your allotted portion and the allotted portion of your sons from the peace offering sacrifices of the Israelites. ² 

But ¹  the man who is ceremonially clean, and was not on a journey, and fails ²  to keep the Passover, that person must be cut off from his people. ³  Because he did not bring the Lord’s offering at its appointed time, that man must bear his sin. ⁴ 

“And this is yours: the raised offering of their gift, along with all the wave offerings of the Israelites. I have given them to you and to your sons and daughters with you as a perpetual ordinance. Everyone who is ceremonially clean in your household may eat of it.

Then a ceremonially clean person must take hyssop, dip it in the water, and sprinkle it on the tent, on all its furnishings, and on the people who were there, or on the one who touched a bone, or one killed, or one who died, or a grave.

everything that may stand the fire, you are to pass through the fire, ¹  and it will be ceremonially clean, but it must still be purified with the water of purification. Anything that cannot withstand the fire you must pass through the water.

The majority of the many people from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun were ceremonially unclean, yet they ate the Passover in violation of what is prescribed in the law. ¹  For Hezekiah prayed for them, saying: “May the Lord, who is good, forgive ² 

When the builders established the Lord’s temple, the priests, ceremonially attired and with their clarions, ¹  and the Levites (the sons of Asaph) with their cymbals, stood to praise the Lord according to the instructions left by ²  King David of Israel. ³ 

Everyone shares the same fate ¹  – the righteous and the wicked, the good and the bad, ²  the ceremonially clean and unclean, those who offer sacrifices and those who do not. What happens to the good person, also happens to the sinner; ³  what happens to those who make vows, also happens to those who are afraid to make vows.