Numbers 19:17

“‘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.

"For the unclean person, put some ashes from the burned purification offering into a jar and pour fresh water over them.

‘Then for the unclean person they shall take some of the ashes of the burnt purification from sin and flowing water shall be added to them in a vessel.

"To remove the defilement, put some of the ashes from the burnt purification offering in a jar and pour fresh water over them.

For this unclean person, take some ashes from the burned Absolution-Offering and add some fresh water to it in a bowl.

And for the unclean, they are to take the dust of the burning of the sin-offering, and put flowing water on it in a vessel:

For the unclean they shall take some ashes of the burnt purification offering, and running water shall be added in a vessel;

‘And for an unclean person they shall take some of the ashes of the heifer burnt for purification from sin, and running water shall be put on them in a vessel.

“‘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.

¹ tn The verb is the perfect tense, third masculine plural, with a vav (ו) consecutive. The verb may be worded as a passive, “ashes must be taken,” but that may be too awkward for this sentence. It may be best to render it with a generic “you” to fit the instruction of the text.

² tn The word “heifer” is not in the Hebrew text, but it is implied.

³ tn Here too the verb is the perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive; rather than make this passive, it is here left as a direct instruction to follow the preceding one. For the use of the verb נָתַן (natan) in the sense of “pour,” see S. C. Reif, “A Note on a Neglected Connotation of ntn,” VT 20 (1970): 114-16.

⁴ tn The expression is literally “living water.” Living water is the fresh, flowing spring water that is clear, life-giving, and not the collected pools of stagnant or dirty water.