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Purification


Purification

There were various purifying ceremonies. Bathing the flesh and the clothes in running water was used in all and sufficed in the simplest cases. When the uncleanness was of a deeper character, a purifying water for sprinkling was provided: for example, after contact with a corpse, water mingled with the ashes of a red cow (Num. 19:9); for the leper, water in which the blood of a bird had been allowed to fall (Lev. 14:6). In some cases sin and trespass offerings were also made, such as for a man with an issue (Lev. 15:13–14); a woman after childbirth (Lev. 12:6, 8); and above all, the leper (Lev. 14:2–32). See also Clean and unclean.