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.