The
Hebrew Bible taught that any Israelite who touched a
corpse, a
Tumat HaMet (literally, "impurity of the dead"), was
ritually unclean. The water was to be sprinkled on a person who had touched a corpse, on the third and seventh days after doing so, in order to make the person ritually clean again. A
tent in which someone had died was similarly considered to be unclean. The water was to be used as follows: :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. A clean person shall take
hyssop and dip it in the water, sprinkle it on the tent, on all the vessels, on the persons who were there, or on the one who touched a bone, the slain, the dead, or a grave. The clean person shall sprinkle the unclean on the third day and on the seventh day; and on the seventh day he shall purify himself, wash his clothes, and bathe in water; and at evening he shall be clean. The water was used again in for the purification on the metallic booty brought back by the Israelites following their victory over the
Midianites. In other
biblical translations the water is referred to as
water of expiation (
Douay–Rheims Bible),
water of separation (
King James Version),
water of cleansing (
New International Version) or
water for impurity (
American Standard Version,
Revised Standard Version). The
Jerusalem Bible uses the term
lustral water. In
Hebrew, the water was called
mei niddah () by the
Torah and
mei chatat by
Chazal. ==Commentaries==