He shall gather from all the impure, for the pure ones, the ashes of the heifer, and he shall preserve them.
The Red Heifer Purity texts (4Q276–4Q277, also designated Tohorot C and Tohorot D) are two overlapping Cave 4 Hebrew manuscripts elaborating the red heifer purification rite of Numbers 19. Published in DJD XXXV (Baumgarten, 1999). Qimron composite edition, pp. 752–755.
Numbers 19 describes one of the most enigmatic Israelite rituals: the burning of a red heifer whose ashes, when mixed with water, purify those contaminated by contact with a corpse — yet contaminate those who prepare the ashes. The Qumran manuscripts develop this tension into a detailed halakhic treatise, expanding the biblical procedure and extending the logic of heifer-ash purification into the related domains of zav (a person with bodily discharge) and niddah (menstrual impurity).
4Q276 (Tohorot C) contains a single substantial fragment concerned primarily with the priestly actions: the changing of garments, the handling of blood in vessels, and the status of the ashes. A critical halakhic variant is preserved in the manuscript's margin: it debates whether Numbers 19:4 ("Eleazar the priest shall take of its blood with his finger") requires a vessel for the blood, not merely a finger — a question unresolved in rabbinic literature, where the Mishnah (Parah 4:1) later rules that a vessel is required but is not mentioned in the text.
4Q277 (Tohorot D) overlaps with 4Q276 and extends the discussion to the gathering and preservation of the ashes, the atoning function of the heifer's blood, and the rules governing those contaminated by the zav and the menstruant (niddah). The text insists that the zav's impurity extends to those who lie with or touch the contaminated person — and that the sun's setting is the boundary of this transmission.
Together, these manuscripts represent the most sustained sectarian halakhic treatment of the red heifer outside the Temple Scroll (11QT) and the Damascus Document (CD). They show the Qumran community working systematically through Numbers 19 with the same rigor they brought to Sabbath and purity law.
4Q276 — Tohorot C
Fragment 1
He shall clothe himself in other garments,
which he shall not [use to] serve in the holy place. [...]
He shall wash the garments [...]
He shall put the blood in vessels [of ...]
and this blood from the altar [...]
[...] to the tent of meeting, and he shall throw it [to ...]
and the scarlet and the hyssop and [the cedar wood ...]
into the midst of its burning [...]
He shall [gather] the ashes of the h[eifer ...]
and he shall preserve [them for Israel ...]
For the sons of Israel, it is the sin-offering of the heifer [...]
for the priest to dwell in the holy place [...]
Marginal variant (Qimron p. 752):
Did one need to say: "And Eleazar the priest shall take of its blood in a vessel and not with his hand"?
4Q277 — Tohorot D
Fragment a (two lines, too lacunose for continuous translation)
[...]
Fragment b, Column i
[...] he shall throw to the burning of the heifer
the cedar [and the hyssop and the scarlet,]
and he shall wash his garments [and bathe in water ...]
He shall gather from all the impure, for the pure ones,
the ashes of the heifer,
and he shall preserve them [for a statute forever for Israel.]
For Israel the priest shall atone with the blood of the heifer,
or one who touches the ashes of the heifer [shall be clean....]
He shall wash [his garments and bathe in water,] with the sin-offering [...]
the law [...] his flesh [...] until evening [...]
[...] she shall become unclean [...] and she shall become clean [...]
[...] his impurity [...] for it is the sin-offering [...]
a pure person [shall not be defiled ...]
Fragment b, Column ii
A man who has the discharge (הזב),
[and his bodily fluid] in water [...]
he comes into the impurity of the menstruant [...]
He shall not be sanctified [before the sun sets,]
and everything that touches him [shall be unclean ...]
A man who has the discharge — without [water having touched him ...?]
and everything that is impure [shall transmit impurity ...]
One who lies with her and touches her [is unclean,]
and everything that touches him is impure —
until [the sun sets.]
[...] until when he shall be unclean [...]
Colophon
Source: 4Q276 (4QTohorot C) and 4Q277 (4QTohorot D), Cave 4, Qumran. Hebrew. Published in DJD XXXV (Baumgarten, Qumran Cave 4.XXV — Halakhic Texts, 1999), pp. 79–96. Hebrew verified against the composite edition in Elisha Qimron, The Dead Sea Scrolls: The Hebrew Writings, Volume 2 (Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society, 2013), pp. 752–755. The Qimron PDF's font encoding renders some portions as garbled glyphs; the translation covers all securely decipherable text with honest lacuna marking throughout.
Translation: New Tianmu Anglican Church Good Works Translation, translated from the Hebrew by a tulku of the Tianmu lineage, Mar/2026. Lacunae marked with [...].
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