‘This is the legal statute that the Lord has commanded: Instruct the Israelites to bring you an unblemished red cow that has no defect and has never been yoked.
I have surely heard Ephraim moaning, ‘You disciplined me, and I have been disciplined like an untrained calf. Take me back, so that I can return, for you, Lord, are my God.
The elders of that city will bring the cow down to a continually flowing stream, to a place not tilled or sown, and they will break its neck there by the stream.
‘At that time the Lord set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the Lord’s covenant, to stand before the Lord to serve him, and to pronounce blessings in his name, as it is today.