And all the elders of that city nearest to the slain man shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley.
Surely I have cleansed my heart in vain, And washed my hands in innocence.
I will wash my hands in innocence; So I will go about Your altar, O Lord,
concerned only with foods and drinks, various washings, and fleshly ordinances imposed until the time of reformation.
For though you wash yourself with lye, and use much soap, Yet your iniquity is marked before Me,” says the Lord God.
Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, The God of my salvation, And my tongue shall sing aloud of Your righteousness.
Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, And cleanse me from my sin.
Who can understand his errors? Cleanse me from secret faults.
If I wash myself with snow water, And cleanse my hands with soap,
Then they shall answer and say, ‘Our hands have not shed this blood, nor have our eyes seen it.
Let it rest on the head of Joab and on all his father’s house; and let there never fail to be in the house of Joab one who has a discharge or is a leper, who leans on a staff or falls by the sword, or who lacks bread.”