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Numbers 5:10-12
New Catholic Bible
Numbers 5:10-12
New Catholic Bible
10 Everyone’s gift of holy things will belong to him; whatever is given to the priest belongs to him.’ ”
11 The Test of Unfaithfulness.[a] The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 12 “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘If any man’s wife goes astray and is unfaithful to him,
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- Numbers 5:11 Where there was suspicion but no proof, recourse was to divine judgment, the manner of which is prescribed by the biblical lawgiver. This kind of judgment, though adapted somewhat, goes back to a practice followed in antiquity, especially in Babylon. Even though the present text protects the wife from violence inflicted by a jealous husband, it also shows woman’s condition of inferiority: in this humiliating situation the woman is presumed guilty, whereas no such provision is made in the case of an adulterous husband. The Gospels take a far different view (Mt 19:9; Jn 8:1-11)!
