Numbers 5
Common English Bible
Instructions about purity in the camp
5 The Lord spoke to Moses: 2 Command the Israelites to send out from the camp anyone with a skin disease, an oozing discharge, or who has become unclean from contact with a corpse. 3 You must send out both male and female. You must send them outside the camp so that they will not make their camp, where I live among them, unclean.
4 The Israelites did so and sent them outside the camp. The Israelites did just what the Lord said to Moses.
5 The Lord spoke to Moses: 6 Tell the Israelites: When a man or a woman commits any sin against anyone else, thus breaking faith with the Lord, that person becomes guilty. 7 Such persons will confess the sin they have done. Each will make payment for his guilt, add one-fifth more, and give it to the injured party. 8 If the person has no close relative to whom the payment can be made, then the compensation payment will go to the Lord for the priest. This is in addition to the ram of reconciliation by which the guilty party himself is reconciled. 9 Any gift offering from all the sacred donations that the Israelites offer will be the property of the priest. 10 The sacred donations belong to each person alone; whatever anyone gives to the priest will be his.
A woman accused of adultery
11 The Lord spoke to Moses: 12 Speak to the Israelites and say to them: A man may suspect that his wife has had an affair[a] and has broken faith with him, 13 that a man has had intercourse with her unknown to her husband and that she has defiled herself in secret—even though there are no witnesses and she isn’t caught. 14 If jealousy overcomes him and he is jealous of his wife who has defiled herself, or if jealousy overcomes him and he is jealous of his wife who hasn’t defiled herself, 15 then the man will bring his wife to the priest. He will bring the offering required for her, one-tenth of an ephah[b] of barley flour. He will not pour oil on it, nor offer frankincense with it, because it is a grain offering for jealousy, a grain offering for recognition in order to recognize guilt. 16 The priest will bring her close and make her stand before the Lord. 17 The priest will take holy water in a clay jar, and taking dust from the floor of the dwelling, the priest will place it in the water. 18 The priest will make the woman stand before the Lord, let the hair of the woman hang down, and place the grain offering for recognition, that is, the grain offering for jealousy, in her hands. The water of bitterness that brings the curse will be in the hands of the priest.
19 Then the priest will make her swear a solemn pledge, saying to the woman, “If no man has slept with you and if you haven’t had an affair, becoming defiled while married to your husband, then be immune from the water of bitterness that brings these curses. 20 But if you have had an affair while married to your husband, if you have defiled yourself, and a man other than your husband has had intercourse with you”— 21 then the priest must make the woman utter the curse and say to the woman, “May the Lord make you a curse and a harmful pledge among your people, when the Lord induces a miscarriage and your womb discharges. 22 And may the water that brings these curses enter your stomach and make your womb discharge and make you miscarry.”
And the woman will say, “I agree, I agree.”
23 The priest will write these curses in the scroll and wipe them off into the water of bitterness. 24 Then he will make the woman drink the water of bitterness that brings the curse. And the water that brings the curse will enter her, causing bitterness. 25 The priest will take the grain offering for jealousy from the woman’s hands, elevate the grain offering before the Lord, and bring it to the altar. 26 The priest will take a handful of the grain offering as a token part of it and turn it into smoke on the altar. And afterward he will make the woman drink the water. 27 When he has made her drink the water, if she has defiled herself and has broken faith with her husband, then the water that brings the curse will enter her, causing bitterness, and her womb will discharge and she will miscarry. The woman will be a curse among her people. 28 But if the woman hasn’t defiled herself and she is pure, then she will be immune and able to conceive.
29 These are the instructions about jealousy, when a wife has an affair while married to her husband and defiles herself, 30 or when jealousy overcomes a man and he is jealous of his wife. The priest will make the woman stand before the Lord and will follow all these instructions concerning her. 31 The man will be free from guilt, but the woman will bear her guilt.
Footnotes
- Numbers 5:12 Or goes astray; see also 5:19-20, 29.
- Numbers 5:15 Two quarts; one ephah is approximately twenty quarts dry.
Numbers 5
Amplified Bible, Classic Edition
5 The Lord said to Moses,
2 Command the Israelites that they put outside the camp every leper and everyone who has a discharge, and whoever is defiled by [coming in contact with] the dead.
3 Both male and female you shall put out; without the camp you shall put them, that they may not defile their camp, in the midst of which I dwell.
4 The Israelites did so, and put them outside the camp; as the Lord said to Moses, so the Israelites did.
5 And the Lord said to Moses,
6 Say to the Israelites, When a man or woman commits any sin that men commit by breaking faith with the Lord, and that person is guilty,
7 Then he shall confess the sin which he has committed, and he shall make restitution for his wrong in full, and add a fifth to it, and give it to him whom he has wronged.
8 But if the man [wronged] has no kinsman to whom the restitution may be made, let it be given to the Lord for the priest, besides the ram of atonement with which atonement shall be made for the offender.
9 And every offering of all the holy things of the Israelites which they bring to the priest shall be his.
10 And every man’s hallowed things shall be the priest’s; whatever any man gives the priest shall be his.
11 And the Lord said to Moses,
12 Say to the Israelites, If any man’s wife goes astray and commits an offense of guilt against him,
13 And a man lies with her carnally, and it is hidden from the eyes of her husband and it is kept secret though she is defiled, and there is no witness against her nor was she taken in the act,
14 And if the spirit of jealousy comes upon him and he is jealous and suspicious of his wife who has defiled herself—or if the spirit of jealousy comes upon him and he is jealous and suspicious of his wife though she has not defiled herself—
15 Then shall the man bring his wife to the priest, and he shall bring the offering required of her, a tenth of an ephah of barley meal; but he shall pour no oil upon it nor put frankincense on it [symbols of favor and joy], for it is a cereal offering of jealousy and suspicion, a memorial offering bringing iniquity to remembrance.
16 And the priest shall bring her near and set her before the Lord.
17 And the priest shall take holy water [probably from the sacred laver] in an earthen vessel and take some of the dust that is on the floor of the tabernacle and put it in the water.
18 And the priest shall set the woman before the Lord, and let the hair of the woman’s head hang loose, and put the meal offering of remembrance in her hands, which is the jealousy and suspicion offering. And the priest shall have in his hand the water of bitterness that brings the curse.
19 Then the priest shall make her take an oath, and say to the woman, If no man has lain with you and if you have not gone astray to uncleanness with another instead of your husband, then be free from any effect of this water of bitterness which brings the curse.
20 But if you have gone astray and you are defiled, some man having lain with you beside your husband,
21 Then the priest shall make the woman take the oath of the curse, and say to the woman, The Lord make you a curse and an oath among your people when the Lord makes your thigh fall away and your body swell.
22 May this water that brings the curse go into your bowels and make your body swell and your thigh fall away. And the woman shall say, So let it be, so let it be.
23 The priest shall then write these curses in a book and shall wash them off into the water of bitterness;
24 And he shall cause the woman to drink the water of bitterness that brings the curse, and the water that brings the curse shall enter into her [to try her] bitterly.
25 Then the priest shall take the cereal offering of jealousy and suspicion out of the woman’s hand and shall wave the offering before the Lord and offer it upon the altar.
26 And the priest shall take a handful of the cereal offering as the memorial portion of it and burn it on the altar, and afterward shall cause the woman to drink the water.
27 And when he has made her drink the water, then if she is defiled and has committed a trespass against her husband, the curse water which she drank shall be bitterness and cause her body to swell and her thigh to fall away, and the woman shall be a curse among her people.
28 But if the woman is not defiled and is clean, then she shall be free [from the curse] and be able to have children.
29 This is the law of jealousy and suspicion when a wife goes aside to another instead of her husband and is defiled,
30 Or when the spirit of jealousy and suspicion comes upon a man and he is jealous and suspicious of his wife; then shall he set the woman before the Lord, and the priest shall execute on her all this law.
31 The [husband] shall be free from iniquity and guilt, and that woman [if guilty] shall bear her iniquity.
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