Numbers 5
New Catholic Bible
Chapter 5
Purifying the Camp. 1 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Command the people of Israel to expel from the camp every leper and everyone who has a discharge and everyone who is unclean because they touched the dead. 3 You will expel both men and women from the camp. You will put them out so that they do not make the camp unclean, for I dwell in their midst.” 4 The people of Israel did this, putting them outside of the camp. The Israelites did what the Lord had instructed Moses.
Making Recompense.[a] 5 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 6 “Say to the people of Israel, ‘When a man or a woman sins in any way, that person has been unfaithful to the Lord and will be considered to be guilty. 7 He will confess the sin that he has committed. He will recompense his trespass, taking the full amount and one-fifth more and give it to the person against whom he has committed this offense. 8 But if the person offended has no kinsmen who could receive the recompense for the trespass, then let the trespass be paid to the Lord, to the priest, besides the ram that is being used to obtain his atonement. 9 Every offering of holy things that the people of Israel bring to the priest will belong to him. 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.[b] 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, 13 and a man has sex with her, and this is hidden from her husband, and she is defiled but keeps it a secret since there are no witnesses and she was not caught in the act, 14 and if a spirit of jealousy comes upon him, and he is jealous of his wife because she has defiled herself, or if a spirit of jealousy comes upon him and he is jealous of her even though she has not defiled herself, 15 then he will take his wife to the priest. He will also bring an offering for her, a tenth of an ephah of barley meal in which he has not poured oil nor put frankincense. This is a jealousy offering.[c]
16 “ ‘The priest will bring her and have her stand before the Lord. 17 The priest will put some holy water in a clay vessel and he will put some of the dust from the floor of the sanctuary into the water. 18 The priest will have the woman stand before the Lord. He will uncover her hair and he will place the jealousy memorial offering in her hands. The priest will hold the bitter water that brings on a curse in his hands. 19 The priest will have the woman swear an oath saying, “If no other man has slept with you and if you have not gone astray, becoming defiled while married to your husband, then you will be free from the curse that this bitter water causes. 20 But if you have gone astray while married to your husband, becoming defiled, and you have had sex with someone other than your husband,” 21 (at this point the priest will have the woman swear an oath to curse herself, and the priest will say to the woman) “then may the Lord make you a curse and a blight among your people. May the Lord make your loins rot and your womb swell;[d] 22 this water that brings on a curse will descend to your womb causing it to swell and your loins to rot.” The woman will then say, “Amen, amen.” 23 The priest will write these curses in a book and blot them out with the bitter water. 24 He will have the woman drink the bitter water that brings on the curse. The water that brings on the curse will enter her and will become bitter. 25 The priest will then take the jealousy offering out of the woman’s hand and wave the offering before the Lord and offer it upon the altar. 26 The priest will take a handful of the offering as the memorial offering and will burn it upon the altar. After that he will have the woman drink the water. 27 When he has made her drink the water, if she has defiled herself and been unfaithful to her husband, the curse in the water will enter her and be bitter and will cause her womb to swell and her loins to rot. 28 But if the woman has not defiled herself and she is clean, then she will be unharmed and will conceive children.
29 “ ‘This is the law of jealousy, when a wife goes astray while married to her husband and becomes defiled 30 or when the spirit of jealousy comes upon him and he is jealous of his wife. He will bring his wife before the Lord and the priest will fulfill all the prescriptions of this law upon her. 31 The man will be free from guilt, but the woman will bear her guilt.’ ”
Footnotes
- Numbers 5:5 This section mirrors the punishment for personal wrongs given in Lev 15, but extends it to include those wronged who have no kinsmen, in which case restitution would be made directly to the priest.
- 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)!
- Numbers 5:15 Jealousy offering: a grain offering that was meant to encourage the wrongdoer to reflect on their sin.
- Numbers 5:21 Your loins rot and your womb swell: this was a terrible curse on a woman whose worth was determined by her ability to conceive and bear a child.
Numbers 5
Legacy Standard Bible
Unclean Sent Outside the Camp
5 Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Command the sons of Israel that they (A)send away from the camp every leper and everyone having a (B)discharge and everyone who is [a](C)unclean because of a dead person. 3 You shall send away both male and female; you shall send them outside the camp so that they will not defile their camp where I dwell (D)in their midst.” 4 And the sons of Israel did so and sent them outside the camp; just as Yahweh had spoken to Moses, thus the sons of Israel did.
Restitution for Sins
5 Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 6 “Speak to the sons of Israel, ‘(E)When a man or woman commits any of the sins of mankind, acting unfaithfully against Yahweh, and that person is guilty, 7 then [b]he shall (F)confess [c]his sins which [d]he has committed, and he (G)shall make restitution in full for his wrong and add to it one-fifth of it and give it to him whom he has [e]wronged. 8 But if the man has no kinsman redeemer to whom restitution may be made for the wrong, the restitution which is made for the wrong must go to Yahweh for the priest, besides the ram of atonement, by which atonement is made for him. 9 (H)Also every [f]contribution pertaining to all the holy gifts of the sons of Israel, which they bring near to the priest, shall be his. 10 So every man’s holy gifts shall be his; whatever any man gives to the priest, it (I)becomes his.’”
The Statutes of Jealousy
11 Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 12 “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘If any man’s wife (J)goes astray and is unfaithful to him, 13 and a man lies (K)sexually with her, and it is hidden from the eyes of her husband, and she is [g]undetected; but she has defiled herself, and there is no witness against her, and she has not been caught in the act, 14 [h]if a spirit of (L)jealousy comes over him and he is jealous of his wife and she has defiled herself, or if a spirit of jealousy comes over him and he is jealous of his wife but she has not defiled herself, 15 the man shall then bring his wife to the priest and shall bring as [i]an offering for her one-tenth of an [j]ephah of barley meal; he shall not pour oil on it nor put frankincense on it, for it is a grain offering of jealousy, a grain offering of remembrance, (M)a reminder of iniquity.
16 ‘Then the priest shall bring her near and have her stand before Yahweh, 17 and the priest shall take holy water in an earthenware vessel; and the priest shall take some of the dust that is on the floor of the tabernacle and put it into the water. 18 The priest shall then have the woman stand before Yahweh and let the hair of the woman’s head go loose, and he shall place the grain offering of remembrance [k]in her hands, which is the grain offering of jealousy; and in the hand of the priest is to be the water of bitterness that brings curses. 19 Then the priest shall have her swear an oath and shall say to the woman, “If no man has lain with you, and if you have not (N)gone astray into [l]defilement, being under the authority of your husband, be free from this water of bitterness that brings curses; 20 if you, however, have (O)gone astray, being under the authority of your husband, and if you have defiled yourself, and a man other than your husband has lain with you” 21 (then the priest shall have the woman (P)swear with the oath of the curse, and the priest shall say to the woman), “Yahweh make you a curse and an oath among your people by Yahweh making your thigh fall away and your abdomen swell; 22 and this water that brings curses shall go into your [m]stomach and make your abdomen swell and your thigh fall away.” And the woman (Q)shall say, “Amen. Amen.”
23 ‘The priest shall then write these curses on a scroll, and he shall [n]wash them off into the water of bitterness. 24 Then he shall make the woman drink the water of bitterness that brings curses, so that the water which brings a curse will go into her to cause bitterness. 25 And the priest shall take the grain offering of jealousy from the woman’s hand, and he shall wave the grain offering before Yahweh and bring it near to the altar; 26 and (R)the priest shall take a handful of the grain offering as its memorial offering and offer it up in smoke on the altar, and afterward he shall make the woman drink the water. 27 So he will have her drink the water, and it will be that, if she has defiled herself and has been unfaithful to her husband, that the water which brings curses will go into her to cause bitterness, and her abdomen will swell and her thigh will fall away, and the woman will become (S)a curse among her people. 28 But if the woman has not defiled herself and is clean, she will then be free and conceive a seed.
29 ‘This is the law of jealousy: when a wife, being under the authority of her husband, (T)goes astray and defiles herself, 30 or when a spirit of jealousy comes over a man and he is jealous of his wife, he shall then make the woman stand before Yahweh, and the priest shall apply all this law to her. 31 Moreover, the man will be free from [o]guilt, but that woman shall (U)bear her [p]guilt.’”
Footnotes
- Numbers 5:2 Or defiled, cf. 5:3, 13, 14
- Numbers 5:7 Lit they
- Numbers 5:7 Lit their
- Numbers 5:7 Lit they have
- Numbers 5:7 Lit guilty
- Numbers 5:9 Lit heave offering
- Numbers 5:13 Lit concealed
- Numbers 5:14 Lit and
- Numbers 5:15 Lit her
- Numbers 5:15 An ephah was approx. 21 qt. or 23 l
- Numbers 5:18 Lit on her palms
- Numbers 5:19 Or uncleanness
- Numbers 5:22 Or inward parts
- Numbers 5:23 Lit wipe
- Numbers 5:31 Or iniquity
- Numbers 5:31 Or iniquity
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