Numbers 5
New King James Version
Ceremonially Unclean Persons Isolated(A)
5 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 2 “Command the children of Israel that they put out of the camp every (B)leper, everyone who has a (C)discharge, and whoever becomes (D)defiled [a]by a corpse. 3 You shall put out both male and female; you shall put them outside the camp, that they may not defile their camps (E)in the midst of which I dwell.” 4 And the children of Israel did so, and put them outside the camp; as the Lord spoke to Moses, so the children of Israel did.
Confession and Restitution(F)
5 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 6 “Speak to the children of Israel: (G)‘When a man or woman commits any sin that men commit in unfaithfulness against the Lord, and that person is guilty, 7 (H)then he shall confess the sin which he has committed. He shall make restitution for his trespass (I)in full, plus one-fifth of it, and give it to the one he has wronged. 8 But if the man has no [b]relative to whom restitution may be made for the wrong, the restitution for the wrong must go to the Lord for the priest, in addition to (J)the ram of the atonement with which atonement is made for him. 9 Every (K)offering[c] of all the holy things of the children of Israel, which they bring to the priest, shall be (L)his. 10 And every man’s [d]holy things shall be his; whatever any man gives the priest shall be (M)his.’ ”
Concerning Unfaithful Wives
11 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 12 “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘If any man’s wife goes astray and behaves unfaithfully toward him, 13 and a man (N)lies with her carnally, and it is hidden from the eyes of her husband, and it is concealed that she has defiled herself, and there was no witness against her, nor was she (O)caught— 14 if the spirit of jealousy comes upon him and he becomes (P)jealous of his wife, who has defiled herself; or if the spirit of jealousy comes upon him and he becomes jealous of his wife, although she has not defiled herself— 15 then the man shall bring his wife to the priest. He shall (Q)bring the offering required for her, one-tenth of an ephah of barley meal; he shall pour no oil on it and put no frankincense on it, because it is a grain offering of jealousy, an offering for remembering, for (R)bringing iniquity to remembrance.
16 ‘And the priest shall bring her near, and set her before the Lord. 17 The priest shall take holy water in an earthen vessel, and take some of the dust that is on the floor of the tabernacle and put it into the water. 18 Then the priest shall stand the woman before the (S)Lord, uncover the woman’s head, and put the offering for remembering in her hands, which is the grain offering of jealousy. And the priest shall have in his hand the bitter water that brings a curse. 19 And the priest shall put her under oath, and say to the woman, “If no man has lain with you, and if you have not gone astray to uncleanness while under your husband’s authority, be free from this bitter water that brings a curse. 20 But if you have gone astray while under your husband’s authority, and if you have defiled yourself and some man other than your husband has lain with you”— 21 then the priest shall (T)put the woman under the oath of the curse, and he shall say to the woman—(U)“the Lord make you a curse and an oath among your people, when the Lord makes your thigh [e]rot and your belly swell; 22 and may this water that causes the curse (V)go into your stomach, and make your belly swell and your thigh rot.”
‘(W)Then the woman shall say, “Amen, so be it.”
23 ‘Then the priest shall write these curses in a book, and he shall scrape them off into the bitter water. 24 And he shall make the woman drink the bitter water that brings a curse, and the water that brings the curse shall enter her to become bitter. 25 (X)Then the priest shall take the grain offering of jealousy from the woman’s hand, shall (Y)wave the offering before the Lord, and bring it to the altar; 26 and the priest shall take a handful of the offering, (Z)as its memorial portion, burn it on the altar, and afterward make the woman drink the water. 27 When he has made her drink the water, then it shall be, if she has defiled herself and behaved unfaithfully toward her husband, that the water that brings a (AA)curse will enter her and become bitter, and her belly will swell, her thigh will rot, and the woman (AB)will become a curse among her people. 28 But if the woman has not defiled herself, and is clean, then she shall be free and may conceive children.
29 ‘This is the law of jealousy, when a wife, while under her husband’s authority, (AC)goes astray and defiles herself, 30 or when the spirit of jealousy comes upon a man, and he becomes jealous of his wife; then he shall stand the woman before the Lord, and the priest shall execute all this law upon her. 31 Then the man shall be free from [f]iniquity, but that woman (AD)shall bear her [g]guilt.’ ”
Footnotes
- Numbers 5:2 by contact with
- Numbers 5:8 redeemer, Heb. goel
- Numbers 5:9 heave offering
- Numbers 5:10 consecrated
- Numbers 5:21 Lit. fall away
- Numbers 5:31 guilt
- Numbers 5:31 iniquity
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.
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.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation
