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
EasyEnglish Bible
Unclean people
5 The Lord said to Moses, 2 ‘Speak to the Israelites. They must send any person with a disease of the skin away from the camp. Or somebody may have a disease that causes pus to come out of his body. Any person like that is not clean. Anyone who has touched a dead person is also not clean. Send those people out of the camp too. 3 Do this with both men and women. Send them out of the camp. They must not make the camp unclean, because that is where I live among the people.’
4 The Israelites did what the Lord had said to Moses. They sent those people outside the camp.
What to pay when you do a wrong thing
5 The Lord said to Moses, 6 ‘Tell these rules to the Israelites: A person might do a wrong thing against another person. If they do, then they have turned against the Lord. 7 That person must agree that they have sinned. They must pay the right amount to the other person. They must also pay them one fifth extra. 8 But the other person may have died. If they have no relative who can accept the money, the money must go to the Lord. The person who did a wrong thing must give the money and a male sheep to the priest. The sheep is a special gift to the Lord to make everything right. Then I will forgive that person. 9 All the special gifts from the Israelites to God are for the priest. 10 The priest will keep all the special gifts.’
Husbands and wives
11 The Lord said to Moses:
12 ‘Speak to the Israelites. Tell them to follow these rules. A woman may do wrong things against her husband. 13 She might have had sex with another man. The husband might not know about this. His wife might have kept it secret. Nobody came in while it was happening. So there is nobody to say that it happened. 14 But the man may think that it happened. He will be angry. But she may not have made herself unclean in that way. 15 The man must take his wife to the priest. He must bring one kilogram of barley flour with him. This is a grain offering to discover if his wife really did do those things. So he must not put oil or incense on the grain offering. That is an offering because the man does not trust his wife.
16 Then the priest will bring the woman to stand in front of the Lord. 17 He must pour some holy water into a bowl that someone has made from clay.[a] He must take some dust from the floor of God's Tent. And he must put the dust into the water. 18 Then the priest must bring the woman in front of the Lord. The priest must make the woman's hair free. He must put into her hands the grain offering. That is the offering because the man does not trust his wife. The priest must hold the bowl that contains the bitter water. The bitter water brings a curse. 19 Then the woman must agree to the strong promise that the priest tells her to say.
The priest must say to her, “This water brings a curse. If no other man has had sex with you, it will not hurt you. 20 But if another man has had sex with you, 21 may the Lord bring the curse on you. The bitter water will cause your female parts to become smaller. Your stomach will become very big. 22 That will happen when you drink the bitter water.”
The woman must say, “That should happen. I agree!”
23 The priest must write the curses on special paper. Then he must wash the words off the paper into the bitter water. 24 He must tell the woman that she must drink the bitter water. This water that brings a curse will go into her body. It may cause her to be very ill. 25 But first, the priest must take the grain offering from her hands. That is the offering because the man does not trust his wife. The priest must lift it up in front of the Lord. Then he must bring it to the altar. 26 He must burn a small part of it as a sacrifice. After that, the woman must drink the bitter water. 27 If the woman has had sex with another man, the water will cause her to have very bad pain. Her female parts will become smaller. Her stomach will become very big. And people will curse her. 28 But, if she did not do those wrong things, the water will not hurt her. She will be able to have babies.
29-30 Perhaps a man is jealous because his wife has had sex with another man. Or he may only think that his wife has had sex with another man. This is what the law says that the priest must do: The man must bring her in front of the Lord. 31 If the woman did not do those wrong things, you must not punish her husband. But if the woman did do those wrong things, you must punish her.’
Footnotes
- 5:17 ‘Holy water’ was special water that the priests kept in God's tent.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
EasyEnglish Bible Copyright © MissionAssist 2019 - Charitable Incorporated Organisation 1162807. Used by permission. All rights reserved.