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Numbers 5
World English Bible
Numbers 5
World English Bible
5 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Command the children of Israel that they put out of the camp every leper, everyone who has a discharge, and whoever is unclean by a corpse. 3 You shall put both male and female outside of the camp so that they don’t defile their camp, in the midst of which I dwell.”
4 The children of Israel did so, and put them outside of the camp; as Yahweh spoke to Moses, so the children of Israel did.
5 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 6 “Speak to the children of Israel: ‘When a man or woman commits any sin that men commit, so as to trespass against Yahweh, and that soul is guilty, 7 then he shall confess his sin which he has done; and he shall make restitution for his guilt in full, add to it the fifth part of it, and give it to him in respect of whom he has been guilty. 8 But if the man has no kinsman to whom restitution may be made for the guilt, the restitution for guilt which is made to Yahweh shall be the priest’s, in addition to the ram of the atonement, by which atonement shall be made for him. 9 Every heave offering of all the holy things of the children of Israel, which they present to the priest, shall be his. 10 Every man’s holy things shall be his; whatever any man gives the priest, it shall be his.’”
11 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 12 “Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them: ‘If any man’s wife goes astray and is unfaithful to him, 13 and a man lies with her carnally, and it is hidden from the eyes of her husband and this is kept concealed, and she is defiled, there is no witness against her, and she isn’t taken in the act; 14 and the spirit of jealousy comes on him, and he is jealous of his wife and she is defiled; or if the spirit of jealousy comes on him, and he is jealous of his wife and she isn’t defiled; 15 then the man shall bring his wife to the priest, and shall bring her offering for her: one tenth of an ephah[a] of barley meal. He shall pour no oil on it, nor put frankincense on it, for it is a meal offering of jealousy, a meal offering of memorial, bringing iniquity to memory. 16 The priest shall bring her near, and set her before Yahweh. 17 The priest shall take holy water in an earthen 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 set the woman before Yahweh, and let the hair of the woman’s head go loose, and put the meal offering of memorial in her hands, which is the meal offering of jealousy. The priest shall have in his hand the water of bitterness that brings a curse. 19 The priest shall cause her to take an oath and shall tell the woman, “If no man has lain with you, and if you haven’t gone aside to uncleanness, being under your husband’s authority, be free from this water of bitterness that brings a curse. 20 But if you have gone astray, being under your husband’s authority, and if you are defiled, and some man has lain with you besides your husband—” 21 then the priest shall cause the woman to swear with the oath of cursing, and the priest shall tell the woman, “May Yahweh make you a curse and an oath among your people, when Yahweh allows your thigh to fall away, and your body to swell; 22 and this water that brings a curse will go into your bowels, and make your body swell, and your thigh fall away.” The woman shall say, “Amen, Amen.”
23 “‘The priest shall write these curses in a book, and he shall wipe them into the water of bitterness. 24 He shall make the woman drink the water of bitterness that causes the curse; and the water that causes the curse shall enter into her and become bitter. 25 The priest shall take the meal offering of jealousy out of the woman’s hand, and shall wave the meal offering before Yahweh, and bring it to the altar. 26 The priest shall take a handful of the meal offering, as its memorial portion, and burn it on the altar, and afterward shall make the woman drink the water. 27 When he has made her drink the water, then it shall happen, if she is defiled and has committed a trespass against her husband, that the water that causes the curse will enter into her and become bitter, and her body will swell, and her thigh will fall away; and the woman will be a curse among her people. 28 If the woman isn’t defiled, but is clean; then she shall be free, and shall conceive offspring.[b]
29 “‘This is the law of jealousy, when a wife, being under her husband, goes astray, and is defiled, 30 or when the spirit of jealousy comes on a man, and he is jealous of his wife; then he shall set the woman before Yahweh, and the priest shall execute on her all this law. 31 The man shall be free from iniquity, and that woman shall bear her iniquity.’”
Numbers 5
New Catholic Bible
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
New International Version
Numbers 5
New International Version
The Purity of the Camp
5 The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Command the Israelites to send away from the camp anyone who has a defiling skin disease[a](A) or a discharge(B) of any kind, or who is ceremonially unclean(C) because of a dead body.(D) 3 Send away male and female alike; send them outside the camp so they will not defile their camp, where I dwell among them.(E)” 4 The Israelites did so; they sent them outside the camp. They did just as the Lord had instructed Moses.
Restitution for Wrongs
5 The Lord said to Moses, 6 “Say to the Israelites: ‘Any man or woman who wrongs another in any way[b] and so is unfaithful(F) to the Lord is guilty(G) 7 and must confess(H) the sin they have committed. They must make full restitution(I) for the wrong they have done, add a fifth of the value to it and give it all to the person they have wronged. 8 But if that person has no close relative to whom restitution can be made for the wrong, the restitution belongs to the Lord and must be given to the priest, along with the ram(J) with which atonement is made for the wrongdoer.(K) 9 All the sacred contributions the Israelites bring to a priest will belong to him.(L) 10 Sacred things belong to their owners, but what they give to the priest will belong to the priest.(M)’”
The Test for an Unfaithful Wife
11 Then the Lord said to Moses, 12 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘If a man’s wife goes astray(N) and is unfaithful to him 13 so that another man has sexual relations with her,(O) and this is hidden from her husband and her impurity is undetected (since there is no witness against her and she has not been caught in the act), 14 and if feelings of jealousy(P) come over her husband and he suspects his wife and she is impure—or if he is jealous and suspects her even though she is not impure— 15 then he is to take his wife to the priest. He must also take an offering of a tenth of an ephah[c](Q) of barley flour(R) on her behalf. He must not pour olive oil on it or put incense on it, because it is a grain offering for jealousy,(S) a reminder-offering(T) to draw attention to wrongdoing.
16 “‘The priest shall bring her and have her stand before the Lord. 17 Then he shall take some holy water in a clay jar and put some dust from the tabernacle floor into the water. 18 After the priest has had the woman stand before the Lord, he shall loosen her hair(U) and place in her hands the reminder-offering, the grain offering for jealousy,(V) while he himself holds the bitter water that brings a curse.(W) 19 Then the priest shall put the woman under oath and say to her, “If no other man has had sexual relations with you and you have not gone astray(X) and become impure while married to your husband, may this bitter water that brings a curse(Y) not harm you. 20 But if you have gone astray(Z) while married to your husband and you have made yourself impure by having sexual relations with a man other than your husband”— 21 here the priest is to put the woman under this curse(AA)—“may the Lord cause you to become a curse[d] among your people when he makes your womb miscarry and your abdomen swell. 22 May this water(AB) that brings a curse(AC) enter your body so that your abdomen swells or your womb miscarries.”
“‘Then the woman is to say, “Amen. So be it.(AD)”
23 “‘The priest is to write these curses on a scroll(AE) and then wash them off into the bitter water. 24 He shall make the woman drink the bitter water that brings a curse, and this water that brings a curse and causes bitter suffering will enter her. 25 The priest is to take from her hands the grain offering for jealousy, wave it before the Lord(AF) and bring it to the altar. 26 The priest is then to take a handful of the grain offering as a memorial[e] offering(AG) and burn it on the altar; after that, he is to have the woman drink the water. 27 If she has made herself impure and been unfaithful to her husband, this will be the result: When she is made to drink the water that brings a curse and causes bitter suffering, it will enter her, her abdomen will swell and her womb will miscarry, and she will become a curse.(AH) 28 If, however, the woman has not made herself impure, but is clean, she will be cleared of guilt and will be able to have children.
29 “‘This, then, is the law of jealousy when a woman goes astray(AI) and makes herself impure while married to her husband, 30 or when feelings of jealousy(AJ) come over a man because he suspects his wife. The priest is to have her stand before the Lord and is to apply this entire law to her. 31 The husband will be innocent of any wrongdoing, but the woman will bear the consequences(AK) of her sin.’”
Footnotes
- Numbers 5:2 The Hebrew word for defiling skin disease, traditionally translated “leprosy,” was used for various diseases affecting the skin.
- Numbers 5:6 Or woman who commits any wrong common to mankind
- Numbers 5:15 That is, probably about 3 1/2 pounds or about 1.6 kilograms
- Numbers 5:21 That is, may he cause your name to be used in cursing (see Jer. 29:22); or, may others see that you are cursed; similarly in verse 27.
- Numbers 5:26 Or representative
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