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
New American Standard Bible
On Defilement
5 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Command the sons of Israel that they (A)send away from the camp everyone with leprosy, everyone having a (B)discharge, and everyone who is (C)unclean because of contact with a dead person. 3 You shall send away both male and female; you shall send them outside the camp so that they do 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 the Lord had spoken to Moses, that is what the sons of Israel did.
5 Then the Lord 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 the Lord, and that person is guilty, 7 then [a]he shall (F)confess [b]his sin which [c]he has committed, and he (G)shall make restitution in full for his wrong and add to it a fifth of it, and give it to him whom he has wronged. 8 But if the person has no [d]redeemer to whom restitution may be made for the wrong, the restitution which is made for the wrong must go to the Lord for the priest, besides the ram of atonement, by which atonement is made for him. 9 (H)Also every [e]contribution pertaining to all the holy gifts of the sons of Israel, which they offer to the priest, shall be his. 10 So every person’s holy gifts shall be his; whatever anyone gives to the priest, it (I)becomes his.’”
The Adultery Test
11 Then the Lord 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 has (K)sexual relations with her and it is hidden from the eyes of her husband and she remains undiscovered, although she has defiled herself, and there is no witness against her and she has not been caught in the act, 14 [f]if [g]an attitude of (L)jealousy comes over him and he is jealous of his wife when she has defiled herself, or if [h]an attitude of jealousy comes over him and he is jealous of his wife when 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 a tenth of an [j]ephah of barley meal; he shall not pour oil on it nor put frankincense on it, because it is a grain offering of jealousy, a grain offering of reminder, (M)a reminder of wrongdoing.
16 ‘Then the priest shall bring her forward and have her stand before the Lord, 17 and the priest shall take holy water in an earthenware container; and [k]he shall take some of the dust that is on the floor of the tabernacle and put it in the water. 18 The priest shall then have the woman stand before the Lord and let down the hair of the woman’s head, and place the grain offering of reminder [l]in her hands, that is, the grain offering of jealousy; and in the hand of the priest is to be the water of bitterness that brings a curse. 19 And the priest shall have her take an oath and shall say to the woman, “If no man has had sexual relations with you and if you have not (N)gone astray into uncleanness, as you are under the authority of your husband, be [m]immune to this water of bitterness that brings a curse; 20 if, however, you have (O)gone astray, though under the authority of your husband, and if you have defiled yourself and a man other than your husband has had sexual intercourse 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), “may the Lord make you a curse and an oath among your people by the Lord’s making your thigh [n]shriveled and your [o]belly swollen; 22 and this water that brings a curse shall go into your [p]stomach, to make your belly swell up and your thigh [q]shrivel.” And the woman (Q)shall say, “Amen, Amen.”
23 ‘The priest shall then write these curses on a scroll, and he shall [r]wash them off into the water of bitterness. 24 Then he shall make the woman drink the water of bitterness that brings a curse, so that the water which brings a curse will go into her [s]and 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 the Lord and bring it to the altar; 26 and (R)the priest shall take a handful of the grain offering as its reminder offering and offer it up in smoke on the altar, and afterward he shall make the woman drink the water. 27 When he has made her drink the water, then it will come about, if she has defiled herself and has been unfaithful to her husband, that the water which brings a curse will go into her [t]and cause bitterness, and her belly will swell up and her thigh will [u]shrivel, 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 be [v]immune and conceive [w]children.
29 ‘This is the law of jealousy: when a wife, who is under the authority of her husband, (T)goes astray and defiles herself, 30 or when [x]an attitude of jealousy comes over a man and he is jealous of his wife, he shall then have the woman stand before the Lord, and the priest shall apply all of this law to her. 31 The man, moreover, will be free of [y]guilt, but that woman shall (U)bear the consequences of her [z]guilt.’”
Footnotes
- Numbers 5:7 Lit they
- Numbers 5:7 Lit their
- Numbers 5:7 Lit they have
- Numbers 5:8 I.e., male relative to act in his behalf
- Numbers 5:9 Or uplifted offering
- Numbers 5:14 Lit and
- Numbers 5:14 Lit a spirit
- Numbers 5:14 Lit a spirit
- Numbers 5:15 Lit her offering
- Numbers 5:15 About 1 cubic foot or 0.03 cubic meters
- Numbers 5:17 Lit the priest
- Numbers 5:18 Lit on her palms
- Numbers 5:19 Lit free from
- Numbers 5:21 Lit collapsed
- Numbers 5:21 Possibly the womb, and so throughout the ch
- Numbers 5:22 Or inward parts
- Numbers 5:22 Lit collapse
- Numbers 5:23 Lit wipe
- Numbers 5:24 Lit for bitterness
- Numbers 5:27 Lit for bitterness
- Numbers 5:27 Lit collapse
- Numbers 5:28 Lit free
- Numbers 5:28 Lit seed
- Numbers 5:30 Lit a spirit
- Numbers 5:31 Or wrongdoing
- Numbers 5:31 Or wrongdoing
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