The In-Dept Study of the Bible
Numbers 05
1 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 ofthe campso thattheydon’tdefile
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
amanor womancommits any sinthatmen
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 Butifthe 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
ishiddenfromthe eyes ofherhusbandand
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 ifthe spirit ofjealousy comes on
him, and he is jealous of his wife and she
isn’t defiled;
15 thenthe manshall bringhis wife to the
priest, and shall bring her offering for her:
one tenth of an ephah† of barley meal. He
shallpourno oil onit, norputfrankincense
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.‡
29 “ ‘This is the law of jealousy, when
a wife, being under her husband, goes
astray, and is defiled,
30 or whenthe spirit ofjealousy 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.’ ”