God’s Word Translation
Numbers 5:29
29“These are the instructions for how to deal with jealousy. They tell you what to do when a woman is unfaithful to her husband and becomes unclean.
Numbers 5:29 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)This is the law of jealousies, when a wife goeth aside to another instead of her husband, and is defiled;
- New International Version (NIV)“ ‘This, then, is the law of jealousy when a woman goes astray and makes herself impure while married to her husband,
- English Standard Version (ESV)"This is the law in cases of jealousy, when a wife, though under her husband's authority, goes astray and defiles herself,
- New King James Version (NKJV)‘This is the law of jealousy, when a wife, while under her husband’s authority, goes astray and defiles herself,
Context of Numbers 5:29
27If she has become unclean by being unfaithful to her husband, the water that can bring the curse will go into her and become bitter. Her stomach will swell, her uterus will drop, and she will become cursed among her people. 28But if the woman is not unclean and is pure, she is not guilty and will be able to have children. “These are the instructions for how to deal with jealousy. They tell you what to do when a woman is unfaithful to her husband and becomes unclean. 30They also tell you what to do when a husband has a fit of jealousy and is suspicious of his wife. He will make his wife stand in the Lord’s presence, and the priest will do everything these instructions tell him to do. 31The husband isn’t guilty of doing anything wrong, but the woman will suffer the consequences of her sin.”
Read all of Numbers 5Numbers 5:29 word by word
זֹ֥את תּוֹרַ֖ת הַקְּנָאֹ֑ת אֲשֶׁ֨ר תִּשְׂטֶ֥ה אִשָּׁ֛ה תַּ֥חַת אִישָׁ֖הּ וְנִטְמָֽאָה׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Numbers 5:29
- Leviticus 7:11“These are the instructions for the fellowship offering that you must bring to the Lord.
- Leviticus 11:46“These are the instructions about animals, birds, and every living creature that swims in the water and every creature that swarms on the ground.
- Leviticus 13:59“These are the instructions for deciding whether mildew in clothing that is woven or knitted from linen or wool or in any leather article is clean or unclean.”
- Leviticus 14:54“These are the instructions for any kind of mildew or fungus
- Leviticus 15:32“These are the instructions for any man who has a discharge or an emission of semen that makes him unclean,
- Numbers 5:12“Speak to the Israelites and tell them: A man’s wife may have been unfaithful to him
- Isaiah 5:7The vineyard of the Lord of Armies is the nation of Israel, and the people of Judah are the garden of his delight. He hoped for justice but saw only slaughter, for righteousness but heard only cries of distress.
Commentaries on Numbers 5:29
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 29This is the law of jealousies - And this is the most singular law in the whole Pentateuch: a law that seems to have been copied by almost all the nations of the earth, whether civilized or barbarian, as we find that similar modes of trial for suspected offenses were used when complete evidence was wanting to convict; and where it was expected that the object of their worship would interfere for the sake of justice, in order that the guilty should be…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 11-31Verses 11-31 The trial of jealousy. Since the crime of adultery is especially defiling and destructive of the very foundations of social order, the whole subject is dealt with at a length proportionate to its importance. The process prescribed has lately been strikingly illustrated from an Egyptian “romance,” which refers to the time of Rameses the Great, and may therefore well serve to illustrate the manners and customs of the Mosaic times. This mode of…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 11-31Verses 11-31 This law would make the women of Israel watch against giving cause for suspicion. On the other hand, it would hinder the cruel treatment such suspicions might occasion. It would also hinder the guilty from escaping, and the innocent from coming under just suspicion. When no proof could be brought, the wife was called on to make this solemn appeal to a heart-searching God. No woman, if she were guilty, could say "Amen" to the adjuration, and…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 29-31The law describes a trial by ordeal (a test in which God was asked to show guilt or innocence). In this case, a husband could bring his wife to the priest if he suspected adultery. The summary of the law makes one point clear. If the husband raised questions about his wife’s guilt or innocence, he was not considered guilty simply for asking. Some readers may notice what seems like a double standard. Ancient laws often focused on the woman’s failure in…Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 2929. This is the law of jealousies--Adultery discovered and proved was punished with death. But strongly suspected cases would occur, and this law made provision for the conviction of the guilty person. It was, however, not a trial conducted according to the forms of judicial process, but an ordeal through which a suspected adulteress was made to go--the ceremony being of that terrifying nature, that, on the known principles of human nature, guilt or…Read the comment
Topics related to Numbers 5:29
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Numbers 5
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
God’s Word Translation — © 1995 God’s Word to the Nations Bible Society
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