Numbers 5

On Defilement

1Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2“Command the sons of Israel that they 1send away from the camp every leper and everyone having a 2discharge and everyone who is 3unclean because of a dead person. 3You shall send away both male and female; you shall send them outside the camp so that they will not defile their camp where I dwell 4in their midst.” 4The sons of Israel did so and sent them outside the camp; just as the Lord had spoken to Moses, thus the sons of Israel did.

5Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 6“Speak to the sons of Israel, ‘5When a man or woman commits any of the sins of mankind, acting unfaithfully against the Lord, and that person is guilty, 7then 6he shall 7confess 8his sins which 9he has committed, and he 10shall make restitution in full for his wrong and add to it one-fifth of it, and give it to him whom he has wronged. 8But if the man has no 11relative 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. 912Also every 13contribution pertaining to all the holy gifts of the sons of Israel, which they offer to the priest, shall be his. 10So every man’s holy gifts shall be his; whatever any man gives to the priest, it 14becomes his.’”

The Adultery Test

11Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 12“Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘If any man’s wife 15goes astray and is unfaithful to him, 13and a man has 16intercourse with her and it is hidden from the eyes of her husband and she is 17undetected, although she has defiled herself, and there is no witness against her and she has not been caught in the act, 1418if a spirit of 19jealousy comes over him and he is jealous of his wife when she has defiled herself, or if a spirit of jealousy comes over him and he is jealous of his wife when she has not defiled herself, 15the man shall then bring his wife to the priest, and shall bring as 20an offering for her one-tenth of an 21ephah of barley meal; he shall not pour oil on it nor put frankincense on it, for it is a grain offering of jealousy, a grain offering of memorial, 22a reminder of iniquity.

16‘Then the priest shall bring her near and have her stand before the Lord, 17and the priest shall take holy water in an earthenware vessel; and 23he shall take some of the dust that is on the floor of the tabernacle and put it into the water. 18The priest shall then have the woman stand before the Lord and let the hair of the woman’s head go loose, and place the grain offering of memorial 24in her hands, which is the grain offering of jealousy, and in the hand of the priest is to be the water of bitterness that brings a curse. 19The priest shall have her take an oath and shall say to the woman, “If no man has lain with you and if you have not 25gone astray into uncleanness, being under the authority of your husband, be 26immune to this water of bitterness that brings a curse; 20if you, however, have 27gone astray, being under the authority of your husband, and if you have defiled yourself and a man other than your husband has had intercourse with you” 21(then the priest shall have the woman 28swear with the oath of the curse, and the priest shall say to the woman), “the Lord make you a curse and an oath among your people by the Lord’s making your thigh 29waste away and your abdomen swell; 22and this water that brings a curse shall go into your 30stomach, and make your abdomen swell and your thigh 31waste away.” And the woman 32shall say, “Amen. Amen.”

23‘The priest shall then write these curses on a scroll, and he shall 33wash them off into the water of bitterness. 24Then 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 34and cause bitterness. 25The 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; 26and 35the priest shall take a handful of the grain offering as its memorial offering and offer it up in smoke on the altar, and afterward he shall make the woman drink the water. 27When he has made her drink the water, then it shall 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 36and cause bitterness, and her abdomen will swell and her thigh will 37waste away, and the woman will become 38a curse among her people. 28But if the woman has not defiled herself and is clean, she will then be free and conceive 39children.

29‘This is the law of jealousy: when a wife, being under the authority of her husband, 40goes astray and defiles herself, 30or when a spirit of jealousy comes over a man and he is jealous of his wife, he shall then make the woman stand before the Lord, and the priest shall apply all this law to her. 31Moreover, the man will be free from 41guilt, but that woman shall 42bear her 43guilt.’”