New American Standard Bible 1995
Numbers 5:6-31
6“Speak to the sons of Israel, ‘1When a man or woman commits any of the sins of mankind, acting unfaithfully against the Lord, and that person is guilty, 7then 2he shall 3confess 4his sins which 5he has committed, and he 6shall 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 7relative 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. 98Also every 9contribution 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 10becomes his.’”
11Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 12“Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘If any man’s wife 11goes astray and is unfaithful to him, 13and a man has 12intercourse with her and it is hidden from the eyes of her husband and she is 13undetected, although she has defiled herself, and there is no witness against her and she has not been caught in the act, 1414if a spirit of 15jealousy 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 16an offering for her one-tenth of an 17ephah 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, 18a 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 19he 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 20in 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 21gone astray into uncleanness, being under the authority of your husband, be 22immune to this water of bitterness that brings a curse; 20if you, however, have 23gone 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 24swear 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 25waste away and your abdomen swell; 22and this water that brings a curse shall go into your 26stomach, and make your abdomen swell and your thigh 27waste away.” And the woman 28shall say, “Amen. Amen.”
23‘The priest shall then write these curses on a scroll, and he shall 29wash 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 30and 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 31the 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 32and cause bitterness, and her abdomen will swell and her thigh will 33waste away, and the woman will become 34a curse among her people. 28But if the woman has not defiled herself and is clean, she will then be free and conceive 35children.
29‘This is the law of jealousy: when a wife, being under the authority of her husband, 36goes 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 37guilt, but that woman shall 38bear her 39guilt.’”
Notes
- 1. Numbers 5:6 Lev 5:14-6:7 ↩
- 2. Numbers 5:7 Lit they ↩
- 3. Numbers 5:7 Lev 5:5; 26:40, 41; Josh 7:19 ↩
- 4. Numbers 5:7 Lit their ↩
- 5. Numbers 5:7 Lit they have ↩
- 6. Numbers 5:7 Lev 6:4, 5 ↩
- 7. Numbers 5:8 Lit redeemer ↩
- 8. Numbers 5:9 Lev 7:32, 34; 10:14, 15 ↩
- 9. Numbers 5:9 Lit heave offering ↩
- 10. Numbers 5:10 Lev 10:13 ↩
- 11. Numbers 5:12 Num 5:19-21, 29 ↩
- 12. Numbers 5:13 Lev 18:20; 20:10 ↩
- 13. Numbers 5:13 Lit concealed ↩
- 14. Numbers 5:14 Lit and ↩
- 15. Numbers 5:14 Prov 6:34; Song 8:6 ↩
- 16. Numbers 5:15 Lit her ↩
- 17. Numbers 5:15 I.e. Approx one bu ↩
- 18. Numbers 5:15 1 Kin 17:18; Ezek 29:16 ↩
- 19. Numbers 5:17 Lit the priest ↩
- 20. Numbers 5:18 Lit on her palms ↩
- 21. Numbers 5:19 Num 5:12 ↩
- 22. Numbers 5:19 Lit free from ↩
- 23. Numbers 5:20 Num 5:12 ↩
- 24. Numbers 5:21 Josh 6:26; 1 Sam 14:24; Neh 10:29 ↩
- 25. Numbers 5:21 Lit fall ↩
- 26. Numbers 5:22 Or inward parts ↩
- 27. Numbers 5:22 Lit fall ↩
- 28. Numbers 5:22 Deut 27:15 ↩
- 29. Numbers 5:23 Lit wipe ↩
- 30. Numbers 5:24 Lit to ↩
- 31. Numbers 5:26 Lev 2:2, 9 ↩
- 32. Numbers 5:27 Lit to ↩
- 33. Numbers 5:27 Lit fall ↩
- 34. Numbers 5:27 Jer 29:18; 42:18; 44:12 ↩
- 35. Numbers 5:28 Lit seed ↩
- 36. Numbers 5:29 Num 5:12 ↩
- 37. Numbers 5:31 Or iniquity ↩
- 38. Numbers 5:31 Lev 20:17 ↩
- 39. Numbers 5:31 Or iniquity ↩
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
New American Standard Bible 1995 — © 1960–1995 The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.
Commentaries