Numbers 5

On Defilement

1Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2“Command the sons of Israel that they 1send away from the camp everyone with leprosy, everyone having a 2discharge, and everyone who is 3unclean because of contact with a dead person. 3You 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 4in their midst.” 4And 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.

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 sin which 9he has committed, and he 10shall make restitution in full for his wrong and add to it a fifth of it, and give it to him whom he has wronged. 8But if the person has no 11redeemer 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 person’s holy gifts shall be his; whatever anyone 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 16sexual 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, 1417if 18an attitude of 19jealousy comes over him and he is jealous of his wife when she has defiled herself, or if 20an attitude 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 21an offering for her a tenth of an 22ephah 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, 23a reminder of wrongdoing.

16‘Then the priest shall bring her forward and have her stand before the Lord, 17and the priest shall take holy water in an earthenware container; and 24he shall take some of the dust that is on the floor of the tabernacle and put it in the water. 18The 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 25in 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. 19And 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 26gone astray into uncleanness, as you are under the authority of your husband, be 27immune to this water of bitterness that brings a curse; 20if, however, you have 28gone 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 29swear 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 30shriveled and your 31belly swollen; 22and this water that brings a curse shall go into your 32stomach, to make your belly swell up and your thigh 33shrivel.” And the woman 34shall say, “Amen, Amen.”

23‘The priest shall then write these curses on a scroll, and he shall 35wash 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 36and cause bitterness. 25And 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; 26and 37the 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. 27When 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 38and cause bitterness, and her belly will swell up and her thigh will 39shrivel, and the woman will become 40a curse among her people. 28But if the woman has not defiled herself and is clean, she will be 41immune and conceive 42children.

29‘This is the law of jealousy: when a wife, who is under the authority of her husband, 43goes astray and defiles herself, 30or when 44an 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. 31The man, moreover, will be free of 45guilt, but that woman shall 46bear the consequences of her 47guilt.’”