New English Translation
Numbers 5:11
11The Lord spoke to Moses:
Numbers 5:11 in other versions
Context of Numbers 5:11
9Every offering of all the Israelites’ holy things that they bring to the priest will be his. 10Every man’s holy things will be his; whatever any man gives the priest will be his.’” The Lord spoke to Moses: 12“Speak to the Israelites and tell them, ‘If any man’s wife goes astray and behaves unfaithfully toward him, 13and a man has sexual relations with her without her husband knowing it, and it is hidden that she has defiled herself, since there was no witness against her, nor was she caught –
Read all of Numbers 5Numbers 5:11 word by word
וַיְדַבֵּ֥ר יְהוָ֖ה אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֥ה לֵּאמֹֽר׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Commentaries on Numbers 5:11
- 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. 11-31This detailed test for adultery, a "trial by ordeal," is the only one in the Old Testament. Yet, trial by ordeal was common in the ancient Near East. God had a special interest in protecting marriage. It was the foundation of Hebrew society. The ordeal was intended to promote marital faithfulness. We do not know how often such ordeals actually happened. This procedure relied on God to intervene so that justice occurred when evidence was lacking (see 1…Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 11-3112-15. if any man's wife go aside, and commit a trespass against him--This law was given both as a strong discouragement to conjugal infidelity on the part of a wife, and a sufficient protection of her from the consequences of a hasty and groundless suspicion on the part of the husband. His suspicions, however, were sufficient in the absence of witnesses (Le 20:10) to warrant the trial described; and the course of proceeding to be followed was for the…Read the comment
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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
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