New English Translation
Numbers 5:23
23“‘Then the priest will write these curses on a scroll and then scrape them off into the bitter water.
Numbers 5:23 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)And the priest shall write these curses in a book, and he shall blot them out with the bitter water:
- New International Version (NIV)“ ‘The priest is to write these curses on a scroll and then wash them off into the bitter water.
- English Standard Version (ESV)"Then the priest shall write these curses in a book and wash them off into the water of bitterness.
- New King James Version (NKJV)‘Then the priest shall write these curses in a book, and he shall scrape them off into the bitter water.
Context of Numbers 5:23
21Then the priest will put the woman under the oath of the curse and will say to the her, “The Lord make you an attested curse among your people, if the Lord makes your thigh fall away and your abdomen swell; 22and this water that causes the curse will go into your stomach, and make your abdomen swell and your thigh rot.” Then the woman must say, “Amen, amen.” “‘Then the priest will write these curses on a scroll and then scrape them off into the bitter water. 24He will make the woman drink the bitter water that brings a curse, and the water that brings a curse will enter her to produce bitterness. 25The priest will take the grain offering of suspicion from the woman’s hand, wave the grain offering before the Lord, and bring it to the altar.
Read all of Numbers 5Numbers 5:23 word by word
וְ֠כָתַב אֶת־הָאָלֹ֥ת הָאֵ֛לֶּה הַכֹּהֵ֖ן בַּסֵּ֑פֶר וּמָחָ֖ה אֶל־מֵ֥י הַמָּרִֽים׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Numbers 5:23
- Exodus 17:14The Lord said to Moses, “Write this as a memorial in the book, and rehearse it in Joshua’s hearing; for I will surely wipe out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.
- Deuteronomy 31:19Now write down for yourselves the following song and teach it to the Israelites. Put it into their very mouths so that this song may serve as my witness against the Israelites!
- 2 Chronicles 34:24“This is what the Lord says: ‘I am about to bring disaster on this place and its residents, the details of which are recorded in the scroll which they read before the king of Judah.
- Job 31:35“If only I had someone to hear me! Here is my signature – let the Almighty answer me! If only I had an indictment that my accuser had written.
- Jeremiah 51:60Jeremiah recorded on one scroll all the judgments that would come upon Babylon – all these prophecies written about Babylon.
- 1 Corinthians 16:21I, Paul, send this greeting with my own hand.
- Revelation 20:12And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne. Then books were opened, and another book was opened – the book of life. So the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to their deeds.
- Psalms 51:1Have mercy on me, O God, because of your loyal love! Because of your great compassion, wipe away my rebellious acts!
- Isaiah 43:25I, I am the one who blots out your rebellious deeds for my sake; your sins I do not remember.
- Isaiah 44:22I remove the guilt of your rebellious deeds as if they were a cloud, the guilt of your sins as if they were a cloud. Come back to me, for I protect you.”
- Acts 3:19Therefore repent and turn back so that your sins may be wiped out,
Commentaries on Numbers 5:23
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 23The priest shall write these curses - and he shall blot them out - It appears that the curses which were written down with a kind of ink prepared for the purpose, as some of the rabbins think, without any calx of iron or other material that could make a permanent dye, were washed off the parchment into the water which the woman was obliged to drink, so that she drank the very words of the execration. The ink used in the East is almost all of this kind - a…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. 23-24The image of drinking curses appears again in Ezekiel 2:8–3:3 and Revelation 10:8–11.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 23-2423-24. write these curses in a book--The imprecations, along with her name, were inscribed in some kind of record--on parchment, or more probably on a wooden tablet. blot them out with the bitter water--If she were innocent, they could be easily erased, and were perfectly harmless; but if guilty, she would experience the fatal effects of the water she had drunk.Read the comment
Topics related to Numbers 5:23
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
New English Translation — © 1996-2016 Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C.
Commentaries