Numbers5
New American Standard
1Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,
2“Command the sons of Israel that they send away from the camp everyone with leprosy, everyone having a discharge, and everyone who is unclean 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 in 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: ‘When a man or woman commits any of the sins of mankind, acting unfaithfully against the Lord, and that person is guilty,
7then he shall confess his sin which he has committed, and he shall 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 redeemer 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.
9Also every contribution 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 becomes his.’”
11Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,
12“Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘If any man’s wife goes astray and is unfaithful to him,
13and a man has sexual 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,
14if an attitude of jealousy comes over him and he is jealous of his wife when she has defiled herself, or if an 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 an offering for her a tenth of an ephah 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, a 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 he 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 in 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 gone astray into uncleanness, as you are under the authority of your husband, be immune to this water of bitterness that brings a curse;
20if, however, you have gone 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 swear 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 shriveled and your belly swollen;
22and this water that brings a curse shall go into your stomach, to make your belly swell up and your thigh shrivel.” And the woman shall say, “Amen, Amen.”
23‘The priest shall then write these curses on a scroll, and he shall wash 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 and 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 the 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 and cause bitterness, and her belly will swell up and her thigh will shrivel, and the woman will become a curse among her people.
28But if the woman has not defiled herself and is clean, she will be immune and conceive children.
29‘This is the law of jealousy: when a wife, who is under the authority of her husband, goes astray and defiles herself,
30or when an 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 guilt, but that woman shall bear the consequences of her guilt.’”
Study Guide
Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Numbers 5.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: The unclean to be removed out of the camp, Restitution to be made for trespasses. (1–10). The trial of jealousy. (11–31).
vv1-10
The camp was to be cleansed. The purity of the church must be kept as carefully as the peace and order of it. Every polluted Israelite must be separated. The wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable. The greater profession of religion any house or family makes, the more they are obliged to put away iniquity far from them. If a man overreach or defraud his brother in any matter, it is a trespass against the Lord, who strictly charges and commands us to do justly. What is to be done when a man's awakened conscience charges him with guilt of this kind, though done long ago? He must confess his sin, confess it to God, confess it to his neighbour, and take shame to himself; though it go against him to own himself in a lie, yet he must do it. Satisfaction must be made for the offence done to God, as well as for the loss sustained by the neighbour; restitution in that case is not enough without faith and repentance. While that which is wrongly gotten is knowingly kept, the guilt remains on the conscience, and is not done away by sacrifice or offering, prayers or tears; for it is the same act of sin persisted in. This is the doctrine of right reason, and of the word of God. It detects hypocrites, and directs the tender conscience to proper conduct, which, springing from faith in Christ, will make way for inward peace.
vv11-31
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 drink the water after it, unless she disbelieved the truth of God, or defied his justice. The water is called the bitter water, because it caused the curse. Thus sin is called an evil and a bitter thing. Let all that meddle with forbidden pleasures, know that they will be bitterness in the latter end. From the whole learn, 1. Secret sins are known to God, and sometimes are strangely brought to light in this life; and that there is a day coming when God will, by Christ, judge the secrets of men according to the gospel, Ro 2:16. 2 In particular, Whoremongers and adulterers God will surely judge. Though we have not now the waters of jealousy, yet we have God's word, which ought to be as great a terror. Sensual lusts will end in bitterness. 3. God will manifest the innocency of the innocent. The same providence is for good to some, and for hurt to others. And it will answer the purposes which God intends.
Key Words
דָבַר: perhaps properly, to arrange; but used figuratively (of words), to speak; rarely (in a destructive sense) to subdue
מֹשֶׁה: Mosheh, the Israelite lawgiver
אָמַר: to say (used with great latitude)
צָוָה: (intensively) to constitute, enjoin
בֵּן: a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etc., (like father or brother), etc.)
יִשְׂרָאֵל: Jisrael, a symbolical name of Jacob; also (typically) of his posterity
שָׁלַח: to send away, for, or out (in a great variety of applications)
מַחֲנֶה: an encampment (of travellers or troops); hence, an army, whether literal (of soldiers) or figurative (of dancers, angels, cattle, locusts, stars; or even the sacred courts)
כֹּל: properly, the whole; hence, all, any or every (in the singular only, but often in a plural sense)
צָרַע: to scourge, i.e. (intransitive and figurative) to be stricken with leprosy
Cross References
Numbers 5Parallel definition of trespass against a neighbor as also being a trespass against the Lord.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Direct parallel linking the acknowledgment and confession of guilt to a specific trespass.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Underlying law establishing the physical exclusion and dwelling alone of lepers outside the camp.
Supported by JFB
Establishes the defilement caused by physical contact with a dead body.
Supported by Matthew Poole
The requirement to restore the principal plus adding a fifth part for restitution.
Supported by Matthew Poole
General ordinance that all dedicated and holy things of Israel belong to the priests.
Supported by John Calvin
Contrasts voluntary confession restitution (fifth added) with penalty for convicted, obstinate theft.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Establishes that the trespass offering belongs to the priest who makes atonement.
Supported by John Calvin
Omission of oil and frankincense in poor offerings, signifying grief or sin memory rather than joy.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Specific regulations defining uncleanness resulting from various bodily issues and discharges.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Defines the 'goel' (kinsman redeemer) who would normally receive restitution on behalf of deceased.
Supported by John Calvin
Uncovering the head as a traditional sign of humiliation or mourning, like the leper.
Supported by JFB
Definition of the 'memorial' portion of grain offering burned upon the altar.
Supported by Matthew Poole