Numbers5
New King James Version
1And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:
2“Command the children of Israel that they put out of the camp every leper, everyone who has a discharge, and whoever becomes defiled by a corpse.
3You shall put out both male and female; you shall put them outside the camp, that they may not defile their camps in the midst of which I dwell.”
4And the children of Israel did so, and put them outside the camp; as the Lord spoke to Moses, so the children of Israel did.
5Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,
6“Speak to the children of Israel: ‘When a man or woman commits any sin that men commit in unfaithfulness against the Lord, and that person is guilty,
7then he shall confess the sin which he has committed. He shall make restitution for his trespass in full, plus one-fifth of it, and give it to the one he has wronged.
8But if the man has no relative to whom restitution may be made for the wrong, the restitution for the wrong must go to the Lord for the priest, in addition to the ram of the atonement with which atonement is made for him.
9Every offering of all the holy things of the children of Israel, which they bring to the priest, shall be his.
10And every man’s holy things shall be his; whatever any man gives the priest shall be his.’ ”
11And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,
12“Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘If any man’s wife goes astray and behaves unfaithfully toward him,
13and a man lies with her carnally, and it is hidden from the eyes of her husband, and it is concealed that she has defiled herself, and there was no witness against her, nor was she caught—
14if the spirit of jealousy comes upon him and he becomes jealous of his wife, who has defiled herself; or if the spirit of jealousy comes upon him and he becomes jealous of his wife, although she has not defiled herself—
15then the man shall bring his wife to the priest. He shall bring the offering required for her, one-tenth of an ephah of barley meal; he shall pour no oil on it and put no frankincense on it, because it is a grain offering of jealousy, an offering for remembering, for bringing iniquity to remembrance.
16‘And the priest shall bring her near, and set her before the Lord.
17The priest shall take holy water in an earthen vessel, and take some of the dust that is on the floor of the tabernacle and put it into the water.
18Then the priest shall stand the woman before the Lord, uncover the woman’s head, and put the offering for remembering in her hands, which is the grain offering of jealousy. And the priest shall have in his hand the bitter water that brings a curse.
19And the priest shall put her under oath, and say to the woman, “If no man has lain with you, and if you have not gone astray to uncleanness while under your husband’s authority, be free from this bitter water that brings a curse.
20But if you have gone astray while under your husband’s authority, and if you have defiled yourself and some man other than your husband has lain with you”—
21then the priest shall put the woman under the oath of the curse, and he shall say to the woman—“the Lord make you a curse and an oath among your people, when the Lord makes your thigh rot and your belly swell;
22and may this water that causes the curse go into your stomach, and make your belly swell and your thigh rot.” ‘Then the woman shall say, “Amen, so be it.”
23‘Then the priest shall write these curses in a book, and he shall scrape them off into the bitter water.
24And he shall make the woman drink the bitter water that brings a curse, and the water that brings the curse shall enter her to become bitter.
25Then the priest shall take the grain offering of jealousy from the woman’s hand, shall wave the offering before the Lord, and bring it to the altar;
26and the priest shall take a handful of the offering, as its memorial portion, burn it on the altar, and afterward make the woman drink the water.
27When he has made her drink the water, then it shall be, if she has defiled herself and behaved unfaithfully toward her husband, that the water that brings a curse will enter her and become bitter, and her belly will swell, her thigh will rot, and the woman will become a curse among her people.
28But if the woman has not defiled herself, and is clean, then she shall be free and may conceive children.
29‘This is the law of jealousy, when a wife, while under her husband’s authority, goes astray and defiles herself,
30or when the spirit of jealousy comes upon a man, and he becomes jealous of his wife; then he shall stand the woman before the Lord, and the priest shall execute all this law upon her.
31Then the man shall be free from iniquity, but that woman shall bear 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