Numbers5
World English Bible · Public Domain
1Yahweh 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 is unclean by a corpse.
3You shall put both male and female outside of the camp so that they don’t defile their camp, in the midst of which I dwell.”
4The children of Israel did so, and put them outside of the camp; as Yahweh spoke to Moses, so the children of Israel did.
5Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,
6“Speak to the children of Israel: ‘When a man or woman commits any sin that men commit, so as to trespass against Yahweh, and that soul is guilty,
7then he shall confess his sin which he has done; and he shall make restitution for his guilt in full, add to it the fifth part of it, and give it to him in respect of whom he has been guilty.
8But if the man has no kinsman to whom restitution may be made for the guilt, the restitution for guilt which is made to Yahweh shall be the priest’s, in addition to the ram of the atonement, by which atonement shall be made for him.
9Every heave offering of all the holy things of the children of Israel, which they present to the priest, shall be his.
10Every man’s holy things shall be his; whatever any man gives the priest, it shall be his.’”
11Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,
12“Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them: ‘If any man’s wife goes astray and is unfaithful to him,
13and a man lies with her carnally, and it is hidden from the eyes of her husband and this is kept concealed, and she is defiled, there is no witness against her, and she isn’t taken in the act;
14and the spirit of jealousy comes on him, and he is jealous of his wife and she is defiled; or if the spirit of jealousy comes on him, and he is jealous of his wife and she isn’t defiled;
15then the man shall bring his wife to the priest, and shall bring her offering for her: one tenth of an ephah of barley meal. He shall pour no oil on it, nor put frankincense on it, for it is a meal offering of jealousy, a meal offering of memorial, bringing iniquity to memory.
16The priest shall bring her near, and set her before Yahweh.
17The priest shall take holy water in an earthen vessel; and the priest shall take some of the dust that is on the floor of the tabernacle and put it into the water.
18The priest shall set the woman before Yahweh, and let the hair of the woman’s head go loose, and put the meal offering of memorial in her hands, which is the meal offering of jealousy. The priest shall have in his hand the water of bitterness that brings a curse.
19The priest shall cause her to take an oath and shall tell the woman, “If no man has lain with you, and if you haven’t gone aside to uncleanness, being under your husband’s authority, be free from this water of bitterness that brings a curse.
20But if you have gone astray, being under your husband’s authority, and if you are defiled, and some man has lain with you besides your husband—”
21then the priest shall cause the woman to swear with the oath of cursing, and the priest shall tell the woman, “May Yahweh make you a curse and an oath among your people, when Yahweh allows your thigh to fall away, and your body to swell;
22and this water that brings a curse will go into your bowels, and make your body swell, and your thigh fall away.” The woman shall say, “Amen, Amen.”
23“‘The priest shall write these curses in a book, and he shall wipe them into the water of bitterness.
24He shall make the woman drink the water of bitterness that causes the curse; and the water that causes the curse shall enter into her and become bitter.
25The priest shall take the meal offering of jealousy out of the woman’s hand, and shall wave the meal offering before Yahweh, and bring it to the altar.
26The priest shall take a handful of the meal offering, as its memorial portion, and burn it on the altar, and afterward shall make the woman drink the water.
27When he has made her drink the water, then it shall happen, if she is defiled and has committed a trespass against her husband, that the water that causes the curse will enter into her and become bitter, and her body will swell, and her thigh will fall away; and the woman will be a curse among her people.
28If the woman isn’t defiled, but is clean; then she shall be free, and shall conceive offspring.
29“‘This is the law of jealousy, when a wife, being under her husband, goes astray, and is defiled,
30or when the spirit of jealousy comes on a man, and he is jealous of his wife; then he shall set the woman before Yahweh, and the priest shall execute on her all this law.
31The man shall be free from iniquity, and that woman shall bear her iniquity.’”
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