Numbers 5
1 Then the LORD said to Moses,
And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:
2 “Command the Israelites to send away from the camp anyone with a skin disease, anyone who has a bodily discharge, and anyone who is defiled by a dead body.
“Instruct the sons of Israel to cast out of the camp every leper, and those who have a flow of seed, and those who have been polluted because of the dead;
3 You must send away male and female alike; send them outside the camp so they will not defile their camp, where I dwell among them.”
cast out of the camp both male and female, lest they contaminate it while I am dwelling with you.”
4 So the Israelites did this, sending such people outside the camp. They did just as the LORD had instructed Moses.
And the sons of Israel did so, and they cast them out, beyond the camp, just as the Lord had spoken to Moses.
5 And the LORD said to Moses,
And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:
6 “Tell the Israelites that when a man or woman acts unfaithfully against the LORD by committing any sin against another, that person is guilty
“Say to the sons of Israel: A man or a woman, when they have done anything out of all the sins that often befall men, or if, by negligence, they have transgressed the commandment of the Lord, and so have committed an offense,
7 and must confess the sin he has committed. He must make full restitution, add a fifth to its value, and give all this to the one he has wronged.
they shall confess their sin, and they shall restore the principle itself, plus a fifth part above it, to any against whom they have sinned.
8 But if the man has no relative to whom restitution can be made for the wrong, the restitution belongs to the LORD and must be given to the priest along with the ram of atonement, by which the atonement is made for him.
But if there would be no one to receive it, they shall give it to the Lord, and it shall be for the priest, except for the ram, which is offered for expiation, in order to be a pleasing victim.
9 Every sacred contribution the Israelites bring to the priest shall belong to him.
Likewise, all the first-fruits, which the sons of Israel offer, belong to the priest,
10 Each man’s sacred gifts are his own, but whatever he gives to the priest will belong to the priest.”
with whatever is offered by each one at the Sanctuary, and which is delivered into the hands of the priest; it shall be his.”
11 Then the LORD said to Moses,
And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:
12 “Speak to the Israelites and tell them that if any man’s wife goes astray and is unfaithful to him
“Speak to the sons of Israel, and you shall say to them: The man whose wife will have gone astray, and, disdaining her husband,
13 by sleeping with another man, and it is concealed from her husband and her impurity is undetected (since there is no witness against her and she was not caught in the act),
will have slept with another man, and if her husband cannot discover it, but the adultery is secret, and if it cannot be proved by witnesses, because she was not caught in the shameful act,
14 and if a feeling of jealousy comes over her husband and he suspects his wife who has defiled herself—or if a feeling of jealousy comes over him and he suspects her even though she has not defiled herself—
if the spirit of jealousy stirs up the husband against his wife, who either has been polluted or is being assailed with a false suspicion,
15 then he is to bring his wife to the priest. He must also bring for her an offering of a tenth of an ephah of barley flour. He is not to pour oil over it or put frankincense on it, because it is a grain offering for jealousy, an offering of memorial as a reminder of iniquity.
he shall bring her to the priest, and he shall offer an oblation for her, a tenth part of native barley meal. He shall not pour oil over it, nor shall he place frankincense on it, because it is a sacrifice for jealousy, or an oblation investigating adultery.
16 The priest is to bring the wife forward and have her stand before the LORD.
Therefore, the priest shall offer it, and he shall set it in the sight of the Lord.
17 Then he is to take some holy water in a clay jar and put some of the dust from the tabernacle floor into the water.
And he shall take up holy water in an earthen vessel, and he shall cast a little earth from the pavement of the tabernacle into it.
18 After the priest has the woman stand before the LORD, he is to let down her hair and place in her hands the grain offering of memorial, which is the grain offering for jealousy. The priest is to hold the bitter water that brings a curse.
And while the woman stands before the Lord, he shall uncover her head, and he shall place over her hands the sacrifice of recollection and oblation of jealousy. But he shall take hold of the most bitter waters, in which he has gathered curses with loathing.
19 And he is to put the woman under oath and say to her, ‘If no other man has slept with you and you have not gone astray and become defiled while under your husband’s authority, may you be immune to this bitter water that brings a curse.
And he shall bind her by an oath, and he shall say: ‘If another man has not slept with you, and if you have not been polluted by forsaking the bed of your husband, these most bitter waters, into which I have gathered curses, shall not harm you.
20 But if you have gone astray while under your husband’s authority and have defiled yourself and lain carnally with a man other than your husband’—
But if you have turned away from your husband, and also have been defiled, and have lain together with another man,
21 and the priest shall have the woman swear under the oath of the curse—‘then may the LORD make you an attested curse among your people by making your thigh shrivel and your belly swell.
these curses shall be thrown upon you: May the Lord turn you into a curse and an example among all his people. May he cause your thigh to rot, and may your abdomen swell up and burst out.
22 May this water that brings a curse enter your stomach and cause your belly to swell and your thigh to shrivel.’ Then the woman is to say, ‘Amen, Amen.’
May the cursed waters enter into your stomach, and may your womb swell and your thigh rot.’ And the woman shall respond: ‘Amen, amen.’
23 And the priest shall write these curses on a scroll and wash them off into the bitter water.
And the priest shall write these curses in a little book, and then he shall erase them with the very bitter waters, into which he had gathered the curses,
24 He is to have the woman drink the bitter water that brings a curse, and it will enter her and cause her bitter suffering.
and he shall give it to her to drink. And when she has emptied it,
25 The priest shall take from her hand the grain offering for jealousy, wave it before the LORD, and bring it to the altar.
the priest shall take from her hand the sacrifice of jealousy, and he shall elevate it before the Lord, and he shall impose it upon the altar. Yet only after he first
26 Then the priest is to take a handful of the grain offering as a memorial portion and burn it on the altar; after that he is to have the woman drink the water.
takes a handful of the sacrifice from that which is offered, and burns it upon the altar, and then he may give the most bitter waters to the woman as a drink.
27 When he has made her drink the water, if she has defiled herself and been unfaithful to her husband, then the water that brings a curse will enter her and cause bitter suffering; her belly will swell, her thigh will shrivel, and she will become accursed among her people.
And when she drinks it, if she has been defiled, and, having despised her husband, is guilty of adultery, the curse shall pass through her, and as her belly swells up, her thigh shall decay, and the woman shall become a curse and an example to all the people.
28 But if the woman has not defiled herself and is clean, she will be unaffected and able to conceive children.
But if she has not been defiled, she shall be unharmed and she shall bear children.
29 This is the law of jealousy when a wife goes astray and defiles herself while under her husband’s authority,
This is the law for jealousy. If a woman has turned aside from her husband, and if she has been polluted,
30 or when a feeling of jealousy comes over a husband and he suspects his wife. He is to have the woman stand before the LORD, and the priest is to apply to her this entire law.
and if the husband, being stirred up by the spirit of jealousy, has brought her before the sight of the Lord, and the priest has acted toward her according to all that has been written:
31 The husband will be free from guilt, but the woman shall bear her iniquity.”
then the husband shall be without guilt, and she shall bear her iniquity.”
