< Numbers 5 >

1 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:
And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying,
2 “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;
Command the children of Israel, that they put out of the camp every leper, and every one that hath an issue, and whosoever is unclean by the dead:
3 cast out of the camp both male and female, lest they contaminate it while I am dwelling with you.”
both male and female shall ye put out, without the camp shall ye put them; that they defile not their camp, in the midst whereof I dwell.
4 And the sons of Israel did so, and they cast them out, beyond the camp, just as the Lord had spoken to Moses.
And the children of Israel did so, and put them out without the camp; as Jehovah spake unto Moses, so did the children of Israel.
5 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:
And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying,
6 “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,
Speak unto the children of Israel, When a man or woman shall commit any sin that men commit, so as to trespass against Jehovah, and that soul shall be guilty;
7 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.
then he shall confess his sin which he hath done: and he shall make restitution for his guilt in full, and add unto it the fifth part thereof, and give it unto him in respect of whom he hath been guilty.
8 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.
But if the man have no kinsman to whom restitution may be made for the guilt, the restitution for guilt which is made unto Jehovah shall be the priest’s; besides the ram of the atonement, whereby atonement shall be made for him.
9 Likewise, all the first-fruits, which the sons of Israel offer, belong to the priest,
And every heave-offering of all the holy things of the children of Israel, which they present unto the priest, shall be his.
10 with whatever is offered by each one at the Sanctuary, and which is delivered into the hands of the priest; it shall be his.”
And every man’s hallowed things shall be his: whatsoever any man giveth the priest, it shall be his.
11 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:
And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying,
12 “Speak to the sons of Israel, and you shall say to them: The man whose wife will have gone astray, and, disdaining her husband,
Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, If any man’s wife go aside, and commit a trespass against him,
13 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,
and a man lie with her carnally, and it be hid from the eyes of her husband, and be kept close, and she be defiled, and there be no witness against her, and she be not taken in the act;
14 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,
and the spirit of jealousy come upon him, and he be jealous of his wife, and she be defiled: or if the spirit of jealousy come upon him, and he be jealous of his wife, and she be not defiled:
15 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.
then shall the man bring his wife unto the priest, and shall bring her oblation for her, the tenth part of an ephah of barley meal; he shall pour no oil upon it, nor put frankincense thereon; for it is a meal-offering of jealousy, a meal-offering of memorial, bringing iniquity to remembrance.
16 Therefore, the priest shall offer it, and he shall set it in the sight of the Lord.
And the priest shall bring her near, and set her before Jehovah:
17 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.
and the priest shall take holy water in an earthen vessel; and of the dust that is on the floor of the tabernacle the priest shall take, and put it into the water.
18 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.
And the priest shall set the woman before Jehovah, 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: and the priest shall have in his hand the water of bitterness that causeth the curse.
19 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.
And the priest shall cause her to swear, and shall say unto the woman, If no man have lain with thee, and if thou have not gone aside to uncleanness, being under thy husband, be thou free from this water of bitterness that causeth the curse.
20 But if you have turned away from your husband, and also have been defiled, and have lain together with another man,
But if thou have gone aside, being under thy husband, and if thou be defiled, and some man have lain with thee besides thy husband:
21 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.
then the priest shall cause the woman to swear with the oath of cursing, and the priest shall say unto the woman, Jehovah make thee a curse and an oath among thy people, when Jehovah doth make thy thigh to fall away, and thy body to swell;
22 May the cursed waters enter into your stomach, and may your womb swell and your thigh rot.’ And the woman shall respond: ‘Amen, amen.’
and this water that causeth the curse shall go into thy bowels, and make thy body to swell, and thy thigh to fall away. And the woman shall say, Amen, Amen.
23 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,
And the priest shall write these curses in a book, and he shall blot them out into the water of bitterness:
24 and he shall give it to her to drink. And when she has emptied it,
and he shall make the woman drink the water of bitterness that causeth the curse; and the water that causeth the curse shall enter into her [and become] bitter.
25 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
And the priest shall take the meal-offering of jealousy out of the woman’s hand, and shall wave the meal-offering before Jehovah, and bring it unto the altar:
26 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.
and the priest shall take a handful of the meal-offering, as the memorial thereof, and burn it upon the altar, and afterward shall make the woman drink the water.
27 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.
And when he hath made her drink the water, then it shall come to pass, if she be defiled, and have committed a trespass against her husband, that the water that causeth the curse shall enter into her [and become] bitter, and her body shall swell, and her thigh shall fall away: and the woman shall be a curse among her people.
28 But if she has not been defiled, she shall be unharmed and she shall bear children.
And if the woman be not defiled, but be clean; then she shall be free, and shall conceive seed.
29 This is the law for jealousy. If a woman has turned aside from her husband, and if she has been polluted,
This is the law of jealousy, when a wife, being under her husband, goeth aside, and is defiled;
30 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:
or when the spirit of jealousy cometh upon a man, and he is jealous of his wife; then shall he set the woman before Jehovah, and the priest shall execute upon her all this law.
31 then the husband shall be without guilt, and she shall bear her iniquity.”
And the man shall be free from iniquity, and that woman shall bear her iniquity.

< Numbers 5 >