Numbers 5
1 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:
The Lord told Moses,
2 Command the children of Israel, that they cast out of the camp every leper, and whosoever hath an issue of seed, or is defiled by the dead:
“Order the Israelites to expel from the camp anyone who has a skin disease, or who has a discharge, or who is unclean from touching a dead body.
3 Whether it be man or woman, cast ye them out of the camp, lest they defile it when I shall dwell with you.
Whether male or female, you must expel them so they won't make their camp unclean, for that is where I live with them.”
4 And the children of Israel did so, and they cast them forth without the camp, as the Lord had spoken to Moses.
The Israelites followed these instructions, and expelled such people from the camp. They did what the Lord had told Moses they should do.
5 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:
The Lord told Moses,
6 Say to the children of Israel: When a man or woman shall have committed any of all the sins that men are wont to commit, and by negligence shall have transgressed the commandment of the Lord, and offended,
“Tell the Israelites that when a man or woman is unfaithful to the Lord by sinning against someone else, they are guilty
7 They shall confess their sin, and restore the principal itself, and the fifth part over and above, to him against whom they have sinned.
and must confess their sin. They have to pay the full amount of compensation plus one fifth of its value, and give this to the person they have wronged.
8 But if there be no one to receive it, they shall give it to the Lord, and it shall be the priest’s, besides the ram that is offered for expiation, to be an atoning sacrifice.
However, if that person doesn't have a relative who can be paid the compensation, it belongs to the Lord and shall be given to the priest, together with a sacrificial ram by which the guilty person is set right.
9 All the firstfruits also, which the children of Israel offer, belong to the priest:
All holy offerings that the Israelites bring to the priest belong to him.
10 And whatsoever is offered into the sanctuary by every one, and is delivered into the hands of the priest, it shall be his.
Your holy offerings belong to you, but once you give them to the priest they belong to him.”
11 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:
The Lord told Moses,
12 Speak to the children of Israel, and thou shalt say to them: The man whose wife shall have gone astray, and contemning her husband,
“Tell the Israelites that these are the instructions to follow if a man's wife has an affair, being unfaithful to him
13 Shall have slept with another man, and her husband cannot discover it, but the adultery is secret, and cannot be proved by witnesses, because she was not found in the adultery:
by sleeping with someone else. It may be that her husband doesn't find out and her unclean act wasn't witnessed—she wasn't caught out.
14 If the spirit of jealousy stir up the husband against his wife, who either is defiled, or is charged with false suspicion,
But if her husband becomes jealous and suspicious of his wife, whether she's guilty or not,
15 He shall bring her to the priest, and shall offer an oblation for her, the tenth part of a measure of barley meal: he shall not pour oil thereon, nor put frankincense upon it: because it is a sacrifice of jealousy, and an oblation searching out adultery.
he is to take her before the priest. He is also to take with him on her behalf an offering of one tenth of an ephath of barley flour. He must also bring for her an offering of an ephah of barley flour. He's not to pour olive oil over it or put frankincense on it, since it's a grain offering for jealousy, a reminder offering to remind people about sin.
16 The priest therefore shall offer it, and set it before the Lord.
The priest is to lead the wife forward and have her stand before the Lord.
17 And he shall take holy water in an earthen vessel, and he shall cast a little earth of the pavement of the tabernacle into it.
Then he shall fill a clay jar with holy water in a clay jar and sprinkle on it some dust from the floor of the Tabernacle.
18 And when the woman shall stand before the Lord, he shall uncover her head, and shall, put on her hands the sacrifice of remembrance, and the oblation of jealousy: and he himself shall hold the most bitter waters, whereon he hath heaped curses with execration.
Once the priest has had the woman stand before the Lord, he shall let her hair loose and have her hold the reminder grain offering—the grain offering used in cases of jealousy. The priest shall hold the bitter water that curses.
19 And he shall adjure her, and shall say: If another man hath not slept with thee, and if thou be not defiled by forsaking thy husband’s bed, these most bitter waters, on which I have heaped curses, shall not hurt thee.
He shall place the woman under oath and tell her, ‘If no one else has slept with you and you have not been unfaithful and become unclean while married to your husband, may you not be harmed by this bitter water that curses.
20 But if thou hast gone aside from thy husband, and art defiled, and hast lain with another man:
But if you have been unfaithful while married to your husband and have become unclean and have had sex with someone else…”
21 These curses shall light upon thee: The Lord make thee a curse, and an example for all among his people: may he make thy thigh to rot, and may thy belly swell and burst asunder.
(Here the priest shall place the woman under the oath of the curse as follows.) “May the Lord place a curse on you that everyone knows about by having your thighs shrink and your belly swell up.
22 Let the cursed waters enter into thy belly, and may thy womb swell and thy thigh rot. And the woman shall answer, Amen, amen.
May this water that curses go into your stomach and make your belly swell up and your thighs shrink.” The woman is to answer, “I agree, I agree.”
23 And the priest shall write these curses in a book, and shall wash them out with the most bitter waters, upon which he hath heaped the curses,
The priest is to write these curses on a scroll and then wash them off into the bitter water.
24 And he shall give them her to drink. And when she hath drunk them up,
He shall make the woman drink the bitter water that curses, and it will cause her bitter pain if she is guilty.
25 The priest shall take from her hand the sacrifice of jealousy, and shall elevate it before the Lord, and shall put it upon the altar: yet so as first,
The priest shall take back from her the grain offering for jealousy, wave it before the Lord, and take it to the altar.
26 To take a handful of the sacrifice of that which is offered, and burn it upon the altar: and so give the most bitter waters to the woman to drink.
Then the priest shall take a handful of the grain offering as a reminder portion and burn it on the altar, and make the woman drink the water.
27 And when she hath drunk them, if she be defiled, and having despised her husband be guilty of adultery, the malediction shall go through her, and her belly swelling, her thigh shall rot: and the woman shall be a curse, and an example to all the people.
After he has made her drink the water, if she has made herself unclean and has been unfaithful to her husband, then the water that curses will cause her bitter pain. Her belly will swell up and her thighs will shrink. She will become a cursed woman among her people.
28 But if she be not defiled, she shall not be hurt, and shall bear children.
But if the woman has not made herself unclean by being unfaithful and is clean, she will not experience this punishment and she will still be able to have children.
29 This is the law of jealousy. If a woman hath gone aside from her husband, and be defiled,
This is the rule to follow in cases of jealousy when a wife has an affair and makes herself unclean while married to her husband,
30 And the husband stirred up by the spirit of jealousy bring her before the Lord, and the priest do to her according to all things that are here written:
or when a husband starts feeling jealous and becomes suspicious of his wife. He shall have his wife stand before the Lord, and the priest is to carry out every part of this rule.
31 The husband shall be blameless, and she shall bear her iniquity.
If she is found guilty, her husband will not be held responsible. But the woman will bear the consequences of her sin.
