Numbers 5
1 And YHWH speaks to Moses, saying,
The Lord told Moses,
2 “Command the sons of Israel, and they send out of the camp every leper, and everyone with discharging, and everyone defiled by a body;
“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 you send out from male even to female; you send them to the outside of the camp and they do not defile their camps in the midst of which I dwell.”
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 sons of Israel do so, and they send them out to the outside of the camp; as YHWH has spoken to Moses so the sons of Israel have done.
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 YHWH speaks to Moses, saying,
The Lord told Moses,
6 “Speak to the sons of Israel: Man or woman, when they do any of the sins of man, by committing a trespass against YHWH, and that person [is] guilty,
“Tell the Israelites that when a man or woman is unfaithful to the Lord by sinning against someone else, they are guilty
7 and they have confessed their sin which they have done, then he has restored his guilt in its principal, and is adding its fifth to it, and has given [it] to him in reference to whom he has been guilty.
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 And if the man has no redeemer to restore the guilt to, the guilt which is restored [is] to YHWH for the priest, apart from the ram of the atonements, whereby he makes atonement for him.
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 And every raised-offering of all the holy things of the sons of Israel, which they bring near to the priest, becomes his;
All holy offerings that the Israelites bring to the priest belong to him.
10 and any man’s hallowed things become his; that which any man gives to the priest becomes his.”
Your holy offerings belong to you, but once you give them to the priest they belong to him.”
11 And YHWH speaks to Moses, saying,
The Lord told Moses,
12 “Speak to the sons of Israel, and you have said to them: When any man’s wife turns aside, and has committed a trespass against him,
“Tell the Israelites that these are the instructions to follow if a man's wife has an affair, being unfaithful to him
13 and a man has lain with her [with] the seed [from] intercourse, and it has been hid from the eyes of her husband, and concealed, and she has been defiled, and there is no witness against her, and she has not been caught,
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 and a spirit of jealousy has passed over him, and he has been jealous [for] his wife, and she has been defiled—or a spirit of jealousy has passed over him, and he has been jealous [for] his wife, and she has not been defiled—
But if her husband becomes jealous and suspicious of his wife, whether she's guilty or not,
15 then the man has brought in his wife to the priest, and he has brought in her offering for her—a tenth of the ephah of barley meal; he does not pour oil on it, nor does he put frankincense on it, for it [is] a present of jealousy, a present of memorial, causing remembrance of iniquity.
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 And the priest has brought her near, and has caused her to stand before YHWH,
The priest is to lead the wife forward and have her stand before the Lord.
17 and the priest has taken holy water in an earthen vessel, and the priest takes of the dust which is on the floor of the Dwelling Place, and has put [it] into the water,
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 the priest has caused the woman to stand before YHWH, and has uncovered the woman’s head, and has given the present of the memorial into her hands (it [is] a present of jealousy), and the bitter waters which cause the curse are in the hand of the priest.
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 the priest has caused her to swear, and has said to the woman, If no man has lain with you, and if you have not turned aside [to] uncleanness under your husband, be free from these bitter waters which cause the curse;
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 and you, if you have turned aside under your husband, and if you have been defiled, and a man commits his intercourse with you besides your husband—
But if you have been unfaithful while married to your husband and have become unclean and have had sex with someone else…”
21 then the priest has caused the woman to swear with an oath of execration, and the priest has said to the woman—YHWH gives you for an execration and for a curse in the midst of your people, in YHWH’s giving your thigh to fall and your belly to swell,
(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 and these waters which cause the curse have gone into your bowels to cause the belly to swell and the thigh to fall; and the woman has said, 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 has written these execrations in a scroll, and has blotted [them] out with the bitter waters,
The priest is to write these curses on a scroll and then wash them off into the bitter water.
24 and has caused the woman to drink the bitter waters which cause the curse, and the waters which cause the curse have entered into her for bitter things.
He shall make the woman drink the bitter water that curses, and it will cause her bitter pain if she is guilty.
25 And the priest has taken the present of jealousy out of the hand of the woman, and has waved the present before YHWH, and has brought it near to the altar;
The priest shall take back from her the grain offering for jealousy, wave it before the Lord, and take it to the altar.
26 and the priest has taken a handful of the present, its memorial, and has made incense on the altar, and afterward causes the woman to drink the water;
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 indeed, he has caused her to drink the water, and it has come to pass, if she has been defiled and commits a trespass against her husband, that the waters which cause the curse have gone into her for bitter things, and her belly has swelled, and her thigh has fallen, and the woman has become an execration in the midst of her 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 And if the woman has not been defiled, and is clean, then she has been acquitted, and has been sown [with] seed.
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 jealousies when a wife turns aside under her husband and has been 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 or when a spirit of jealousy passes over a man and he has been jealous of his wife, then he has caused the woman to stand before YHWH, and the priest has done to her all this law,
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 and the man has been acquitted from iniquity, and that woman bears her iniquity.”
If she is found guilty, her husband will not be held responsible. But the woman will bear the consequences of her sin.
