Numbers 5

1 Then the LORD said to Moses, 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. 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.” 4 So the Israelites did this, sending such people outside the camp. They did just as the LORD had instructed Moses. Restitution for Trespasses (Luke 19:1–10) 5 And the LORD said to Moses, 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 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. 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. 9 Every sacred contribution the Israelites bring to the priest shall belong to him. 10 Each man’s sacred gifts are his own, but whatever he gives to the priest will belong to the priest.” The Adultery Test 11 Then the LORD said to Moses, 12 “ Speak to the Israelites and tell them that if any man ’s wife goes astray and is unfaithful to him 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), 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 — 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. 16 The priest is to bring the wife forward and have her stand before 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. 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. 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. 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’— 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. 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.’ 23 And the priest shall write these curses on a scroll and wash them off into the bitter water. 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. 25 The priest shall take from her hand the grain offering for jealousy, wave it before the LORD, and bring it to the altar. 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. 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. 28 But if the woman has not defiled herself and is clean, she will be unaffected and able to conceive children. 29 This is the law of jealousy when a wife goes astray and defiles herself while under her husband’s authority, 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. 31 The husband will be free from guilt, but the woman shall bear her iniquity.”

✦ What the text says

## Summary Numbers 5 contains three originally distinct instructions: the expulsion from the camp of anyone ritually unclean (vv.1–4), the law of restitution for wrongs committed against another person or against Yahweh (vv.5–10), and the detailed procedure for a woman suspected of adultery when no witness exists, the so-called "water of bitterness" ordeal (vv.11–31). ## Key words - *tzaru'a* ("one who has a skin disease", H6879) — qal passive participle, describing a state inflicted rather than an action performed; used with *zav* ("one with a discharge", H2100) and *tame' lanafesh* ("unclean from a corpse") to define the categories sent outside the camp. - *ma'al* ("unfaithfulness/trespass", H4604) — a noun paired with the verb *m'ol ma'al* ("to act unfaithfully", H4603) in v.6, an internal repetition (verb + cognate noun) that intensifies the idea of breach of faith "against Yahweh." - *tisteh* ("she will turn aside", H7847) — qal imperfect, used in vv.12,19,20,29 to describe the wife's suspected deviation; grammatically neutral about guilt, since the same root is used whether or not she is later found guilty. - *qin'ah* ("jealousy", H7068) — appears repeatedly as *ruach-qin'ah* ("a spirit of jealousy") and *minchat qena'ot* ("grain offering of jealousies", plural form), the plural construct giving the offering its formal legal name "the law of jealousies" (v.29). - *me'ararim* ("bringing a curse", H0779) — piel participle modifying *mayim* ("water") and *marim* ("bitter"), so the phrase *mei ha-marim ha-me'ararim* literally means "the bitter waters, the ones that curse," an ongoing active quality of the water itself, not a one-time event. ## What the text says The chapter moves through three legal units joined by the recurring formula *va-yedabber Yahweh el-Mosheh le'mor* ("and Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying," H1696G/H3068G/H0559), which frames each new divine instruction (vv.1,5,11). In the restitution law (vv.6–8), the sequence of verb forms — perfect *asu* ("they have done"), sequential perfects *heshiv* ("he will repay") and *yosef* ("let him add") — builds a chain of consequence: confession, then repayment of the principal plus a fifth, then transfer to the wronged party or, lacking a kinsman, to the priest. The ordeal section (vv.12–31) is built almost entirely on sequential perfects (*ve-heqriv*, *ve-he'emid*, *ve-hishbi'a*) describing the priest's ritual actions in strict order: bringing the woman, uncovering her head, administering the oath, writing the curses, washing them into the water, and giving her the water to drink. The woman's own legal status is expressed through repeated niphal (reflexive/passive) forms — *nitme'ah* ("she has made herself unclean," H2930A), *niqetah* ("she will be free," H5352) — which leave open, until the water's effect, whether guilt or innocence will manifest physically (v.27 vs. v.28). ## Differences between versions The LXX renders *mayim ha-marim ha-me'ararim* with the phrase "τὸ ὕδωρ τοῦ ἐλεγμοῦ τοῦ ἐπικαταρωμένου" ("the water of proof/conviction that curses"), introducing the idea of "proof" (ἐλεγμός) not explicit in the Hebrew *marim* ("bitter"). The Vulgate follows the Hebrew sense of bitterness more closely with "aquas amarissimas"

This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.