Old Testament · Numbers

Numbers 5

Cleansing the Camps

(Leviticus 13:1–46)

1And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying: 2"Command^a the sons of Israel, that they send out from the camp every leper, and everyone who has a discharge, and everyone unclean by a soul^b. 3From male to female you shall send out; to outside the camp you shall send them, that they not defile their camps, in the midst of which I am dwelling."

4And the sons of Israel did so, and sent them to outside the camp; as the LORD spoke to Moses, so did the sons of Israel.

Restitution for Trespasses

(Luke 19:1–10)

5And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying: 6"Speak to the sons of Israel: A man^c or woman^d, when they do any of the sins of the man^e, to commit a trespass against the LORD, and that soul is guilty, 7then they shall confess their sin which they have done, and he shall restore his guilt in its principal, and add to it its fifth, and give it to him to whom he is guilty.

8But if the man has no redeemer to restore the guilt to him, the guilt restored shall be the LORD's, to the priest; besides the ram of the atonements by which he makes atonement for him.

9And every heave-offering of all the holy things of the sons of Israel, which they bring near to the priest, shall be his. 10And every man's holy things shall be his; whatever a man gives to the priest, it shall be his."

The Adultery Test

11And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying: 12"Speak to the sons of Israel, and say to them: Any man, if his wife goes astray and acts unfaithfully against him, 13and a man lies with her a lying of seed, and it is hidden from the eyes of her husband, and she is concealed, and she is defiled, and there is no witness against her, and she was not caught, 14and a spirit^f of jealousy passes over him, and he is jealous of his wife, and she is defiled; or a spirit of jealousy passes over him, and he is jealous of his wife, and she is not defiled, 15then the man shall bring his wife to the priest, and bring her offering for her, a tenth of an ephah of barley meal; he shall not pour oil upon it, nor put frankincense on it, for it is a meal-offering of jealousies, a meal-offering of memorial, bringing iniquity to remembrance.

16And the priest shall bring her near and set her before the LORD. 17And the priest shall take holy water in an earthen vessel, and from the dust^g that is on the floor of the tabernacle^h the priest shall take, and put it into the water.

18And the priest shall set the woman before the LORD, and loosen the head of the woman, and put on her palms the meal-offering of memorial—it is the meal-offering of jealousies; and in the hand of the priest shall be the bitter water that brings the curse. 19And the priest shall make her swear, and say to the woman: If no man has lain with you, and if you have not gone astray to uncleanness under your husband, be free from this bitter water that brings the curse. 20But you, if you have gone astray under your husband, and if you are defiled, and a man has given his lying in you besides your husband— 21then the priest shall make the woman swear with the oath of cursing, and the priest shall say to the woman: May the LORD make you a curse and an oath in the midst of your people, when the LORD makes your thigh fall and your belly swell; 22and this water that brings the curse shall enter your bowels, to swell the belly and to make the thigh fall. And the woman shall say: Amen, Amen.

23And the priest shall write these curses in a scroll, and blot them out into the bitter water. 24And he shall make the woman drink the bitter water that brings the curse, and the water that brings the curse shall enter into her as bitterness. 25And the priest shall take from the hand of the woman the meal-offering of jealousies, and wave the meal-offering before the LORD, and bring it near to the altar. 26And the priest shall take a handful from the meal-offering, its memorial portion, and make it smoke on the altar, and afterward make the woman drink the water.

27And when he has made her drink the water, then it shall be, if she is defiled and has acted unfaithfully against her husband, that the water that brings the curse shall enter into her as bitterness, and her belly shall swell, and her thigh shall fall, and the woman shall become a curse in the midst of her people. 28And if the woman is not defiled, and she is clean, then she shall be free and shall conceive seed.

29This is the Torah of jealousies, when a woman goes astray under her husband and is defiled, 30or when a spirit of jealousy passes over a man, and he is jealous of his wife; then he shall set the woman before the LORD, and the priest shall do to her all this Torah. 31And the man shall be free from iniquity, and that woman shall bear her iniquity.