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Numbers

Numberschapter 5

31 verses · BSBNumbers book hub →

A.Put the unclean outside the campvv. 1-4

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.

B.Confess it, restore it, add a fifthvv. 5-10

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.”

C.Bitter water for a jealous husbandvv. 11-31

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.”

Chapter summary

Uncleanness put out of the camp.

Read the rest, the context and the outline

Uncleanness put out of the camp. Lepers, any issue, the defiled by the dead: ‘put out … that they defile not their camps, in the midst whereof I dwell’. Trespass confessed and restored with the fifth added; if no kinsman to pay, it goes to the priest. Then the law of jealousy. A husband suspicious of his wife brings her to the priest with a jealousy offering; the water of bitterness; her oath; the priest writes the curses, blots them into the water; if guilty, her thigh rots; if innocent, she bears seed. The ordeal is severe by modern ears; its ancient setting is the protection of covenant honour and the public discovery of truth.

Drawn from Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory, Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary, John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and John Calvin, Commentaries.

Context

Law · MosesNumbers overview

  • A. 1–4 Put the unclean outside the camp
  • B. 5–10 Confess it, restore it, add a fifth
  • C. 11–31 Bitter water for a jealous husband
Top cross-references8 chapters ▾
  • Leviticus 55 verses
    • Leviticus 5:1“If someone sins by failing to testify when he hears a public charge about something he has witnessed, whether he has seen it or learned of it, he shall bear the iniquity.
    • Leviticus 5:5If someone incurs guilt in one of these ways, he must confess the sin he has committed,
    • Leviticus 5:11But if he cannot afford two turtledoves or two young pigeons, he may bring a tenth of an ephah of fine flour as a sin offering. He must not put olive oil or frankincense on it, because it is a sin offering.
    • Leviticus 5:12He is to bring it to the priest, who shall take a handful from it as a memorial portion and burn it on the altar atop the offerings made by fire to the LORD; it is a sin offering.
    • Leviticus 5:14Then the LORD said to Moses,
    • Read Leviticus 5 →
  • Numbers 53 verses
    • Numbers 5:12“Speak to the Israelites and tell them that if any man’s wife goes astray and is unfaithful to him
    • Numbers 5:15then 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.
    • Numbers 5:19And 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.
    • Read Numbers 5 →
  • Leviticus 132 verses
    • Leviticus 13:46As long as he has the infection, he remains unclean. He must live alone in a place outside the camp.
    • Leviticus 13:59This is the law concerning a mildew contamination in wool or linen fabric, weave, or knit, or any leather article, for pronouncing it clean or unclean.”
    • Read Leviticus 13 →
  • Numbers 92 verses
    • Numbers 9:6But there were some men who were unclean due to a dead body, so they could not observe the Passover on that day. And they came before Moses and Aaron that same day
    • Numbers 9:13But if a man who is ceremonially clean and is not on a journey still fails to observe the Passover, he must be cut off from his people, because he did not present the LORD’s offering at its appointed time. That man will bear the consequences of his sin.
    • Read Numbers 9 →
4 more chapters this one speaks with
  • Leviticus 262 verses
    • Leviticus 26:11And I will make My dwelling place among you, and My soul will not despise you.
    • Leviticus 26:40But if they will confess their iniquity and that of their fathers in the unfaithfulness that they practiced against Me, by which they have also walked in hostility toward Me—
    • Read Leviticus 26 →
  • Leviticus 62 verses
    • Leviticus 6:6Then he must bring to the priest his guilt offering to the LORD: an unblemished ram of proper value from the flock.
    • Leviticus 6:17It must not be baked with leaven; I have assigned it as their portion of My offerings made by fire. It is most holy, like the sin offering and the guilt offering.
    • Read Leviticus 6 →
  • Leviticus 72 verses
    • Leviticus 7:6Every male among the priests may eat of it. It must be eaten in a holy place; it is most holy.
    • Leviticus 7:7The guilt offering is like the sin offering; the same law applies to both. It belongs to the priest who makes atonement with it.
    • Read Leviticus 7 →
  • Exodus 292 verses
    • Exodus 29:24Put all these in the hands of Aaron and his sons and wave them before the LORD as a wave offering.
    • Exodus 29:28This will belong to Aaron and his sons as a regular portion from the Israelites, for it is the heave offering the Israelites will make to the LORD from their peace offerings.
    • Read Exodus 29 →

Cross-references from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge and OpenBible.info.