Numbers 5:11
in Numbers 5Then the LORD said to Moses,
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying,
KJV
And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
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This verse in Numbers 5
Commentary
4 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
The trial of jealousy. Since the crime of adultery is especially defiling and destructive of the very foundations of social order, the whole subject is dealt with at a length proportionate to its importance. The process prescribed has lately been strikingly illustrated from an Egyptian “romance,” which refers to the time of Rameses the Great, and may therefore well serve to illustrate the manners and customs of the Mosaic times. This mode of trial, like several other ordinances, was adopted by Moses from existing and probably very ancient and widely spread institutions.
This site's exposition
And every offering of all the holy things
on Numbers 5:9-11
The trespass paid to a priest sits beside the standing rule that what a man brings to a priest belongs to that priest. Albert Barnes reads verse 10 of the officiating priest, so the man doing the service that day receives what is given that day, and Matthew Henry reads the same line as pay following work. The priests held no land, which Numbers 18:20 states outright, so what came in at the tent was their living. Verse 11 opens a fresh word from the Lord, and the law that follows is the one ordeal in the Torah.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
8 But if the man have no kinsman to recompense the trespass unto, let the trespass be recompensed unto the L ORD , even to the priest; beside the ram of the atonement, whereby an atonement shall be made for him.
quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — scripture-overlap:95%@v8
And the Lord spake unto Moses,.... At the same time, and delivered to him a new law: saying; as follows.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
A [ tenth of ] man’s sacred objects shall be his; whatever a man gives to the kohein, shall be his.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 4 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
5 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיְדַבֵּ֥ר | vaydaber | and he spoke | H1696 → | 1141 times |
| יְהוָ֖ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| אֶל־ | ʾel- | to | H413 → | 5510 times |
| מֹשֶׁ֥ה | mosheh | Moses | H4872 → | 765 times |
| לֵּאמֹֽר׃ | lemor | <to> saying | H559 → | 5305 times |
וַיְדַבֵּ֥רand he spoke
vaydaberH1696 →1141 times
יְהוָ֖הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
אֶל־to
ʾel-H413 →5510 times
מֹשֶׁ֥הMoses
moshehH4872 →765 times
לֵּאמֹֽר׃<to> saying
lemorH559 →5305 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Numbers
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.