Skip to content
mannafest.faith
Read

Numbers 5:13

in Numbers 5

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),

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

and a man lie with her carnally, and it be hid from the eyes of her husband, and be kept close, and she be defiled, and there be no witness against her, and she be not taken in the act;

KJV

And a man lie with her carnally, and it be hid from the eyes of her husband, and be kept close, and she be defiled, and there be no witness against her, neither she be taken with the manner;

⋯

This verse in Numbers 5

Commentary

4 notes on this verse

This site's exposition

if any man’s wife goes astray

on Numbers 5:12-14

Verse 13 sets a case that evidence cannot reach, since “there is no witness against her and she was not caught in the act”. The death penalties of Leviticus 20:10 and Deuteronomy 22:22 require proof, so they cannot touch it.

This site's exposition

there is no witness against her

Matthew Henry passes on the Jewish rule that a husband first had to warn his wife before witnesses to avoid a named man. If she was later found alone with that man, he could bring her to the priest. Henry notes that the law leaves the proof open.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

And a man lie with her carnally,....

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

The sin of adultery is justly represented as an exceedingly sinful sin; it is going aside from God and virtue, and the good way, Prov. ii. It is committing a trespass against the husband, robbing him of his honour, alienating his right, introducing a spurious breed into his family to share with his children in his estate, and violating her covenant with him.

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

On the verses either side of this one

ועבר עליו AND [THE SPIRIT OF JEALOUSY] COME UPON HIM — i.e., had come upon him before her seclusion with the man.
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on Numbers 5:14:1, via Sefaria, Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934

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

17 Hebrew words

Every 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.

  • וְשָׁכַ֨בand he will lie with

    veshakhavH7901 →212 times

  • אִ֣ישׁa man

    ʾishH376 →1663 times

  • אֹתָהּ֮with <the> her

    ʾotahH854 →929 times

  • שִׁכְבַת־a laying of

    shikhvat-H7902 →

  • זֶרַע֒seed

    zera'H2233 →229 times

  • וְנֶעְלַם֙and it will be hidden

    vene'lamH5956 →

  • מֵעֵינֵ֣יfrom [the] eyes of

    meeineiH5869 →887 times

  • אִישָׁ֔הּhusband her

    ʾishahH376 →1663 times

  • וְנִסְתְּרָ֖הand she will be undiscovered

    venisterahH5641 →

  • וְהִ֣יאand she

    vehi'H1931 →1879 times

  • נִטְמָ֑אָהshe has made herself unclean

    nitmaahH2930 →162 times

  • וְעֵד֙and [was] a witness

    veedH5707 →70 times

  • אֵ֣יןthere not

    ʾeinH369 →789 times

  • בָּ֔הּagainst <the> her

    bah

  • וְהִ֖ואand she

    vehiv'H1931 →1879 times

  • לֹ֥אnot

    lo'H3808 →5168 times

  • נִתְפָּֽשָׂה׃she was caught

    nitpasahH8610 →

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

4 in all, six open

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Leviticus 18:20

    You must not lie carnally with your neighbor’s wife and thus defile yourself with her.

    it leads to

    • Exodus 20:14

      You shall not commit adultery.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • Matthew 5:27–28

      You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’

  • Through

    Leviticus 20:10

    If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife—with the wife of his neighbor—both the adulterer and the adulteress must surely be put to death.

    it leads to

    • John 8:4–5

      and said, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery.

    • Deuteronomy 22:22–24

      If a man is found lying with another man’s wife, both the man who slept with her and the woman must die. You must purge the evil from Israel.

    • Deuteronomy 5:18

      You shall not commit adultery.

    • 2 Samuel 12:13

      Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.” “The LORD has taken away your sin,” Nathan replied. “You will not die.

  • Through

    Proverbs 30:20

    This is the way of an adulteress: She eats and wipes her mouth and says, ‘I have done nothing wrong.’

    it leads to

    • Proverbs 7:13–23

      She seizes him and kisses him; she brazenly says to him:

    • Proverbs 5:6

      She does not consider the path of life; she does not know that her ways are unstable.

Where this verse is studied

About Numbers

The Brazen Serpent, Anthony van Dyck, 1618 to 1620. Public domain.
The Brazen Serpent, Anthony van Dyck, 1618 to 1620. Public domain.
Numbers: the study guide →Read Numbers 5 →

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in Numbers 5 →