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Numbers 5:21

in Numbers 5

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.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV

ASV

then the priest shall cause the woman to swear with the oath of cursing, and the priest shall say unto the woman, Jehovah make thee a curse and an oath among thy people, when Jehovah doth make thy thigh to fall away, and thy body to swell;

KJV

Then the priest shall charge the woman with an oath of cursing, and the priest shall say unto the woman, The Lord make thee a curse and an oath among thy people, when the Lord doth make thy thigh to rot, and thy belly to swell;

This verse in Numbers 5

Commentary

5 notes on this verse

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

The Lord make thee a curse and an oath - Let thy name and punishment be remembered and mentioned as an example and terror to all others. Like that mentioned Jer 29:22, Jer 29:23: “The Lord make thee like Zedekiah, and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire, because they have committed villany in Israel, and have committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives.” - Ainsworth.

This site's exposition

Then the priest shall charge the woman with an oath of cursing

on Numbers 5:21-22

Amen enters Scripture here, in the mouth of a woman swearing to a curse laid on her own body, and she doubles it. The next place a whole nation says it is Deuteronomy 27:15-26, where Israel answers Amen to twelve curses called out from Ebal. The curse itself is given in the terms of verse 21, the thigh to rot and the belly to swell, and Adam Clarke draws on Jeremiah 29:22 to show what being made a curse and an oath among a people amounts to, a name other men use when they swear.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices

A commentator

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)

To rot - Hebrew. to fall, that is, to die or waste away. To swell - Suddenly and violently till it burst, which the Jews note was frequent in this case. And it was a clear evidence of the truth of their religion.

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

(6.) The priest was to write this curse in a scrip or scroll o parchment, verbatim--word for word, as he had expressed it, and then to wipe or scrape out what he had written into the water (

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens

Then the priest shall charge the woman with an oath of cursing,....

The words behind it

24 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.

  • וְהִשְׁבִּ֨יעַand he will make swear

    vehishbia'H7650186 times

  • הַכֹּהֵ֥ןthe priest

    hakohenH3548750 times

  • אֶֽת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H85310935 times

  • הָֽאִשָּׁה֮the woman

    haishahH802781 times

  • בִּשְׁבֻעַ֣תwith [the] oath of

    bishvuatH762130 times

  • הָאָלָה֒the curse

    haalahH42335 times

  • וְאָמַ֤רand he will say

    veamarH5595305 times

  • הַכֹּהֵן֙the priest

    hakohenH3548750 times

  • לָֽאִשָּׁ֔הto the woman

    laishahH802781 times

  • יִתֵּ֨ןmay he make

    yitenH54142011 times

  • יְהוָ֥הYahweh

    yahwehH30686520 times

  • אוֹתָ֛ךְ<obj.> you

    ʾotakhH85310935 times

  • לְאָלָ֥הinto a curse

    lealahH42335 times

  • וְלִשְׁבֻעָ֖הand into a oath

    velishvuahH762130 times

  • בְּת֣וֹךְin among

    betokhH8432418 times

  • עַמֵּ֑ךְpeople your

    ʾamekhH59711873 times

  • בְּתֵ֨תwhen makes

    betetH54142011 times

  • יְהוָ֤הYahweh

    yahwehH30686520 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H85310935 times

  • יְרֵכֵךְ֙thigh your

    yerekhekhH340934 times

  • נֹפֶ֔לֶתfalling

    nofeletH5307435 times

  • וְאֶת־and <obj.>

    veetH85310935 times

  • בִּטְנֵ֖ךְbelly your

    bitnekhH99072 times

  • צָבָֽה׃swollen

    tzavahH6639

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

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

    Joshua 6:26

    At that time Joshua invoked this solemn oath: “Cursed before the LORD is the man who rises up and rebuilds this city, Jericho; at the cost of his firstborn he will lay its foundations;…

    it leads to

    • 1 Kings 16:34

      In Ahab’s days, Hiel the Bethelite rebuilt Jericho. At the cost of Abiram his firstborn he laid its foundation, and at the cost of Segub his youngest he set up its gates, according to…

    • Acts 19:13

      Now there were some itinerant Jewish exorcists who tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those with evil spirits. They would say, “I bind you by Jesus, whom Paul proclaims.”

  • Through

    Isaiah 65:15

    You will leave behind your name as a curse for My chosen ones, and the Lord GOD will slay you; but to His servants He will give another name.

    it leads to

    • Isaiah 62:2

      Nations will see your righteousness, and all kings your glory. You will be called by a new name that the mouth of the LORD will bestow.

    • Romans 9:26

      and, “It will happen that in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not My people,’ they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’”

  • Through

    Jeremiah 29:22

    Because of them, all the exiles of Judah who are in Babylon will use this curse: ‘May the LORD make you like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire!’

    it leads to

    • Daniel 3:6

      And whoever does not fall down and worship will immediately be thrown into the blazing fiery furnace.”

    • Isaiah 65:15

      You will leave behind your name as a curse for My chosen ones, and the Lord GOD will slay you; but to His servants He will give another name.

    • Genesis 48:20

      So that day Jacob blessed them and said: “By you shall Israel pronounce this blessing: ‘May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh.’” So he put Ephraim before Manasseh.

  • Through

    Nehemiah 10:29

    hereby join with their noble brothers and commit themselves with a sworn oath to follow the Law of God given through His servant Moses and to carefully obey all the commandments, ordinances, and statutes…

    it leads to

    • Ezekiel 36:27

      And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes and to carefully observe My ordinances.

Where this verse is studied

On this page

About Numbers

The Bronze Serpent, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
The Bronze Serpent, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.