Numbers 5:23
in Numbers 5And the priest shall write these curses on a scroll and wash them off into the bitter water.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And the priest shall write these curses in a book, and he shall blot them out into the water of bitterness:
KJV
And the priest shall write these curses in a book, and he shall blot them out with the bitter water:
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This verse in Numbers 5
Commentary
5 notes on this verseAnd the priest shall write these curses in a book,.... The above curses imprecated on herself by an oath; the words and the letters of them were written at length, in a scroll of parchment; and, as some say also, her name, but not her double amen to them (y): and he shall blot them out with the bitter water: wash them out with it, and into it, or scrape them off of the parchment into it. (y) Misnah, ut supra, (Sotah, c. 2) sect. 3.
This site's exposition
And the priest shall write these curses in a book
on Numbers 5:23-24
The curses are written out and then washed off the page into the water she drinks, so the words go into her in their own ink. Adam Clarke reports the rabbinic view that the ink was mixed without any iron in it, which would let the writing lift clean off the parchment. Blot enters Scripture at Exodus 32:32-33, where Moses asks to be blotted out of God's book and God answers that he blots out the man who sinned, and here what gets blotted out is the curse. Matthew Henry holds that the water carried the curse only where there was guilt, since verse 24 has it becoming bitter after it enters her.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
), to signify that it was that curse which impregnated the water, and gave it its strength to effect what was intended. It signified that, if she were innocent, the curse should be blotted out and never appear against her, as it is written, Isa. xliii.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
Blot them out - Or scrape them out and cast them into the bitter water. Whereby it was signified, that if she was innocent, the curses should be blotted out and come to nothing; and, if she were guilty, she should find in her the effects of this water which she drank, after the words of this curse had been scraped and put in.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
The priest shall write these curses - and he shall blot them out - It appears that the curses which were written down with a kind of ink prepared for the purpose, as some of the rabbins think, without any calx of iron or other material that could make a permanent dye, were washed off the parchment into the water which the woman was obliged to drink, so that she drank the very words of the execration.
The words behind it
10 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְ֠כָתַב | vekhatav | and he will write | H3789 → | 224 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| הָאָלֹ֥ת | haalot | the curses | H423 → | 35 times |
| הָאֵ֛לֶּה | haeleh | <the> these | H428 → | 746 times |
| הַכֹּהֵ֖ן | hakohen | the priest | H3548 → | 750 times |
| בַּסֵּ֑פֶר | basefer | on the scroll | H5612 → | |
| וּמָחָ֖ה | umachah | and he will wipe [them] off | H4229 → | |
| אֶל־ | ʾel- | into | H413 → | 5510 times |
| מֵ֥י | mei | [the] waters of | H4325 → | 581 times |
| הַמָּרִֽים׃ | hamarim | <the> bitter [things] | H4751 → | 37 times |
וְ֠כָתַבand he will write
vekhatavH3789 →224 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
הָאָלֹ֥תthe curses
haalotH423 →35 times
הָאֵ֛לֶּה<the> these
haelehH428 →746 times
הַכֹּהֵ֖ןthe priest
hakohenH3548 →750 times
בַּסֵּ֑פֶרon the scroll
baseferH5612 →
וּמָחָ֖הand he will wipe [them] off
umachahH4229 →
אֶל־into
ʾel-H413 →5510 times
מֵ֥י[the] waters of
meiH4325 →581 times
הַמָּרִֽים׃<the> bitter [things]
hamarimH4751 →37 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach 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
Acts 3:19Repent, then, and turn back, so that your sins may be wiped away,
it leads to
- Isaiah 43:25
I, yes I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake and remembers your sins no more.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Acts 2:38
Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
- Isaiah 44:22
I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud, and your sins like a mist. Return to Me, for I have redeemed you.
- Isaiah 1:16–20
Wash and cleanse yourselves. Remove your evil deeds from My sight. Stop doing evil!
- Matthew 13:15
For this people’s heart has grown callous; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts,…
- Isaiah 43:25
Through
Isaiah 44:22I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud, and your sins like a mist. Return to Me, for I have redeemed you.
it leads to
- 1 Corinthians 6:20
you were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God with your body.
- Acts 3:18–19
But in this way God has fulfilled what He foretold through all the prophets, saying that His Christ would suffer.
- Isaiah 43:1
Now this is what the LORD says— He who created you, O Jacob, and He who formed you, O Israel: “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your…
- 1 Corinthians 6:20
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Numbers
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 and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.