Numbers 5:24

He is to have the woman drink the bitter water that brings a curse, and it will enter her and cause her bitter suffering.

BSB

Parallel translations

4 additional translations

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KJV

And he shall cause the woman to drink the bitter water that causeth the curse: and the water that causeth the curse shall enter into her, and become bitter.

ASV

and he shall make the woman drink the water of bitterness that causeth the curse; and the water that causeth the curse shall enter into her and become bitter.

YLT

and hath caused the woman to drink the bitter waters which cause the curse, and the waters which cause the curse have entered into her for bitter things.

DBT

and he shall cause the woman to drink the bitter water that bringeth the curse, that the water that bringeth the curse may enter into her for bitterness.

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On this verse

And he shall cause the woman to drink the bitter water that causeth the curse,.....

John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)reformed

Related commentary

The bitter water that causeth the curse - Though the rabbins think that the priest put some bitter substance in the water, yet as nothing of the kind is intimated by Moses, we may consider the word as used here metaphorically for affliction, death, etc. These waters were afflicting and deadly to her who drank them, being guilty. In this sense afflictions are said to be bitter, Isa 38:17; so also is death, 1Sa 15:32: Ecc 7:26.

Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible, 1832evangelical

Thus sin is called an evil thing and a bitter for the same reason, because it causeth the curse, Jer. ii. If she had been guilty (and otherwise it did not cause the curse), she was made to know that though her stolen waters had been sweet, and her bread eaten in secret pleasant, yet the end was bitter as wormwood, Prov. ix.

Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710puritan

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Cross-references

3 linked verses

The verses this one reaches3

Malachi 3:5
“Then I will draw near to you for judgment. And I will be a swift witness against sorcerers and adulterers and perjurers, against oppressors of the widowed and fatherless, and against those who defraud laborers of their wages and deny justice to the foreigner but do not fear Me,” says the LORD of Hosts.
Zechariah 5:3–4
Then he told me, “This is the curse that is going out over the face of all the land, for according to one side of the scroll, every thief will be removed; and according to the other side, every perjurer will be removed.
Numbers 5:18
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.

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Around this verse

Word doors

Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread — the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.

About this book

The Bronze Serpent — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain

Numbers — Israel on the move — and Israel on the ground in rebellion. Two censuses bracket thirty-eight wilderness years; God's faithfulness holds where the people's does not.

Canon: Old Testament
Author: Moses — the wilderness narrator; ‘Moses wrote their goings out according to their journeys’ (33:2)
Date: The wilderness years, c. 15th–13th century BC

Where the connections lead

Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first — the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.

Through
Malachi 3:5
“Then I will draw near to you for judgment. And I will be a swift witness against sorcerers and adulterers and perjurers, against oppressors of the widowed and fatherless, and against those who defraud…
leads to
- James 5:8–9
  You, too, be patient and strengthen your hearts, because the Lord’s coming is near.
- Hebrews 13:4
  Marriage should be honored by all and the marriage bed kept undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers.
- Deuteronomy 5:11
  You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not leave anyone unpunished who takes His name in vain.
- James 5:4
  Look, the wages you withheld from the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of Hosts.
- Deuteronomy 27:19
  ‘Cursed is he who withholds justice from the foreigner, the fatherless, or the widow.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’

The whole web at once: see the Arc.

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Continue: Numbers 5 →