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Numbers 5:11-31 — The Test for Adultery

Num.5.11-31

¹¹And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, ¹²Speak to the Israelites and say to them: If any man's wife goes astray and is unfaithful to him, ¹³and another man lies with her sexually, and it is hidden from the eyes of her husband, and it remains concealed though she has defiled herself, and there is no witness against her and she was not caught, ¹⁴and a spirit of jealousy comes over him so that he is jealous of his wife when she has defiled herself, or if a spirit of jealousy comes over him so that he is jealous of his wife though she has not defiled herself, ¹⁵then the man shall bring his wife to the priest and bring her offering for her: a tenth of an ephah of barley flour. He shall not pour oil on it or put frankincense on it, because it is a grain offering of jealousy, a grain offering of remembrance that brings iniquity to mind. ¹⁶The priest shall bring her near and set her before the LORD. ¹⁷Then the priest shall take holy water in an earthenware vessel, and he shall take some of the dust that is on the floor of the tabernacle and put it into the water. ¹⁸The priest shall set the woman before the LORD, unbind the woman's hair, and place in her hands the grain offering of remembrance, which is the grain offering of jealousy. In the priest's hand shall be the bitter water that brings the curse. ¹⁹Then the priest shall make her swear and shall say to the woman, 'If no man has lain with you, and if you have not gone astray into uncleanness while under your husband, be free from this bitter water that brings the curse. ²⁰But if you have gone astray while under your husband, and if you have defiled yourself, and another man has lain with you besides your husband'— ²¹then the priest shall make the woman swear with the oath of the curse, and the priest shall say to the woman, 'May the LORD make you an object of curse and oath among your people, when the LORD makes your thigh fall away and your belly swell . ²²May this water that brings the curse enter your inward parts, causing the belly to swell and the thigh to fall away.' And the woman shall say, 'Amen, Amen.' ²³Then the priest shall write these curses in a scroll and wash them off into the bitter water. ²⁴And he shall make the woman drink the bitter water that brings the curse, and the water that brings the curse shall enter into her as bitterness. ²⁵Then the priest shall take from the woman's hand the grain offering of jealousy, wave the grain offering before the LORD, and bring it to the altar. ²⁶And the priest shall take a handful from the grain offering as its memorial portion and burn it on the altar; afterward he shall make the woman drink the water. ²⁷When he has made her drink the water, then if she has defiled herself and has been unfaithful to her husband, the water that brings the curse shall enter into her as bitterness, and her belly shall swell and her thigh shall fall away, and the woman shall become a curse among her people. ²⁸But if the woman has not defiled herself and is clean, then she shall be free and shall conceive offspring. ²⁹This is the law of jealousy when a woman goes astray while under her husband and defiles herself, ³⁰or when a spirit of jealousy comes over a man and he is jealous of his wife. He shall set the woman before the LORD, and the priest shall carry out for her all this law. ³¹The man will be free from iniquity, but that woman shall bear her iniquity .

Translation Notes

4/11/2026

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