Numbers 5

5:11 Then the Lord spoke to Moses: 5:2 “Command the Israelites to put out2 of the camp every leper,3 everyone who has a discharge,4 and whoever becomes defiled by a corpse.5 5:3 You must put out both male and female; you must put them outside the camp, so that6 they may not defile their camps, in the midst of which I live.” 5:4 So the Israelites did so, and put them outside the camp. As the Lord had spoken7 to Moses, so the Israelites did.

Restitution for Sin

5:5 Then the Lord spoke to Moses: 5:6 “Tell the Israelites, ‘When8 a man or a woman commits any sin that people commit,9 thereby breaking faith10 with the Lord, and that person is found guilty,11 5:7 then he must confess12 his sin that he has committed; and he must make full reparation,13 add one fifth to it, and give it to whomever he wronged.14 5:8 But if the individual has no close relative15 to whom reparation may be made for the wrong, the reparation for the wrong must be paid to the Lord16 for the priest, in addition to the ram of the atonement with which atonement is made for him. 5:9 Every offering17 of all the holy things of the Israelites that they bring to the priest will be his. 5:10 Every man’s holy things18 will be his; whatever any man gives the priest will be his.’”

The Jealousy Ordeal

5:1119 The Lord spoke to Moses: 5:12 “Speak to the Israelites and tell them, ‘If any man’s wife goes astray and behaves unfaithfully toward him, 5:13 and a man has sexual relations20 with her21 without her husband being aware of it,22 and it is hidden that she has defiled herself, since23 there was no witness against her, nor was she caught— 5:14 and if jealous feelings24 come over him and he becomes jealous25 of his wife, when she is defiled;26 or if the spirit of jealousy comes upon him and he becomes jealous of his wife, when she is not defiled— 5:15 then27 the man must bring his wife to the priest, and he must bring the offering required for her, one tenth of an ephah of barley meal; he must not pour olive oil on it or put frankincense on it, because it is a grain offering of suspicion,28 a grain offering for remembering,29 for bringing30 iniquity to remembrance.

5:16 “‘Then the priest will bring her near, and have her stand31 before the Lord. 5:17 The priest will then take holy water32 in a pottery jar, and take some33 of the dust34 that will be on the floor of the tabernacle, and put it into the water. 5:18 Then the priest will have the woman stand before the Lord, uncover the woman’s head, and put the grain offering for remembering in her hands, which is the grain offering of suspicion. And in the hand of the priest will be the bitter water that brings a curse.35 5:19 Then the priest will put her under oath, and say to the woman, “If no other36 man has had sexual relations with you, and if you have not gone astray and become defiled while under your husband’s authority, may you be free from this bitter water that brings a curse.37 5:20 But if you38 have gone astray while under your husband’s authority, and if you have defiled yourself and some man other than your husband has had sexual relations with you…”39 5:21 Then the priest will put the woman under the oath of the curse40 and will say41 to the woman, “The Lord make you an attested curse42 among your people,43 if the Lord makes44 your thigh fall away and your belly swell;45 5:22 and this water that causes the curse will go46 into your stomach, and make your belly swell and your thigh rot.”47 Then the woman must say, “Amen, amen.”48

5:23 “‘Then the priest will write these curses on the scroll and then scrape them off into the bitter water.49 5:24 He will make the woman drink the bitter water that brings a curse, and the water that brings a curse will enter her to produce bitterness. 5:25 The priest will take the grain offering of suspicion from the woman’s hand, wave the grain offering before the Lord, and bring it to the altar. 5:26 Then the priest will take a handful of the grain offering as its memorial portion, burn it on the altar, and afterward make the woman drink the water. 5:27 When he has made her drink the water, then, if she has defiled herself and behaved unfaithfully toward her husband, the water that brings a curse will enter her to produce bitterness—her belly will swell, her thigh will fall away, and the woman will become a curse among her people. 5:28 But if the woman has not defiled herself, and is clean, then she will be free and will be able to bear children.

5:29 “‘This is the law for cases of jealousy,50 when a wife, while under her husband’s authority, goes astray and defiles herself, 5:30 or when jealous feelings come over a man and he becomes suspicious of his wife; then he must have the woman stand before the Lord, and the priest will perform all this law upon her. 5:31 Then the man will be free from iniquity, but that woman will bear the consequences51 of her iniquity.’”52

The Nazirite Vow

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