Numbers 5
1 The Lord told Moses,
And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:
2 “Order the Israelites to expel from the camp anyone who has a skin disease, or who has a discharge, or who is unclean from touching a dead body.
“Instruct the sons of Israel to cast out of the camp every leper, and those who have a flow of seed, and those who have been polluted because of the dead;
3 Whether male or female, you must expel them so they won't make their camp unclean, for that is where I live with them.”
cast out of the camp both male and female, lest they contaminate it while I am dwelling with you.”
4 The Israelites followed these instructions, and expelled such people from the camp. They did what the Lord had told Moses they should do.
And the sons of Israel did so, and they cast them out, beyond the camp, just as the Lord had spoken to Moses.
5 The Lord told Moses,
And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:
6 “Tell the Israelites that when a man or woman is unfaithful to the Lord by sinning against someone else, they are guilty
“Say to the sons of Israel: A man or a woman, when they have done anything out of all the sins that often befall men, or if, by negligence, they have transgressed the commandment of the Lord, and so have committed an offense,
7 and must confess their sin. They have to pay the full amount of compensation plus one fifth of its value, and give this to the person they have wronged.
they shall confess their sin, and they shall restore the principle itself, plus a fifth part above it, to any against whom they have sinned.
8 However, if that person doesn't have a relative who can be paid the compensation, it belongs to the Lord and shall be given to the priest, together with a sacrificial ram by which the guilty person is set right.
But if there would be no one to receive it, they shall give it to the Lord, and it shall be for the priest, except for the ram, which is offered for expiation, in order to be a pleasing victim.
9 All holy offerings that the Israelites bring to the priest belong to him.
Likewise, all the first-fruits, which the sons of Israel offer, belong to the priest,
10 Your holy offerings belong to you, but once you give them to the priest they belong to him.”
with whatever is offered by each one at the Sanctuary, and which is delivered into the hands of the priest; it shall be his.”
11 The Lord told Moses,
And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:
12 “Tell the Israelites that these are the instructions to follow if a man's wife has an affair, being unfaithful to him
“Speak to the sons of Israel, and you shall say to them: The man whose wife will have gone astray, and, disdaining her husband,
13 by sleeping with someone else. It may be that her husband doesn't find out and her unclean act wasn't witnessed—she wasn't caught out.
will have slept with another man, and if her husband cannot discover it, but the adultery is secret, and if it cannot be proved by witnesses, because she was not caught in the shameful act,
14 But if her husband becomes jealous and suspicious of his wife, whether she's guilty or not,
if the spirit of jealousy stirs up the husband against his wife, who either has been polluted or is being assailed with a false suspicion,
15 he is to take her before the priest. He is also to take with him on her behalf an offering of one tenth of an ephath of barley flour. He must also bring for her an offering of an ephah of barley flour. He's not to pour olive oil over it or put frankincense on it, since it's a grain offering for jealousy, a reminder offering to remind people about sin.
he shall bring her to the priest, and he shall offer an oblation for her, a tenth part of native barley meal. He shall not pour oil over it, nor shall he place frankincense on it, because it is a sacrifice for jealousy, or an oblation investigating adultery.
16 The priest is to lead the wife forward and have her stand before the Lord.
Therefore, the priest shall offer it, and he shall set it in the sight of the Lord.
17 Then he shall fill a clay jar with holy water in a clay jar and sprinkle on it some dust from the floor of the Tabernacle.
And he shall take up holy water in an earthen vessel, and he shall cast a little earth from the pavement of the tabernacle into it.
18 Once the priest has had the woman stand before the Lord, he shall let her hair loose and have her hold the reminder grain offering—the grain offering used in cases of jealousy. The priest shall hold the bitter water that curses.
And while the woman stands before the Lord, he shall uncover her head, and he shall place over her hands the sacrifice of recollection and oblation of jealousy. But he shall take hold of the most bitter waters, in which he has gathered curses with loathing.
19 He shall place the woman under oath and tell her, ‘If no one else has slept with you and you have not been unfaithful and become unclean while married to your husband, may you not be harmed by this bitter water that curses.
And he shall bind her by an oath, and he shall say: ‘If another man has not slept with you, and if you have not been polluted by forsaking the bed of your husband, these most bitter waters, into which I have gathered curses, shall not harm you.
20 But if you have been unfaithful while married to your husband and have become unclean and have had sex with someone else…”
But if you have turned away from your husband, and also have been defiled, and have lain together with another man,
21 (Here the priest shall place the woman under the oath of the curse as follows.) “May the Lord place a curse on you that everyone knows about by having your thighs shrink and your belly swell up.
these curses shall be thrown upon you: May the Lord turn you into a curse and an example among all his people. May he cause your thigh to rot, and may your abdomen swell up and burst out.
22 May this water that curses go into your stomach and make your belly swell up and your thighs shrink.” The woman is to answer, “I agree, I agree.”
May the cursed waters enter into your stomach, and may your womb swell and your thigh rot.’ And the woman shall respond: ‘Amen, amen.’
23 The priest is to write these curses on a scroll and then wash them off into the bitter water.
And the priest shall write these curses in a little book, and then he shall erase them with the very bitter waters, into which he had gathered the curses,
24 He shall make the woman drink the bitter water that curses, and it will cause her bitter pain if she is guilty.
and he shall give it to her to drink. And when she has emptied it,
25 The priest shall take back from her the grain offering for jealousy, wave it before the Lord, and take it to the altar.
the priest shall take from her hand the sacrifice of jealousy, and he shall elevate it before the Lord, and he shall impose it upon the altar. Yet only after he first
26 Then the priest shall take a handful of the grain offering as a reminder portion and burn it on the altar, and make the woman drink the water.
takes a handful of the sacrifice from that which is offered, and burns it upon the altar, and then he may give the most bitter waters to the woman as a drink.
27 After he has made her drink the water, if she has made herself unclean and has been unfaithful to her husband, then the water that curses will cause her bitter pain. Her belly will swell up and her thighs will shrink. She will become a cursed woman among her people.
And when she drinks it, if she has been defiled, and, having despised her husband, is guilty of adultery, the curse shall pass through her, and as her belly swells up, her thigh shall decay, and the woman shall become a curse and an example to all the people.
28 But if the woman has not made herself unclean by being unfaithful and is clean, she will not experience this punishment and she will still be able to have children.
But if she has not been defiled, she shall be unharmed and she shall bear children.
29 This is the rule to follow in cases of jealousy when a wife has an affair and makes herself unclean while married to her husband,
This is the law for jealousy. If a woman has turned aside from her husband, and if she has been polluted,
30 or when a husband starts feeling jealous and becomes suspicious of his wife. He shall have his wife stand before the Lord, and the priest is to carry out every part of this rule.
and if the husband, being stirred up by the spirit of jealousy, has brought her before the sight of the Lord, and the priest has acted toward her according to all that has been written:
31 If she is found guilty, her husband will not be held responsible. But the woman will bear the consequences of her sin.
then the husband shall be without guilt, and she shall bear her iniquity.”
