The Fourth Book of Moses: Numbers

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- Chapter 5 -

(Leviticus 13:1–46)

Yahweh spoke to Moses. He said,

“Command the people of Israel to send away from the camp everyone with an infectious skin disease, and everyone who has an oozing sore, and whoever is unclean through touching a dead body.

Whether male or female, you must send them out of the camp. They must not defile the camp, because I live in it.”

The people of Israel did so. They sent them out of the camp, as Yahweh commanded Moses. The people of Israel obeyed Yahweh.

Restitution for Trespasses

(Luke 19:1–10)

Again Yahweh spoke to Moses. He said,

“Speak to the people of Israel. When a man or woman commits any sin such as people do to one another, and is unfaithful to me, that person is guilty.

Then he must confess the sin that he has done. He must completely pay back the price of his guilt and add to the price one-fifth more. He must give this to the one he has wronged.

But if the wronged person has no close relative to receive the payment, he must pay the price for his guilt to me through a priest, along with a ram to atone for himself.

Every offering of the people of Israel, the things that are set aside and brought to the priest by the people of Israel, will belong to him.

The offerings of every person will be for the priest; if anyone gives anything to the priest, it will belong to him.”

The Adultery Test

Again, Yahweh spoke to Moses. He said,

“Speak to the people of Israel. Say to them, ’Suppose that a man’s wife turns away and sins against her husband.

Then suppose that another man sleeps with her. In that case, she is defiled. Even if her husband does not see it or know about it, and even if no one catches her in the act and there is no one to testify against her,

nevertheless, a spirit of jealousy might still inform the husband that his wife is defiled. However, a spirit of jealousy might falsely come on a man when his wife is not defiled.

In such cases, the man should bring his wife to the priest. The husband must bring a drink offering for her. He must bring a tenth of an ephah of barley flour. He must pour no oil or frankincense on it because it is a grain offering of jealousy, a grain offering as a possible indicator of sin.

The priest must bring her near and place her before Yahweh.

The priest must take a jar of holy water and take dust from the floor of the tabernacle. He must put the dust into the water.

The priest will set the woman before Yahweh and he will untie the hair on the woman’s head. He will put into her hands the grain offering of remembrance, which is the grain offering of suspicion. The priest will hold in his hand the bitter water that can bring a curse.

The priest will put the woman under an oath and say to her, ’If no other man had sexual relations with you, and if you have not gone astray and committed impurity, then you will be free from this bitter water that can bring a curse.

But if you, a woman under her husband, have gone astray, if you are defiled, and if some other man has slept with you,

then, the priest must cause the woman to swear an oath that can bring down a curse on her, and then he must continue speaking to the woman, ’Yahweh will make you into a curse that will be shown to your people to be such. This will happen if Yahweh causes your thigh to waste away and your abdomen to swell.

This water that brings the curse will go into your stomach and make your abdomen swell and your thighs waste away.‘ The woman is to reply, ’Yes, let that happen if I am guilty.’

The priest must write these curses on a scroll, and then he must wash away the written curses into the bitter water.

The priest must make the woman drink the bitter water that brings the curse. The water that brings the curse will enter her and become bitter.

The priest must take the grain offering of jealousy out of the woman’s hand. He must hold up the grain offering before Yahweh and bring it to the altar.

The priest must take a handful of the grain offering as a representative offering, and burn it on the altar. Then he must give the woman the bitter water to drink.

When he gives her the water to drink, if she is defiled because she has committed a sin against her husband, then the water that brings the curse will enter her and become bitter. Her abdomen will swell and her thigh will waste away. The woman will be cursed among her people.

But if the woman is not defiled and if she is clean, then she must be free. She will be able to conceive children.

This is the law of jealousy. It is the law for a woman who strays away from her husband and is defiled.

It is the law for a man with a spirit of jealousy when he is jealous of his wife. He must bring the woman before Yahweh, and the priest must do to her everything that this law of jealousy describes.

The man will be free from guilt for bringing his wife to the priest. The woman must bear any guilt she might have.”

(Leviticus 13:1–46)

The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

“Command the children of Israel that they put out of the camp every leper, everyone who has a discharge, and whoever is unclean by a corpse.

You shall put both male and female outside of the camp so that they don’t defile their camp, in the midst of which I dwell.”

The children of Israel did so, and put them outside of the camp; as the LORD spoke to Moses, so the children of Israel did.

Restitution for Trespasses

(Luke 19:1–10)

The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

“Speak to the children of Israel: ‘When a man or woman commits any sin that men commit, so as to trespass against the LORD, and that soul is guilty,

then he shall confess his sin which he has done; and he shall make restitution for his guilt in full, add to it the fifth part of it, and give it to him in respect of whom he has been guilty.

But if the man has no kinsman to whom restitution may be made for the guilt, the restitution for guilt which is made to the LORD shall be the priest’s, in addition to the ram of the atonement, by which atonement shall be made for him.

Every heave offering of all the holy things of the children of Israel, which they present to the priest, shall be his.

Every man’s holy things shall be his; whatever any man gives the priest, it shall be his.’”

The Adultery Test

The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

“Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them: ‘If any man’s wife goes astray and is unfaithful to him,

and a man lies with her carnally, and it is hidden from the eyes of her husband and this is kept concealed, and she is defiled, there is no witness against her, and she isn’t taken in the act;

and the spirit of jealousy comes on him, and he is jealous of his wife and she is defiled; or if the spirit of jealousy comes on him, and he is jealous of his wife and she isn’t defiled;

then the man shall bring his wife to the priest, and shall bring her offering for her: one tenth of an ephah(a) of barley meal. He shall pour no oil on it, nor put frankincense on it, for it is a meal offering of jealousy, a meal offering of memorial, bringing iniquity to memory.

The priest shall bring her near, and set her before the LORD.

The priest shall take holy water in an earthen vessel; and the priest shall take some of the dust that is on the floor of the tabernacle and put it into the water.

The priest shall set the woman before the LORD, and let the hair of the woman’s head go loose, and put the meal offering of memorial in her hands, which is the meal offering of jealousy. The priest shall have in his hand the water of bitterness that brings a curse.

The priest shall cause her to take an oath and shall tell the woman, “If no man has lain with you, and if you haven’t gone aside to uncleanness, being under your husband’s authority, be free from this water of bitterness that brings a curse.

But if you have gone astray, being under your husband’s authority, and if you are defiled, and some man has lain with you besides your husband—”

then the priest shall cause the woman to swear with the oath of cursing, and the priest shall tell the woman, “May The LORD make you a curse and an oath among your people, when the LORD allows your thigh to fall away, and your body to swell;

and this water that brings a curse will go into your bowels, and make your body swell, and your thigh fall away.” The woman shall say, “Amen, Amen.”

“‘The priest shall write these curses in a book, and he shall wipe them into the water of bitterness.

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

The priest shall take the meal offering of jealousy out of the woman’s hand, and shall wave the meal offering before the LORD, and bring it to the altar.

The priest shall take a handful of the meal offering, as its memorial portion, and burn it on the altar, and afterward shall make the woman drink the water.

When he has made her drink the water, then it shall happen, if she is defiled and has committed a trespass against her husband, that the water that causes the curse will enter into her and become bitter, and her body will swell, and her thigh will fall away; and the woman will be a curse among her people.

If the woman isn’t defiled, but is clean; then she shall be free, and shall conceive offspring.(b)

“‘This is the law of jealousy, when a wife, being under her husband, goes astray, and is defiled,

or when the spirit of jealousy comes on a man, and he is jealous of his wife; then he shall set the woman before the LORD, and the priest shall execute on her all this law.

The man shall be free from iniquity, and that woman shall bear her iniquity.’”

Footnotes

(a)5:15 1 ephah is about 22 liters or about 2/3 of a bushel

(b)5:28 or, seed