B¹ C a 5:1-6:21. Laws for the People (Leprosy, &c.).
b 6:22-27. Laws for the priests (Blessings, &c.).
D 7:1-89. Event (dedication of altar).
C b 8:1-26. Laws for priests and Levites.
a 9:1-14. Laws for People (Passover).
D 9:15-25. Event (erection of tabernacle).
a c¹ 5:1-31. Necessary laws. c² 6:1-21. Voluntary laws.
c¹ d¹ 1-4. Leprosy.
d² 5-10. Trespass.
d³ 11-31. Jealousy.
1490 B.C.
Numbers 5)
1 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, (see 1:1)
2 "Command the sons of Israel, that they put out of the camp every leper, and every one that has an issue
(a sexual flux), and whosoever is defiled by the dead (= the soul. Heb. nephesh. Cp. 6:6. Lev.21:1. Num. 19:11. See Lev. 19:28. Touching a dead man, rendered the one who touches it unclean 7 days [19:11]; touching other dead creatures, rendered unclean only till evening. Lev. 11:27,39,40):
3 Both male and female shall you all put out, outside the camp shall you all put them (cp. 12:14,15); that they defile not their camps, in the midst whereof I dwell."
4 And the sons of Israel did so, and put them out outside the camp: as the Lord (Yehovah) spoke to Moses, so did the sons of Israel.
5 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,
6 "Speak to the sons of Israel, When a man or woman shall commit any sin that men commit, to do a transgression
against the Lord, and that person (soul) be guilty;
7 Then they shall confess their sin which they have done: and he shall recompense (return back) his trespass with the principal thereof, and add to it the fifth part thereof, and give it to him against whom he has trespassed.
8 But if the man have no kinsman (redeemer, see 6:6) to return back the trespass to, let the trespass be returned back to Yehovah, even to the priest; beside the ram of the atonement (see 29:33), whereby an atonement shall be made for him.
9 And every heave offering of all the holy (set apart, see Ex. 3:5) things of the sons of Israel, which they bring to the priest, shall be his."
10 And every man's separated things shall be his: whatsoever any man gives the priest, it shall be his.
11 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,
12 "Speak to the sons of Israel, and say to them, 'If any man's wife go aside, and commit a trespass against him,
13 And a man lie with her carnally, and it be hid from the eyes of her husband, and be kept close, and she be
defiled, and there be no witness against her, neither she be taken with the manner;
14 And if the spirit of jealousy come upon him
(= a jealous motion or affection of mind. Here, Heb. ruach is put for feelings, &c., as in Isa. 11:2. Eph. 1:17. Hos. 4:12), and he be jealous of his wife, and she be defiled: or if the spirit of jealousy come upon him, and he be jealous of his wife, and she be not defiled:
15: Then shall the man bring his wife to the priest, and he shall bring her offering for her, the tenth part of an ephah (approx. 3/4 gal.) of barley meal (no other grain, and no other measure. Cp. Lev. 2:1); he shall pour no oil upon it, nor put frankincense thereon;
for it is a meal offering of jealousy, an offering of memorial, bringing iniquity to remembrance. (i.e causing iniquity to be remembered)
16 And the priest shall bring her near, and set her before the Lord:
17 And the priest shall take set apart (see Ex.3:5, water from the laver) water in an earthen vessel; and of the dust that is in the floor of the dwelling place (of Yehovah) the priest shall take, and put it into the water:
18 And the priest shall set the woman before the Lord, and uncover the woman's head, and put the offering of memorial in her hands, which is the jealousy (meal) offering: and the priest shall have in his hand the bitter water that causes the curse: (Heb. water of bitters; i.e causing the bitterness of spirit. Cp. Ps.109:18. Prov.5:4. Bitter = Heb. ham‘ârîm)
19 And the priest shall charge her by an oath, and say to the woman, 'If no man have lain with you, and if you
have not gone aside to uncleanness with another instead of your husband, be you free from this bitter water that
causes the curse:
20 But if you have gone aside to another instead of your husband, and if you are defiled, and some man has lain
with you beside your husband:
21 Then the priest shall charge the woman with an oath of cursing, and the priest shall say to the woman, 'The Lord make you a curse and an oath among your people, when the Lord does make your thigh to rot, and your belly to swell;
22 And this water that causes the curse shall go into your bowels, to make your belly to swell, and your thigh to rot:' And the woman shall say, 'Amen, amen' (A Hebrew word, transferred to the Greek = very, truly so. If one adjured another and he replied "amen", it was thereby considered as confirmed by an oath. Cp. 2 Cor. 1:20).
23 And the priest shall write these curses in a book, and he shall blot them out with the bitter water:
24 And he shall cause the woman to drink the bitter water that causes the curse: and the water that causes the
curse shall enter into her, and become bitter.
25 Then the priest shall take the jealousy (meal) offering out of the woman's hand, and shall wave (see Ex. 29:27) the meal offering before the Lord, and offer it upon the altar:
26 And the priest shall take an handful of the offering, even the memorial thereof (the handful so called, Lev.2:2), and burn it upon the altar, and afterward shall cause the woman to drink the water.
27 And when he has made her to drink the water, then it shall come to pass, that, if she is defiled, and has done trespass against her husband, that the water that causes the curse shall enter into her, and become bitter, and her belly shall swell, and her thigh shall rot: and the woman shall be a curse among her people.
28 And if the woman be not defiled, but is clean; then she shall be free, and shall conceive seed.
29 This is the law of jealousies, when a wife goes aside to another instead of her husband, and is defiled;
30 Or when the spirit of jealousy comes upon him, and he be jealous over his wife, and shall set the woman before the Lord, and the priest shall execute upon her all this law.
31 Then shall the man be guiltless from perverseness, and this woman shall bear her iniquity' " (= bear the punishment of it. Cp. Lev. 20:17,19,20. Ezek. 4:4,5).