Numbers 5

¹ Yahweh spoke to Moses and said:

² ‘Order the sons of Israel to put out of the camp all lepers, and all who suffer from a discharge, or who have become unclean by touching a corpse.

³ Man or woman, you must put them out and forbid them the camp. The sons of Israel must not defile in this way the camp where I dwell among them.’

⁴ The sons of Israel did so: they put them out of the camp. The sons of Israel did as Yahweh had ordered Moses.

⁵ Yahweh spoke to Moses and said,

⁶ ‘Tell the sons of Israel: “If a man or woman commits any of the sins by which men break faith with Yahweh, that person incurs guilt.

⁷ “He must confess the sin he has committed and restore in full the amount for which he is liable, with one-fifth added. Payment is to be made to the person whom he has wronged.

⁸ “If, however, the latter has no kinsman to whom this restitution can be made, the restitution due to Yahweh reverts to the priest, over and above the ram of atonement with which the priest makes atonement for the guilty man.

⁹ For of everything consecrated by the sons of Israel and brought to the priest he has a right to the portion set aside.

¹⁰ Whatever a man consecrates is his own; whatever is given to the priest belongs to the priest.”‘

¹¹ Yahweh spoke to Moses and said,

¹² ‘Say this to the sons of Israel: “If anyone has a wife who goes astray and is unfaithful to him,

¹³ if some other man sleeps with the woman without the husband’s knowledge, if she disgraces herself in secret in this way, without any witness against her, and without anyone catching her in the act;

¹⁴ then, if a spirit of jealousy comes over the husband and makes him jealous for the wife who has disgraced herself, or again if this spirit of jealousy comes upon him and makes him jealous for his wife even when she is innocent:

¹⁵ the man must bring his wife before the priest, and on her behalf make an offering of one-tenth of an ephah of barley meal. He is not to pour oil on it or put incense on it, because this is an ‘oblation for jealousy’, a memorial offering to record a fault.

¹⁶ “The priest is then to bring the woman forward and stand her before Yahweh.

¹⁷ Then he shall take living water in an earthen jar, and on the water throw dust that he has taken from the floor of the tabernacle.

¹⁸ After he has placed the woman before Yahweh, he shall unbind her hair and put in her hands the commemorative oblation (that is, the oblation for jealousy). In his own hands the priest will hold the water of bitterness and of cursing.

¹⁹ “He is then to put the woman on oath. He shall say to her: If it is not true that a man has slept with you, that you have gone astray and disgraced yourself while under your husband’s authority, then may this water of bitterness and cursing do you no harm.

²⁰ But if it is true that you have gone astray, while under your husband’s authority, that you have disgraced yourself by sharing your bed with a man other than your husband…

²¹ Here the priest shall impose an imprecatory oath on the woman. He shall say to her:… May Yahweh make of you an execration and a curse among your people, making your thigh shrivel and your belly swell!

²² May this water of cursing enter your bowels to swell your belly and shrivel your organs!’ The woman must answer: Amen! Amen!

²³ “Then the priest shall commit these curses to writing and wash them off in the water of bitterness.

²⁴ He must make the woman drink this water of bitterness and of cursing, and this water of cursing shall go into her and be bitter inside her.

²⁵ “The priest shall then take the oblation for jealousy from the woman’s hands, and hold it up before Yahweh with a gesture of offering, and so carry it up to the altar.

²⁶ He shall take a handful as a memorial, and burn it on the altar.

²⁷ “He shall then make the woman drink the water.. After he has made her drink it, if it is true that she has disgraced herself, deceiving her husband, then the water of cursing that goes into her shall indeed be bitter: her belly will swell and her thigh shrivel, and she will be an execration among her people.

²⁸ But if she has not disgraced herself and is clean, then she will go unscathed and will bear children.

²⁹ “This is the ritual in cases of jealousy, when a woman has gone astray and disgraced herself while under her husband’s authority,

³⁰ or when a spirit of jealousy has come over a man and made him jealous for his wife. When a husband brings such a woman before Yahweh, the priest must apply this ritual to her in full.

³¹ The husband shall be guiltless, but the woman must bear the punishment for her sin.”‘