Numbers 5:1-10

Unclean People

1 The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

2 "Command the people of Israel that they ¹put out of the camp everyone who is leprous^[a] or has ²a discharge and everyone who is ³unclean through contact with the dead.

3 You shall put out both male and female, putting them outside the camp, that they may not defile their camp, ⁴in the midst of which I dwell."

4 And the people of Israel did so, and put them outside the camp; as the LORD said to Moses, so the people of Israel did.

Confession and Restitution

5 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

6 "Speak to the people of Israel, ⁵When a man or woman commits any of the sins that people commit by breaking faith with the LORD, and that person realizes his guilt,

7 ⁶he shall confess his sin that he has committed.^[b]⁷And he shall make full restitution for his wrong, adding a fifth to it and giving it to him to whom he did the wrong.

8 But if the man has no next of kin to whom restitution may be made for the wrong, the restitution for wrong shall go to the LORD for the priest, in addition to ⁸the ram of atonement with which atonement is made for him.

9 And ⁹every contribution, all the holy donations of the people of Israel, which they bring to the priest, shall be his.

10 Each one shall keep his holy donations: whatever anyone gives to the priest shall be his."

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Numbers 5:1-10 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO NUMBERS 5

This chapter contains a repetition of some former laws, concerning putting unclean persons out of the camp, Nu 5:1-4; making restitution in case of trespass against another, Nu 5:5-8; and of giving the offering of all holy things and all hallowed things to the priests, Nu 5:9,10; and a new law concerning jealousy, in a man, of his wife, Nu 5:11-14; when she was to be brought to the priest, and various rites and ceremonies to be used, Nu 5:15-23; who was to give her bitter water as a trial of her chastity, which, if guilty, would have a strange effect upon her, and make her accursed, but if not, would not affect her, and she would be free and happy, Nu 5:24-31.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 9

1. Numbers 12:14; Leviticus 13:46
2. Leviticus 15:2
3. Numbers 9:6, 10; Numbers 19:11, 13; Numbers 31:19; Leviticus 21:1; [Haggai 2:13]
4. See Leviticus 26:11, 12
5. Leviticus 6:2, 3
6. Leviticus 5:5; Leviticus 26:40; [Joshua 7:19]
7. Leviticus 6:5
8. Leviticus 6:6, 7
9. Numbers 18:19; Exodus 29:28; Leviticus 6:17, 18; Leviticus 7:6, 7, 9, 10, 14; Deuteronomy 18:3, 4

Footnotes 2

[a]. Leprosy was a term for several skin diseases; see Leviticus 13
[b]. Hebrew they shall confess their sin that they have committed

The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.