Numbers 5:6-16

6 "Tell the Israelites: When a man or woman commits any sin against another, that person acts unfaithfully toward the Lord and is guilty.
7 The person is to confess the sin he has committed. He is to pay full compensation, add a fifth of its value to it, and give [it] to the individual he has wronged.[a]
8 But if that individual has no relative[b] to receive compensation,[c] the compensation goes to the Lord for the priest, along with the atonement ram by which the priest will make atonement for the [guilty] person.[d]
9 Every holy contribution the Israelites present to the priest will be his.[e]
10 Each one's holy contribution is his [to give]; what each one gives to the priest will be his."

The Jealousy Ritual

11 The Lord spoke to Moses:
12 "Speak to the Israelites and tell them: If any man's wife goes astray, is unfaithful to him,
13 and sleeps with another,[f] but it is concealed from her husband, and she is undetected, even though she has defiled herself, since there is no witness against her, and she wasn't caught [in the act];
14 and if a feeling of jealousy comes over the husband and he becomes jealous because of his wife who has defiled herself-or if a feeling of jealousy comes over him and he becomes jealous of her though she has not defiled herself-
15 then the man is to bring his wife to the priest. He is also to bring an offering for her of two quarts[g] of barley flour. He is not to pour oil over it or put frankincense on it because it is a grain offering of jealousy, a grain offering for remembrance that brings sin to mind.
16 "The priest is to bring her forward and have her stand before the Lord.

Numbers 5:6-16 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.

Footnotes 7

  • [a]. Lv 6:1-5
  • [b]. Lv 25:25,48-49; Jr 32:7
  • [c]. In the case of the individual's death
  • [d]. Lv 6:6-7
  • [e]. Ex 25:2-3; 29:27-28; Lv 7:14,32,34
  • [f]. Lit and man lies with her [and has] an emission of semen
  • [g]. Lit a tenth of an ephah
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