Numbers 5:3-13

3 "You shall send away both male and female; you shall send them outside * * the camp so that they will not defile their camp where I dwell ¹in their midst."

4 The sons of Israel did so and sent them outside * * the camp; just as the LORD had spoken to Moses, thus the sons of Israel did.

5 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

6 "Speak to the sons of Israel, '²When a man or woman commits any * of the sins of mankind, acting unfaithfully against the LORD, and that person is guilty,

7 then he shall ³confess his sins which he has committed, and he ⁴shall make restitution in full for his wrong and add to it one-fifth of it, and give it to him whom he has wronged.

8 'But if the man has no relative to whom restitution may be made for the wrong, the restitution which is made for the wrong must go to the LORD for the priest, besides * the ram of atonement, by which atonement is made for him.

9 '⁵Also every contribution pertaining to all the holy gifts of the sons of Israel, which they offer to the priest, shall be his.

10 'So every man's holy gifts shall be his; whatever any man gives to the priest, it ⁶becomes his.' "

The Adultery Test

11 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

12 "Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, 'If any man's wife ⁷goes astray and is unfaithful to him,

13 and a man has ⁸intercourse * with her and it is hidden from the eyes of her husband and she is undetected, although she has defiled herself, and there is no witness against her and she has not been caught in the act,

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Numbers 5:3-13 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 8

1. Leviticus 26:12; Numbers 35:34
2. Lev 5:14-6:7
3. Leviticus 5:5; Leviticus 26:40, 41; Joshua 7:19
4. Leviticus 6:4, 5
5. Leviticus 7:32, 34; Leviticus 10:14, 15
6. Leviticus 10:13
7. Num 5:19-21, 29
8. Leviticus 18:20; Leviticus 20:10

Footnotes 6

[a]. Lit "they"
[b]. Lit "their"
[c]. Lit "they have"
[d]. Lit "redeemer"
[e]. Lit "heave offering"
[f]. Lit "concealed"