Numbers 5:1-10

The Purity of the Camp

1 The LORD said to Moses,

2 “Command the Israelites to send away from the camp anyone who has a defiling skin disease^[a] or a discharge of any kind, or who is ceremonially unclean because of a dead body.

3 Send away male and female alike; send them outside the camp so they will not defile their camp, where I dwell among them.”

4 The Israelites did so; they sent them outside the camp. They did just as the LORD had instructed Moses.

Restitution for Wrongs

5 The LORD said to Moses,

6 “Say to the Israelites: ‘Any man or woman who wrongs another in any way^[b] and so is unfaithful to the LORD is guilty

7 and must confess the sin they have committed. They must make full restitution for the wrong they have done, add a fifth of the value to it and give it all to the person they have wronged.

8 But if that person has no close relative to whom restitution can be made for the wrong, the restitution belongs to the LORD and must be given to the priest, along with the ram with which atonement is made for the wrongdoer.

9 All the sacred contributions the Israelites bring to a priest will belong to him.

10 Sacred things belong to their owners, but what they give to the priest will belong to the priest.’ ”

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.

Cross References

• 1. S Leviticus 13:2; Leviticus 13:46
• 2. S Leviticus 15:2; Matthew 9:20
• 3. Leviticus 13:3; Numbers 9:6-10
• 4. S Leviticus 21:11
• 5. S Exodus 29:45; Leviticus 26:12; Numbers 35:34; 2 Corinthians 6:16
• 6. S Leviticus 6:2
• 7. Lev 5:14-6:7
• 8. S Leviticus 5:5; Leviticus 26:40; Joshua 7:19; S Luke 19:8
• 9. S Leviticus 5:16; Leviticus 6:5
• 10. S Leviticus 5:15
• 11. Leviticus 6:6,7; Leviticus 7:7
• 12. Leviticus 6:17; Leviticus 7:6-14
• 13. Leviticus 7:29-34; Leviticus 10:13

Footnotes

• [a]. The Hebrew word for "defiling skin disease" , traditionally translated “leprosy,” was used for various diseases affecting the skin.
• [b]. Or "woman who commits any wrong common to mankind"