Common English Bible CEB
The Message Bible MSG
1 The LORD spoke to Moses:
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God spoke to Moses:
2 Command the Israelites to send out from the camp anyone with a skin disease, an oozing discharge, or who has become unclean from contact with a corpse.
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"Command the People of Israel to ban from the camp anyone who has an infectious skin disease, anyone who has a discharge, and anyone who is ritually unclean from contact with a dead body.
3 You must send out both male and female. You must send them outside the camp so that they will not make their camp, where I live among them, unclean.
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Ban male and female alike; send them outside the camp so that they won't defile their camp, the place I live among them."
4 The Israelites did so and sent them outside the camp. The Israelites did just what the LORD said to Moses.
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The People of Israel did this, banning them from the camp. They did exactly what God had commanded through Moses.
5 The LORD spoke to Moses:
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God spoke to Moses:
6 Tell the Israelites: When a man or a woman commits any sin against anyone else, thus breaking faith with the LORD, that person becomes guilty.
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"Tell the People of Israel, When a man or woman commits any sin, the person has broken trust with God, is guilty,
7 Such persons will confess the sin they have done. Each will make payment for his guilt, add one-fifth more, and give it to the injured party.
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and must confess the sin. Full compensation plus twenty percent must be made to whoever was wronged.
8 If the person has no close relative to whom the payment can be made, then the compensation payment will go to the LORD for the priest. This is in addition to the ram of reconciliation by which the guilty party himself is reconciled.
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If the wronged person has no close relative who can receive the compensation, the compensation belongs to God and must be given to the priest, along with the ram by which atonement is made.
9 Any gift offering from all the sacred donations that the Israelites offer will be the property of the priest.
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All the sacred offerings that the People of Israel bring to a priest belong to the priest.
10 The sacred donations belong to each person alone; whatever anyone gives to the priest will be his.
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Each person's sacred offerings are his own, but what one gives to the priest stays with the priest."
11 The LORD spoke to Moses:
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God spoke to Moses:
12 Speak to the Israelites and say to them: A man may suspect that his wife has had an affair and has broken faith with him,
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"Tell the People of Israel, Say a man's wife goes off and has an affair, is unfaithful to him
13 that a man has had intercourse with her unknown to her husband and that she has defiled herself in secret—even though there are no witnesses and she isn't caught.
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by sleeping with another man, but her husband knows nothing about it even though she has defiled herself. And then, even though there was no witness and she wasn't caught in the act,
14 If jealousy overcomes him and he is jealous of his wife who has defiled herself, or if jealousy overcomes him and he is jealous of his wife who hasn't defiled herself,
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feelings of jealousy come over the husband and he suspects that his wife is impure. Even if she is innocent and his jealousy and suspicions are groundless,
15 then the man will bring his wife to the priest. He will bring the offering required for her, one-tenth of an ephah of barley flour. He will not pour oil on it, nor offer frankincense with it, because it is a grain offering for jealousy, a grain offering for recognition in order to recognize guilt.
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he is to take his wife to the priest. He must also take an offering of two quarts of barley flour for her. He is to pour no oil on it or mix incense with it because it is a Grain-Offering for jealousy, a Grain-Offering for bringing the guilt out into the open.
16 The priest will bring her close and make her stand before the LORD
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"The priest then is to take her and have her stand in the presence of God.
17 The priest will take holy water in a clay jar, and taking dust from the floor of the dwelling, the priest will place it in the water.
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He is to take some holy water in a pottery jar and put some dust from the floor of The Dwelling in the water.
18 The priest will make the woman stand before the LORD, let the hair of the woman hang down, and place the grain offering for recognition, that is, the grain offering for jealousy, in her hands. The water of bitterness that brings the curse will be in the hands of the priest.
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After the priest has her stand in the presence of God he is to uncover her hair and place the exposure-offering in her hands, the Grain-Offering for jealousy, while he holds the bitter water that delivers a curse.
19 Then the priest will make her swear a solemn pledge, saying to the woman, "If no man has slept with you and if you haven't had an affair, becoming defiled while married to your husband, then be immune from the water of bitterness that brings these curses.
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Then the priest will put the woman under oath and say, 'If no man has slept with you and you have not had an adulterous affair and become impure while married to your husband, may this bitter water that delivers a curse not harm you.
20 But if you have had an affair while married to your husband, if you have defiled yourself, and a man other than your husband has had intercourse with you"—
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But if you have had an affair while married to your husband and have defiled yourself by sleeping with a man other than your husband' -
21 then the priest must make the woman utter the curse and say to the woman, "May the LORD make you a curse and a harmful pledge among your people, when the LORD induces a miscarriage and your womb discharges.
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here the priest puts the woman under this curse - 'may God cause your people to curse and revile you when he makes your womb shrivel and your belly swell.
22 And may the water that brings these curses enter your stomach and make your womb discharge and make you miscarry." And the woman will say, "I agree, I agree."
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Let this water that delivers a curse enter your body so that your belly swells and your womb shrivels.' "Then the woman shall say, 'Amen. Amen.'
23 The priest will write these curses in the scroll and wipe them off into the water of bitterness.
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"The priest is to write these curses on a scroll and then wash the words off into the bitter water.
24 Then he will make the woman drink the water of bitterness that brings the curse. And the water that brings the curse will enter her, causing bitterness.
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He then is to give the woman the bitter water that delivers a curse. This water will enter her body and cause acute pain.
25 The priest will take the grain offering for jealousy from the woman's hands, elevate the grain offering before the LORD, and bring it to the altar.
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The priest then is to take from her hands a handful of the Grain-Offering for jealousy, wave it before God, and bring it to the Altar.
26 The priest will take a handful of the grain offering as a token part of it and turn it into smoke on the altar. And afterward he will make the woman drink the water.
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The priest then is to take a handful of the Grain-Offering, using it as an exposure-offering, and burn it on the Altar; after this he is to make her drink the water.
27 When he has made her drink the water, if she has defiled herself and has broken faith with her husband, then the water that brings the curse will enter her, causing bitterness, and her womb will discharge and she will miscarry. The woman will be a curse among her people.
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If she has defiled herself in being unfaithful to her husband, when she drinks the water that delivers a curse, it will enter her body and cause acute pain; her belly will swell and her womb shrivel. She will be cursed among her people.
28 But if the woman hasn't defiled herself and she is pure, then she will be immune and able to conceive.
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But if she has not defiled herself and is innocent of impurity, her name will be cleared and she will be able to have children.
29 These are the instructions about jealousy, when a wife has an affair while married to her husband and defiles herself,
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"This is the law of jealousy in a case where a woman goes off and has an affair and defiles herself while married to her husband,
30 or when jealousy overcomes a man and he is jealous of his wife. The priest will make the woman stand before the LORD and will follow all these instructions concerning her.
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or a husband is tormented with feelings of jealousy because he suspects his wife. The priest is to have her stand in the presence of God and go through this entire procedure with her.
31 The man will be free from guilt, but the woman will bear her guilt.
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The husband will be cleared of wrong, but the woman will pay for her wrong."
Copyright © 2011 Common English Bible
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.