The Message Bible MSG
King James Version KJV
1 God spoke to Moses:
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And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
2 "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.
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Command the children of Israel, that they put out of the camp every leper, and every one that hath an issue, and whosoever is defiled by the dead:
3 Ban male and female alike; send them outside the camp so that they won't defile their camp, the place I live among them."
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Both male and female shall ye put out, without the camp shall ye put them; that they defile not their camps, in the midst whereof I dwell.
4 The People of Israel did this, banning them from the camp. They did exactly what God had commanded through Moses.
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And the children of Israel did so, and put them out without the camp: as the LORD spake unto Moses, so did the children of Israel.
5 God spoke to Moses:
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And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
6 "Tell the People of Israel, When a man or woman commits any sin, the person has broken trust with God, is guilty,
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Speak unto the children of Israel, When a man or woman shall commit any sin that men commit, to do a trespass against the LORD, and that person be guilty;
7 and must confess the sin. Full compensation plus twenty percent must be made to whoever was wronged.
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Then they shall confess their sin which they have done: and he shall recompense his trespass with the principal thereof, and add unto it the fifth part thereof, and give it unto him against whom he hath trespassed.
8 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.
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But if the man have no kinsman to recompense the trespass unto, let the trespass be recompensed unto the LORD, even to the priest; beside the ram of the atonement, whereby an atonement shall be made for him.
9 All the sacred offerings that the People of Israel bring to a priest belong to the priest.
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And every offering of all the holy things of the children of Israel, which they bring unto the priest, shall be his.
10 Each person's sacred offerings are his own, but what one gives to the priest stays with the priest."
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And every man's hallowed things shall be his: whatsoever any man giveth the priest, it shall be his.
11 God spoke to Moses:
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And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
12 "Tell the People of Israel, Say a man's wife goes off and has an affair, is unfaithful to him
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Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, If any man's wife go aside, and commit a trespass against him,
13 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,
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And a man lie with her carnally, and it be hid from the eyes of her husband, and be kept close, and she be defiled, and there be no witness against her, neither she be taken with the manner;
14 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,
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And the spirit of jealousy come upon him, and he be jealous of his wife, and she be defiled: or if the spirit of jealousy come upon him, and he be jealous of his wife, and she be not defiled:
15 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.
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Then shall the man bring his wife unto the priest, and he shall bring her offering for her, the tenth part of an ephah of barley meal; he shall pour no oil upon it, nor put frankincense thereon; for it is an offering of jealousy, an offering of memorial, bringing iniquity to remembrance.
16 "The priest then is to take her and have her stand in the presence of God.
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And the priest shall bring her near, and set her before the LORD:
17 He is to take some holy water in a pottery jar and put some dust from the floor of The Dwelling in the water.
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And the priest shall take holy water in an earthen vessel; and of the dust that is in the floor of the tabernacle the priest shall take, and put it into the water:
18 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.
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And the priest shall set the woman before the LORD, and uncover the woman's head, and put the offering of memorial in her hands, which is the jealousy offering: and the priest shall have in his hand the bitter water that causeth the curse:
19 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.
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And the priest shall charge her by an oath, and say unto the woman, If no man have lain with thee, and if thou hast not gone aside to uncleanness with another instead of thy husband, be thou free from this bitter water that causeth the curse:
20 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' -
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But if thou hast gone aside to another instead of thy husband, and if thou be defiled, and some man have lain with thee beside thine husband:
21 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.
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Then the priest shall charge the woman with an oath of cursing, and the priest shall say unto the woman, The LORD make thee a curse and an oath among thy people, when the LORD doth make thy thigh to rot, and thy belly to swell;
22 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.'
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And this water that causeth the curse shall go into thy bowels, to make thy belly to swell, and thy thigh to rot: And the woman shall say, Amen, amen.
23 "The priest is to write these curses on a scroll and then wash the words off into the bitter water.
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And the priest shall write these curses in a book, and he shall blot them out with the bitter water:
24 He then is to give the woman the bitter water that delivers a curse. This water will enter her body and cause acute pain.
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And he shall cause the woman to drink the bitter water that causeth the curse: and the water that causeth the curse shall enter into her, and become bitter.
25 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.
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Then the priest shall take the jealousy offering out of the woman's hand, and shall wave the offering before the LORD, and offer it upon the altar:
26 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.
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And the priest shall take an handful of the offering, even the memorial thereof, and burn it upon the altar, and afterward shall cause the woman to drink the water.
27 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.
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And when he hath made her to drink the water, then it shall come to pass, that, if she be defiled, and have done trespass against her husband, that the water that causeth the curse shall enter into her, and become bitter, and her belly shall swell, and her thigh shall rot: and the woman shall be a curse among her people.
28 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.
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And if the woman be not defiled, but be clean; then she shall be free, and shall conceive seed.
29 "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,
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This is the law of jealousies, when a wife goeth aside to another instead of her husband, and is defiled;
30 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.
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Or when the spirit of jealousy cometh upon him, and he be jealous over his wife, and shall set the woman before the LORD, and the priest shall execute upon her all this law.
31 The husband will be cleared of wrong, but the woman will pay for her wrong."
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Then shall the man be guiltless from iniquity, and this woman shall bear her iniquity.
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.
The King James Version is in the public domain.