Numbers 5

Removing the Unclean from the Camp

1 The Lord spoke to Moses.

2 Tell the Israelites to send away anyone with a skin disease, a discharge, or anyone who has touched a dead body.

3 Send them outside the camp, whether they are male or female, so they do not make the camp unclean, because I live among you.

4 The Israelites did exactly as the Lord commanded Moses and sent them outside the camp.

Making Things Right When You Have Done Wrong

5 The Lord spoke to Moses.

6 Tell the Israelites, if a man or woman commits a sin against another person, they are being unfaithful to the Lord and are guilty.

7 They must confess their sin and pay full restitution for what they did, adding twenty percent more and giving it to the person they wronged.

8 If the person they wronged is dead and has no relatives, the payment must go to the Lord and given to the priest, along with a ram for atonement.

9 Every holy offering the Israelites bring to the priest belongs to the priest.

10 Each person’s sacred gifts belong to them, but whatever they give to the priest belongs to the priest.

The Test for a Wife Accused of Unfaithfulness

11 The Lord spoke to Moses.

12 Tell the Israelites, if a man suspects his wife of being unfaithful but has no proof.

13 If she has secretly slept with another man and was not caught, but there is no witness and she was not forced.

14 If her husband becomes jealous and suspects her, whether she was unfaithful or not.

15 He must bring her to the priest with an offering of barley flour. He must not pour oil or incense on it because it is a grain offering for jealousy, a reminder offering to expose guilt.

16 The priest must bring her forward and place her before the Lord.

17 He will take holy water in a clay jar and mix in dust from the Tabernacle floor.

18 The priest will make the woman stand before the Lord, loosen her hair, and place in her hands the jealousy offering. The priest will hold the bitter water that brings a curse.

19 The priest will make her swear an oath, saying, if you have not been unfaithful, this bitter water will not harm you.

20 But if you have been unfaithful and slept with another man.

21 The priest will say, may the Lord curse you and make your name a warning among your people. May your womb shrivel and your belly swell.

22 May this water that brings a curse make your belly swell and your womb shrivel. The woman must say, Amen, so be it.

23 The priest must write these curses on a scroll and wash the words into the bitter water.

24 He will make the woman drink the bitter water that brings a curse. It will go into her and cause painful effects.

25 The priest will take the jealousy offering from her hands, wave it before the Lord, and bring it to the altar.

26 He will take a handful of the grain offering as a memorial and burn it on the altar, then make the woman drink the water.

27 If she was unfaithful, the water will make her belly swell and her womb shrivel. She will become a curse among her people.

28 But if she is innocent, she will not be harmed and will still be able to have children.

29 This is the law about jealousy when a woman goes astray and is unfaithful.

30 Or when a man becomes jealous and suspects his wife. He must bring her before the Lord, and the priest must apply this law.

31 The husband will be innocent, but the woman must bear the consequences of her guilt.