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Texts -- Numbers 5:9-31 (NET)

Context
5:9 Every offering of all the Israelites ’ holy things that they bring to the priest will be his. 5:10 Every man’s holy things will be his; whatever any man gives the priest will be his.’”
The Jealousy Ordeal
5:11 The Lord spoke to Moses : 5:12 “Speak to the Israelites and tell them, ‘If any man’s wife goes astray and behaves unfaithfully toward him, 5:13 and a man has sexual relations with her without her husband knowing it, and it is hidden that she has defiled herself, since there was no witness against her , nor was she caught – 5:14 and if jealous feelings come over him and he becomes suspicious of his wife , when she is defiled ; or if jealous feelings come over him and he becomes suspicious of his wife , when she is not defiled – 5:15 then the man must bring his wife to the priest , and he must bring the offering required for her, one tenth of an ephah of barley meal ; he must not pour olive oil on it or put frankincense on it, because it is a grain offering of suspicion , a grain offering for remembering , for bringing iniquity to remembrance . 5:16 “‘Then the priest will bring her near and have her stand before the Lord . 5:17 The priest will then take holy water in a pottery jar , and take some of the dust that is on the floor of the tabernacle , and put it into the water . 5:18 Then the priest will have the woman stand before the Lord , uncover the woman’s head , and put the grain offering for remembering in her hands , which is the grain offering of suspicion . The priest will hold in his hand the bitter water that brings a curse . 5:19 Then the priest will put the woman under oath and say to the her, “If no other man has had sexual relations with you, and if you have not gone astray and become defiled while under your husband’s authority, may you be free from this bitter water that brings a curse . 5:20 But if you have gone astray while under your husband’s authority, and if you have defiled yourself and some man other than your husband has had sexual relations with you….” 5:21 Then the priest will put the woman under the oath of the curse and will say to the her , “The Lord make you an attested curse among your people , if the Lord makes your thigh fall away and your abdomen swell ; 5:22 and this water that causes the curse will go into your stomach , and make your abdomen swell and your thigh rot .” Then the woman must say , “Amen , amen .” 5:23 “‘Then the priest will write these curses on a scroll and then scrape them off into the bitter water . 5:24 He will make the woman drink the bitter water that brings a curse , and the water that brings a curse will enter her to produce bitterness . 5:25 The priest will take the grain offering of suspicion from the woman’s hand , wave the grain offering before the Lord , and bring it to the altar . 5:26 Then the priest will take a handful of the grain offering as its memorial portion , burn it on the altar , and afterward make the woman drink the water . 5:27 When he has made her drink the water , then, if she has defiled herself and behaved unfaithfully toward her husband , the water that brings a curse will enter her to produce bitterness – her abdomen will swell , her thigh will fall away , and the woman will become a curse among her people . 5:28 But if the woman has not defiled herself, and is clean , then she will be free of ill effects and will be able to bear children . 5:29 “‘This is the law for cases of jealousy , when a wife , while under her husband’s authority, goes astray and defiles herself, 5:30 or when jealous feelings come over a man and he becomes suspicious of his wife ; then he must have the woman stand before the Lord , and the priest will carry out all this law upon her. 5:31 Then the man will be free from iniquity , but that woman will bear the consequences of her iniquity .’”

Pericope

NET

Bible Dictionary

  • WATER OF JEALOUSY

    [ebd] a phrase employed (not, however, in Scripture) to denote the water used in the solemn ordeal prescribed by the law of Moses (Num. 5:11-31) in cases of "jealousy."
    [smith] (Numbers 5:11-31) The ritual prescribed consisted in the husband?s bringing before the priest the woman suspected of infidelity, and the essential part of it is unquestionably the oath to which the "water" was subsidiary, sym...

  • THIGH

    [isbe] THIGH - thi (yarekh; Aramaic yarekhah (Dan 2:32); meros (Judith 9:2; Sirach 19:12; Rev 19:16); as part of a sacrificial animal (Ex 29:22, etc.) shoq, the King James Version, the Revised Version margin "shoulder"; in addition...

  • TALMUD

    [isbe] TALMUD - tal'-mud (talmudh): I. PRELIMINARY REMARKS AND VERBAL EXPLANATIONS II. IMPORTANCE OF THE TALMUD III. THE TRADITIONAL LAW UNTIL THE COMPOSITION OF THE MISHNA IV. DIVISION AND CONTENTS OF THE MISHNA (AND THE TALMUD) 1...

  • TABLET

    [isbe] TABLET - tab'-let: A rigid flat sheet (plate, pad or slab) used to receive writing. Stone, clay, wood and perhaps bronze, gold and lead tablets, at least, are mentioned in the Bible. In the Old English sense of "locket" the ...

  • SWELL

    [isbe] SWELL - swel (tsabhah): In the ordeal of the Water of Jealousy described in Nu 5:11-31 (P), the effect on the unfaithful wife ot the drinking of the holy water was to cause the thigh to fall away (Revised Version) or rot (th...

  • ROT; ROTTENNESS

    [isbe] ROT; ROTTENNESS - rot, rot'-'-n-nes (verb raqebh, noun raqabh (riqqabhon, Job 41:27), with maq, "decay" (Isa 5:24), and `abhash, "shrivel" (so Joel 1:17 the Revised Version margin)): "Rottenness of the bones" (Prov 12:4; 14:...

  • RIGHTEOUSNESS

    [isbe] RIGHTEOUSNESS - ri'-chus-nes (tsaddiq, adjective, "righteous," or occasionally "just" tsedheq, noun, occasionally = "riahteousness," occasionally = "justice"; dikaios, adjective, dikaiosune, noun, from dike, whose first mean...

  • Priest

    [nave] PRIEST. Before Moses Melchizedek, Gen. 14:18; Heb. 5:6, 10, 11; 6:20; 7:1-21. Jethro, Ex. 2:16. Priests in Israel before the giving of the law, Ex. 19:22, 24. Called angel, Eccl. 5:6. Mosaic Ex. 28:1-4; 29:9, 44; Num....

  • Oil

    [ebd] Only olive oil seems to have been used among the Hebrews. It was used for many purposes: for anointing the body or the hair (Ex. 29:7; 2 Sam. 14:2; Ps. 23:5; 92:10; 104:15; Luke 7:46); in some of the offerings (Ex. 29:40; Le...

  • NUMBERS, BOOK OF

    [isbe] NUMBERS, BOOK OF - num'-berz: I. TITLE AND CONTENTS 1. Title 2. Contents II. LITERARY STRUCTURE 1. Alleged Grounds of Distribution 2. Objections to Same (1) Hypothesis Unproved (2) Written Record Not Impossible (3) No Book E...

  • MEMORIAL; MEMORY

    [isbe] MEMORIAL; MEMORY - me-mo'-ri-al, mem'-o-ri ('azkarah, zekher, zekher, zikkaron; mnemosunon): "Memorial" as the translation of 'azkdrah is a sacrificial term, that which brings the offerer into remembrance before God, or brin...

  • LAW IN THE OLD TESTAMENT

    [isbe] LAW IN THE OLD TESTAMENT - || I. TERMS USED 1. Torah ("Law") 2. Synonyms of Torah (1) Mitswah ("Command") (2) `Edhah ("Witness," "Testimony") (3) MishpaTim ("Judgments") (4) Chuqqim ("Statutes") (5) Piqqudhim ("Precepts") II...

  • Jealousy, Waters of

    [ebd] water which the suspected wife was required to drink, so that the result might prove her guilt or innocence (Num. 5:12-17, 27). We have no record of this form of trial having been actually resorted to.

  • Jealousy offering

    [ebd] the name of the offering the husband was to bring when he charged his wife with adultery (Num. 5:11-15).

  • Jealousy

    [ebd] suspicion of a wife's purity, one of the strongest passions (Num. 5:14; Prov. 6:34; Cant. 8:6); also an intense interest for another's honour or prosperity (Ps. 79:5; 1 Cor. 10:22; Zech. 1:14).
    [isbe] JEALOUSY - jel'-us-i (qin'ah; zelos): Doubtless, the root idea of both the Greek and the Hob translated "jealousy" is "warmth," "heat." Both are used in a good and a bad sense--to represent right and wrong passion. When jeal...
    [nave] JEALOUSY. Prov. 6:34; 27:4; Eccl. 4:4; Song 8:6. Law concerning, when husband is jealous of his wife, Num. 5:12-31. Image of, Ezek. 8:3, 4. Forbidden, Rom. 13:13. Attributed to God, Ex. 20:5; 34:13, 14; Num. 25:11; Deut...

  • Husband

    [nave] HUSBAND. Gen. 2:23, 24 Matt. 19:5; Mark 10:7. Num. 5:11-31; Deut. 22:13-21; Deut. 24:5; Prov. 5:15-19; Eccl. 9:9; Mal. 2:14-16; 1 Cor. 7:3, 5; 1 Cor. 7:14, 16, 33; 1 Cor. 11:3; Eph. 5:22-33; Col. 3:18, 19; 1 Tim. 5:8; 1 Pet...

  • CURSE

    [isbe] CURSE - kurs ('alah (Nu 5:21,23,17, etc.), me'erah (Prov 3:33; Mal 2:2, etc.), klalah (Gen 27:12,13); katara (Gal 3:10,13)): This word as noun and verb renders different Hebrew words, some of them being more or less synonymo...

  • BITTER; BITTERNESS

    [isbe] BITTER; BITTERNESS - bit'-er, bit'-er-nes (mar, or marah = "bitter" (literally or figuratively); also (noun) "bitterness" or (adverb) "bitterly"; "angry," "chafed," "discontented," "heavy" (Gen 27:34; Ex 15:23; Nu 5:18,19,23...

  • Ambush

    [ebd] Joshua at the capture of Ai lay in ambush, and so deceived the inhabitants that he gained an easy victory (Josh. 8:4-26). Shechem was taken in this manner (Judg. 9:30-45. Comp. Jer. 51:12).

  • Adultery

    [ebd] conjugal infidelity. An adulterer was a man who had illicit intercourse with a married or a betrothed woman, and such a woman was an adulteress. Intercourse between a married man and an unmarried woman was fornication. Adult...
    [isbe] ADULTERY - a-dul'-ter-i: In Scripture designates sexual intercourse of a man, whether married or unmarried, with a married woman. 1. Its Punishment: It is categorically prohibited in the Decalogue (seventh commandment, Ex 20...
    [smith] (Exodus 20:14) The parties to this crime, according to Jewish law, were a married woman and a man who was not her husband. The Mosaic penalty was that both the guilty parties should be stoned, and it applied as well to the be...
    [nave] ADULTERY. Gen. 20:3; 2 Sam. 12:14; Job 24:15-17 v. 18.; Job 31:1, 9-12; Prov. 2:16, 18, 19 v. 17.; Prov. 5:3, 4 vs. 5-22.; Prov. 6:24-29, 32, 33; Prov. 7:5-23; Prov. 9:13-18; Prov. 22:14; Prov. 23:27, 28; Prov. 29:3; Prov. ...

Arts

Resources/Books

Expository Notes on the Bible (Constable)

  • Moses broke the tablets of the law (v. 19) symbolizing the fact that Israel had broken its covenant with Yahweh. He then proceeded to destroy the golden calf, the symbol of the illicit covenant into which they had entered (cf...
  • To formulate a statement that summarizes the teaching of this book it will be helpful to identify some of the major revelations in Numbers. These constitute the unique values of the book.The first major value of Numbers is th...
  • I. Experiences of the older generation in the wilderness chs. 1-25A. Preparations for entering the Promised Land from the south chs. 1-101. The first census and the organization of the people chs. 1-42. Commands and rituals t...
  • The point of this section is the importance of maintaining purity in the marriage relationship to preserve God's blessing on Israel.In verses 11-15 the writer explained the first steps an Israelite man who suspected his wife ...
  • A complete and comprehensive explanation of the official duties and revenues of the priests and Levites appropriately follows the confirmation of Aaron's priesthood. This was God's reply to the frightened cries of the people ...
  • Aharoni, Yohanan. The Land of the Bible. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1979.Aharoni, Yohanan, and Michael Avi-Yonah. The Macmillan Bible Atlas. Revised ed. New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., 1977.Albright, William Foxwell...
  • A discussion of divorce and remarriage fits into this context because they both involve respect for the rights of others. The first of the two situations Moses dealt with in this section concerns a married, divorced, and rema...
  • The target audience of this warning passage was originally the leaders as well as the ordinary citizens of Israel.5:1 Hosea called on the Israelite priests, the whole population of Israel, and the royal household to hear this...
  • The first sentence in this pericope (section) serves as a title for the section, as the sentence in verse 1 did for 1:1-17. Matthew recorded the supernatural birth of Jesus to demonstrate further His qualification as Israel's...
  • Matthew evidently included this instruction because the marriage relationships of His disciples were important factors in their effective ministries. Jesus clarified God's will for His disciples that was different from the co...
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