Numbers 5

Chapter 5

5:3 Both male and female shall ye put out, without the camp shall ye put them; that they defile not their camps, in the ^a midst whereof I dwell.

(a) There were three types of tents: of the Lord, of the Levites, and of the Israelites.

5:6 Speak unto the children of Israel, When a man or woman shall commit any sin ^b that men commit, to do a trespass against the LORD, and that person be guilty;

(b) Commit any fault willingly.

5:8 But if the ^c 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.

(c) If he is dead to whom the wrong is done and also has no relatives.

5:9 And every offering of all the ^d holy things of the children of Israel, which they bring unto the priest, shall be his.

(d) Or, things offered to the Lord, as first fruits, etc.

5:12 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, If any mans wife ^e go aside, and commit a trespass against him,

(e) By breaking the band of marriage, and playing the harlot.

5:15 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 ^f oil upon it, nor put frankincense thereon; for it [is] an offering of jealousy, an offering of memorial, bringing iniquity to ^g remembrance.

(f) Only in the sin offering, and so this offering of jealousy were neither oil nor incense offered.
(g) Or, making the sin known, and not purging it.

5:17 And the priest shall take ^h 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:

(h) Which also is called the water of purification of sprinkling, read ( Numbers 19:9 ).

5:18 And the priest shall set the woman before the LORD, and uncover the womans 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 ⁱ curse:

(i) It was so called by the effect, because it declared the woman to be accursed, and turned to her destruction.

5:21 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 ^k curse and an oath among thy people, when the LORD doth make thy thigh to rot, and thy belly to swell;

(k) Both because she had committed so heinous a fault, and forswore herself in denying the same.

5:22 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, ^l Amen, amen.

(l) That is, may it be as you wished, as in ( Psalms 41:13 ; Deuteronomy 27:15 ).

5:23 And the priest shall write these curses in a book, and he shall ^m blot [them] out with the bitter water:

(m) Shall wash the curses, which are written, into the water in the vessel.

5:26 And the priest shall take an handful of the offering, [even] the memorial thereof, and burn [it] upon the ⁿ altar, and afterward shall cause the woman to drink the water.

(n) Where the incense was offered.

5:31 Then shall the man be ^o guiltless from iniquity, and this woman shall bear her iniquity.

(o) The man might accuse his wife on suspicion and not be reproved.