1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

2Command 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:

3Both 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.

4And 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.

5And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

6Speak 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;

7Then 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.

8But 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.

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

10And every man's hallowed things shall be his: whatsoever any man giveth the priest, it shall be his.

11 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

12Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, If any man's wife go aside, and commit a trespass against him,

13And 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;

14And 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:

15Then 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.

16And the priest shall bring her near, and set her before the LORD:

17And 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:

18And 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:

19And 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:

20But 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:

21Then 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;

22And 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.

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

24And 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.

25Then 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:

26And 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.

27And 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.

28And if the woman be not defiled, but be clean; then she shall be free, and shall conceive seed.

29This is the law of jealousies, when a wife goeth aside to anotherinstead of her husband, and is defiled;

30Or 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.

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

1 And the Lord spake vnto Moses, saying,

2Commaund the children of Israel, that they put out of the campe euery leper, and euery one that hath an issue, and whosoeuer is defiled by the dead:

3Both male and female shal ye put out, without the campe shall yee put them, that they defile not their campes in the middest whereof I dwell.

4And the children of Israel did so, and put them out, without the campe: as the Lord spake vnto Moses, so did the children of Israel.

5 And the Lord spake vnto Moses, saying,

6Speake vnto the children of Israel, When a man or woman shall commit any sinne that men commit, to doe a trespasse against the Lord, and that person be guiltie;

7Then they shall confesse their sinne, which they haue done: and hee shall recompense his trespasse, with the principall thereof, and adde vnto it the fifth part thereof, and giue it vnto him against whom he hath trespassed.

8But if the man haue no kinsman to recompense the trespasse vnto, let the trespasse be recompensed vnto the Lord, euen to the Priest: beside the ramme of the atonement, whereby an atonement shall be made for him.

9And euery offering of all the holy things of the children of Israel, which they bring vnto the Priest, shall be his.

10And euery mans halowed things shall be his: whatsoeuer any man giueth the Priest, it shall be his.

11 And the Lord spake vnto Moses, saying,

12Speake vnto the children of Israel, and say vnto them, If any mans wife goe aside, and commit a trespasse against him;

13And a man lye 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 witnesse against her, neither she be taken with the maner;

14And the spirit of ielousie come vpon him, and he be ielous of his wife, and shee be defiled: or if the spirit of ielousie come vpon him, and hee be ielous of his wife, and she be not defiled:

15Then shall the man bring his wife vnto the Priest, and he shall bring her offering for her, the tenth part of an Ephah of barley meale: hee shall powre no oyle vpon it, nor put frankincense thereon; for it is an offering of ielousie, an offering of memoriall, bringing iniquitie to remembrance:

16And the Priest shall bring her neere, and set her before the Lord.

17And the Priest shall take holy water in an earthen vessell, and of the dust that is in the floore of the Tabernacle the Priest shall take, and put it into the water:

18And the Priest shall set the woman before the Lord, and vncouer the womans head, and put the offering of memoriall in her hands, which is the Ielousie offering: and the Priest shall haue in his hand the bitter water that causeth the curse.

19And the Priest shall charge her by an othe, and say vnto the woman, If no man haue lyen with thee, and if thou hast not gone aside to vncleannesse with another in stead of thy husband, be thou free from this bitter water that causeth the curse.

20But if thou hast gone aside to another in stead of thy husband, and if thou be defiled, and some man hath lien with thee beside thine husband:

21Then the Priest shall charge the woman with an othe of cursing, and the Priest shall say vnto the woman, The Lord make thee a curse, and an othe among thy people, when the Lord doth make thy thigh to rot, and thy belly to swell.

22And 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.

23And the Priest shall write these curses in a booke, and hee shall blot them out with the bitter water:

24And he shall cause the woman to drinke the bitter water, that causeth the curse: and the water that causeth the curse shall enter into her, and become bitter.

25Then the Priest shall take the ielousie offering out of the womans hand, and shall waue the offering before the Lord, and offer it vpon the Altar.

26And the Priest shal take an handfull of the offering, euen the memoriall thereof, and burne it vpon the Altar, and afterward shall cause the woman to drinke the water.

27And when he hath made her to drinke the water, then it shall come to passe, that if shee be defiled, and haue done trespasse 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 shal rot: and the woman shalbe a curse among her people.

28And if the woman be not defiled, but be cleane, then she shall be free, and shall conceiue seed.

29This is the law of ielousies, when a wife goeth aside to another in stead of her husband, and is defiled:

30Or when the spirit of ielousie commeth vpon him, and hee be ielous ouer his wife, and shall set the woman before the Lord, and the Priest shal execute vpon her all this law.

31Then shall the man bee guiltlesse from iniquitie, and this woman shall beare her iniquitie.

 

II == Lev 13:3 , 46 ; 15:2 ; 21:1 ; Num 9:6 , 10 l 12:14 ; 19:11 , 13 ; 31:19

 

III == Lev 26:11-12 ; 2nd Cor 6:16

 

 

 

 

 

 

VI == Lev 6:2-3

 

 

 

VII == Lev 5:5 ; 6:5 ; 26:40 ; Josh 7:19

 

 

 

VIII == Lev 6:6-7 ; 7:7

 

 

 

IX == Ex 29:28 ; Lev 6:17-18 , 26 ; 7:6-7 , 9-10 , 14 ; Num 18:8-9 , 19 ; Deut 18:3-4 ; Ezek 44:29-30

X == Lev 10:13

 

 

 

 

 

 

XIII == Lev 18:20

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

XV == 1st Kings 17:18 ; Ezek 29:16

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

XXI == Josh 6:26 ; 1st Sam 14:24 ; Neh 10:29 ; Jer 29:22

 

 

XXII == Deut 27:15 ; Ps 109:18

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

XXV == Lev 8:27

 

 

 

XXVI == Lev 2:2 , 9

 

 

XXVII == Deut 28:37 ; Ps 83:9 , 11 ; Jer 24:9 ; 29:18 , 22 ; 42:18 ; Zech 8:13

 

 

 

 

 

 

XXIX == Num 5:19

 

 

 

 

 

 

XXXI == Lev 20:17 , 19-20

1 The LORD said to Moses:

2 "Order the Israelites to expel from camp every leper, and everyone suffering from a discharge, and everyone who has become unclean by contact with a corpse.

3 Male and female alike, you shall compel them to go out of the camp; they are not to defile the camp in which I dwell."

4 The Israelites obeyed the command that the LORD had given Moses; they expelled them from the camp.

5 The LORD said to Moses,

6 "Tell the Israelites: If a man (or a woman) commits a fault against his fellow man and wrongs him, thus breaking faith with the LORD,

7 he shall confess the wrong he has done, restore his ill-gotten goods in full, and in addition give one fifth of their value to the one he has wronged.

8 However, if the latter has no next of kin to whom restoration of the ill-gotten goods can be made, the goods to be restored shall be the LORD'S and shall fall to the priest; this is apart from the atonement ram with which the priest makes amends for the guilty man.

9 Likewise, every sacred contribution that the Israelites are bound to make shall fall to the priest.

10 Each Israelite man may dispose of his own sacred contributions; they become the property of the priest to whom he gives them."

11 The LORD said to Moses,

12 "Speak to the Israelites and tell them: If a man's wife goes astray and becomes unfaithful to him

13 by having intercourse with another man, though her husband has not sufficient evidence of the fact, so that her impurity remains unproved for lack of a witness who might have caught her in the act;

14 or if a man is overcome by a feeling of jealousy that makes him suspect his wife, whether she was actually impure or not:

15 he shall bring his wife to the priest and shall take along as an offering for her a tenth of an ephah of barley meal. However, he shall not pour oil on it nor put frankincense over it, since it is a cereal offering of jealousy, a cereal offering for an appeal in a question of guilt.

16 "The priest shall first have the woman come forward and stand before the LORD.

17 In an earthen vessel he shall meanwhile put some holy water, as well as some dust that he has taken from the floor of the Dwelling.

18 Then, as the woman stands before the LORD, the priest shall uncover her head and place in her hands the cereal offering of her appeal, that is, the cereal offering of jealousy, while he himself shall hold the bitter water that brings a curse.

19 Then he shall adjure the woman, saying to her, 'If no other man has had intercourse with you, and you have not gone astray by impurity while under the authority of your husband, be immune to the curse brought by this bitter water.

20 But if you have gone astray while under the authority of your husband and have acted impurely by letting a man other than your husband have intercourse with you' - 

21 so shall the priest adjure the woman with this oath of imprecation - 'may the LORD make you an example of malediction and imprecation among your people by causing your thighs to waste away and your belly to swell!

22 May this water, then, that brings a curse, enter your body to make your belly swell and your thighs waste away!' And the woman shall say, 'Amen, amen!'

23 The priest shall put these imprecations in writing and shall then wash them off into the bitter water,

24 which he is to have the woman drink, so that it may go into her with all its bitter curse.

25 But first he shall take the cereal offering of jealousy from the woman's hand, and having waved this offering before the LORD, shall put it near the altar,

26 where he shall take a handful of the cereal offering as its token offering and burn it on the altar. Only then shall he have the woman drink the water.

27 Once she has done so, if she has been impure and unfaithful to her husband, this bitter water that brings a curse will go into her, and her belly will swell and her thighs will waste away, so that she will become an example of imprecation among her people.

28 If, however, the woman has not defiled herself, but is still pure, she will be immune and will still be able to bear children.

29 "This, then, is the law for jealousy: When a woman goes astray while under the authority of her husband and acts impurely,

30 or when such a feeling of jealousy comes over a man that he becomes suspicious of his wife, he shall have her stand before the LORD, and the priest shall apply this law in full to her.

31 The man shall be free from guilt, but the woman shall bear such guilt as she may have."

CHAPTERS 5 AND 6 MISCELLANEOUS LAW

1 – 4 KEEPING THE CAMP CEREMONIALLY CLEAN

v 1-4. Every leper, everyone with a discharge and everyone defiled by the dead was put out of the camp in order to keep the camp pure and undefiled. Regulations concerning these things are covered in detail in Lev. 12-15 and Num. 19. For the leper, this involved considerable time and inspections. Lesser situations ranged from seven days unclean for contact with a dead body, down to taking a bath after simple discharges and being unclean until the evening before reentering camp.

5 – 10 Restitution for Guilt.

v 5-10. More details on trespass offerings are in Lev. 5:1-6:7 and 7:1-7. Briefly, the offender is to give 120% of the value to the person wronged. If he is dead and has no heirs, it is to go to the priest, as well as the ram of atonement, for his use. Any other voluntary sacred contributions were also to go to the priest.

11 – 31 The case of a wife suspected of Infidelity

v 11-15. If a woman commits adultery and her husband becomes jealous and suspicious, or if she has done no wrong but he becomes jealous and suspicious, he is to bring her to the priest, along with the offering required of her. It is one tenth ephah of barley meal without oil or frankincense, because this is not a thing of joy, but is an offering of jealousy and suspicion, a memorial bringing sin to remembrance.

 

 

 

v 16-18. The ceremony started with the priest bringing the woman before the Lord. To water from the laver he adds dust from the tabernacle floor. He lets her hair down, not because she is known to have sinned, but to show the seriousness of the accusation. He puts the memorial offering in her hands, and he has the bitter water which may cause the curse in his hand. This was a representation of the serpent being cursed to eat dust, Gen. 3:14.

 

v 19-31. The priest tells the woman that if she is innocent she will not be harmed, but if she is guilty, the bitter water will cause her belly to swell and her thigh to rot. She says, “Amen, amen”, and he writes the curse on a scroll, then rinses the ink off into the water. After that he takes the jealousy offering from her hands, waves it before the Lord, burns a handful of it as a memorial on the altar, and requires her to drink the water, eating her words so to speak. If she is innocent, nothing happens and she can bear children, but if she is guilty, the curse causes her belly to swell and thigh to rot. A better translation of “rot” is fall away. The same root word for rot in Job 3:16, Ps. 58:8 and Ecl. 6:3 is a miscarriage or untimely birth. Hence, her belly would swell with pregnancy, but her thigh would rot, or fall away, meaning an untimely birth. Not a magic potion as the heathen practice nor a psychosomatic illness, but God brought death of the illegitimate child just as he withheld or opened wombs for birth in several cases. Either way, the man is guiltless for feelings he couldn’t control.