CHAPTER 5
“Command
the Israelites
to send away
from
the camp
anyone
with a skin disease,
anyone
who has a bodily discharge,
and anyone
who is defiled
by a dead body.
You must send away
male
and
female alike;
send them
outside
the camp,
so that they will not
defile
their camp
where
I
dwell
among them.”
The Israelites
did
this,
sending
such people
outside
the camp.
They
did
just as
the LORD
had instructed
Moses.
“Tell
the Israelites that
when
a man
or
woman
acts
unfaithfully
against the LORD
by committing
any
sin
against another,
that
person
is guilty
and must confess
the sin
he has committed.
He must pay full compensation,
add
a fifth
to its value,
and give all this
to the one
he has wronged.
But if
the man
has no
relative
to compensate,
the restitution
belongs to the LORD
and must be given to the priest
along with
the ram
of atonement,
by which
the atonement is made
for him.
Each man’s
sacred gifts
are his own,
but whatever
he
gives
to the priest
will belong to
the priest.”
“Speak
to
the Israelites
and tell them that
if
any man’s
wife
goes astray
and is unfaithful
to him
by sleeping with
another man,
and it is concealed
from
her husband
and her
impurity
is undetected
(since there is no
witness against her
and she
was not
caught in the act),
and if a feeling
of jealousy
comes over
her husband
and he suspects
his wife
who
has defiled herself—
or
if a feeling
of jealousy
comes over
him
and he suspects
her
even though she
has not
defiled herself—
then he
is to bring
his wife
to
the priest.
He must also bring
for her
an offering
of a tenth
of an ephah
of barley
flour.
He is not
to pour
oil
over
it or put
frankincense
on it,
because
it
is a grain offering
for jealousy,
an offering
of memorial
as a reminder
of iniquity.
Then he
is to take
some holy
water
in a clay
jar
and put
some of
the dust
from the tabernacle
floor
into
the water.
After the priest
has the woman
stand
before
the LORD,
he is to let down
her
hair
and place
in
her hands
the grain offering
of memorial,
which
is the grain offering
for jealousy.
The priest
is
to hold
the bitter
water
that brings a curse.
And he
is to require the woman to take an oath
and say
to
her,
‘If
no other
man
has slept with you
and
you have not
gone astray
and become defiled
while under
your husband’s authority,
may you be immune
to this
bitter
water
that brings a curse.
But if
you
have gone astray
while under
your husband’s authority
and
defiled yourself
with a man
other than
your husband
who has slept
with you’—
then the priest
shall have the woman
swear
under the oath
of the curse—
‘May the LORD
make
you
an attested
curse
among
your people
if He
makes
your thigh
shrivel
and your belly
swell.
May this
water
that brings a curse
enter
your stomach
and cause your belly
to swell
and your thigh
to shrivel.’
Then the woman
is to say,
‘Amen,
Amen.’
He is to have the woman
drink
the bitter
water
that brings a curse,
and it
will enter
her
and cause her bitter
suffering.
The priest
shall take
from her
hand
the grain offering
for jealousy,
wave
it
before
the LORD,
and bring
it to
the altar.
The priest is then
to take a handful
of
the grain offering
as a memorial portion
and burn
it on the altar;
after that
he is to have the woman
drink
the water.
When he has made her drink
the water,
if
she has defiled
herself and been unfaithful
to her husband,
then the water
that brings a curse
will enter
her
and cause bitter suffering;
her belly
will swell,
her thigh
will shrivel,
and she will become
accursed
among
her people.
But if
the woman
has not
defiled herself
and is clean,
she
will be unaffected
and able to conceive
children.
This
is the law
of jealousy
when
a wife
goes astray
and defiles herself
while under
her husband’s authority,
or
when
a feeling
of jealousy
comes over
a husband
and he suspects
his wife.
He is to have the woman
stand
before
the LORD,
and the priest
is to apply
to her
this
entire
ritual.