The Fallible · Synthetic · Study Bible
The Adultery Test
Numbers 5:11–31 — The Adultery Test. Each verse below carries the full apparatus: the Berean Standard Bible, the vocalized original (tap any word), and a parsed breakdown of every term transcribed from the interlinear. Synthesized commentary, canonical threads, and the reading of Christ gather at the end, over the whole unit.
11Then the LORD said to Moses,
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
Yah·weh way·ḏab·bêr ’el- mō·šeh lê·mōr
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And spoke Yahweh to Moses, saying,
Where the English smooths the original
As any suspicion cherished by a man against his wife, that she either is or has been guilty of adultery, whether well-founded or not, is sufficient to shake the marriage connection to its very roots, and to undermine, along with marriage, the foundation of the civil commonwealth, it was of the greatest importance to guard against this moral evilK&D frames the whole statute as a safeguard of marriage and society, not mere ritual curiosity.
Since the crime of adultery is especially defiling and destructive of the very foundations of social order, the whole subject is dealt with at a length proportionate to its importance.
the custom of trial by ordeal was a very ancient feature in Israelite life, as it was in the life of many other nationsCambridge places the ordeal in its ancient-Near-Eastern context — a form God regulated rather than invented.
12“Speak to the Israelites and tell them that if any man’s wife goes astray and is unfaithful to him
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
dab·bêr ’el- bə·nê yiś·rā·’êl wə·’ā·mar·tā ’ă·lê·hem kî- ’îš ’îš ’iš·tōw ṯiś·ṭeh ū·mā·‘ă·lāh ḇōw mā·‘al
Literal — word-for-word from the original
Speak to the sons of Israel and you shall say to them: If any man's wife turns aside and acts treacherously against him a treachery,
Where the English smooths the original
This law was given partly to deter wives from adulterous practices, and partly to secure wives against the rage of their hard-hearted husbands, who otherwise might upon mere suspicions destroy them, or at least put them away.Poole reads the ordeal as protective of the woman as much as accusatory.
If a man’s wife go aside — From the way of piety and virtue, and that either in truth or in her husband’s opinion.
The adultery of the wife is here regarded only from a social point of view; the injury to the husband, the destruction of his peace of mind, even by the bare suspicion, and the consequent troubling of Israel, is the thing dwelt upon.
the sin of adultery, which is a going aside out of the way of virtue and chastity, and a trespass against an husband, a breach of the marriage covenant with him, a defiling his bed
13by 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),
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
wə·šā·ḵaḇ ’îš ’ō·ṯāh šiḵ·ḇaṯ- ze·ra‘ wə·ne‘·lam mê·‘ê·nê ’î·šāh wə·hî niṭ·mā·’āh wə·nis·tə·rāh ’ên wə·‘êḏ bāh wə·hi·w lō niṯ·pā·śāh
Literal — word-for-word from the original
and a man lies with her, an emission of seed, and it is hidden from the eyes of her husband, and she is concealed and defiled, and there is no witness against her, and she was not seized,
Where the English smooths the original
On the evidence of two witnesses at leastCambridge supplies the legal gap the ordeal fills: without witnesses, no human court could convict (Deut 19:15).
She utterly denying it
it be hid from the eyes of her husband, and be kept close; so that it is not known by her husband, nor by any other
It means no doubt "taken in the act"
14and 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—
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rū·aḥ- qin·’āh wə·‘ā·ḇar ‘ā·lāw wə·qin·nê ’eṯ- ’iš·tōw wə·hi·w niṭ·mā·’āh ’ōw- rū·aḥ- qin·’āh ‘ā·ḇar ‘ā·lāw wə·qin·nê ’eṯ- ’iš·tōw wə·hî lō niṭ·mā·’āh
Literal — word-for-word from the original
and a spirit of jealousy passes over him and he is jealous over his wife — and she is defiled; or a spirit of jealousy passes over him and he is jealous over his wife — and she is not defiled —
Where the English smooths the original
The spirit of jealousy, i.e. a strong opinion or suggestion or inward motion of that kind, whether from a good or evil spirit. Thus we read of the spirit of wisdom
A thought rises up in his mind, a strong suspicion works in him, which he cannot resist and throw off, but it remains with him, and makes him very uneasy
As far as the mischief here dealt with was concerned, it was almost equally great whether the woman was guilty or not.The Pulpit Commentary sees the ordeal as healing a breach that suspicion alone — true or false — had already opened.
15then 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.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
hā·’îš ’eṯ- wə·hê·ḇî ’iš·tōw ’el- hak·kō·hên wə·hê·ḇî ’eṯ- ‘ā·le·hā qā·rə·bā·nāh ‘ă·śî·riṯ hā·’ê·p̄āh śə·‘ō·rîm qe·maḥ lō- yi·ṣōq še·men wə·lō- ‘ā·lāw yit·tên lə·ḇō·nāh ‘ā·lāw kî- hū min·ḥaṯ qə·nā·’ōṯ min·ḥaṯ zik·kā·rō·wn maz·ke·reṯ ‘ā·wōn
Literal — word-for-word from the original
then the man shall bring his wife to the priest, and bring her offering for her, a tenth of an ephah of barley meal; he shall not pour on it oil and shall not put on it frankincense, for it is a grain offering of jealousies, a grain offering of remembrance, bringing iniquity to mind.
Where the English smooths the original
oil and incense, the symbols of the Spirit of God and prayer, were not to be added to her offering. It was an offering of jealousy (קנאת, an intensive plural)K&D reads the omitted oil and incense as the absence of joy and intercession in a defiled cause.
The offering was to be of the cheapest and coarsest kind, barleyBarnes ties the barley directly to the sin-offering of Lev 5:11, made likewise without oil or frankincense.
the priest was first to endeavour to persuade her to confess the truthBenson preserves the rabbinic memory that confession, not the ordeal, was the merciful first resort.
Or, making the sin known, and not purging it.Geneva captures the offering's strict function: it exposes, it does not atone.
16The priest is to bring the wife forward and have her stand before the LORD.
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hak·kō·hên wə·hiq·rîḇ ’ō·ṯāh wə·he·‘ĕ·mi·ḏāh lip̄·nê Yah·weh
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And the priest shall bring her near and make her stand before the face of Yahweh.
Where the English smooths the original
17Then he is to take some holy water in a clay jar and put some of the dust from the tabernacle floor into the water.
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hak·kō·hên wə·lā·qaḥ qə·ḏō·šîm ma·yim ḥā·reś biḵ·lî- yiq·qaḥ hak·kō·hên wə·nā·ṯan ū·min- he·‘ā·p̄ār ’ă·šer yih·yeh ham·miš·kān bə·qar·qa‘ ’el- ham·mā·yim
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And the priest shall take holy water in an earthen vessel, and from the dust that is on the floor of the dwelling the priest shall take and put into the water.
Where the English smooths the original
the dust of the tabernacle was the only thing which belonged to the tabernacle, and which was, so to speak, impregnated with the awful holiness of him that dwelt therein, that could be mixed with water and drunkThe Pulpit Commentary offers the plainest reading: the dust simply carried the sanctuary's holiness into the cup.
Dust is an emblem of a state of condemnation
an earthen vessel; either to signify that frailty and vileness of which she stood accused, or express her sorrowful and shameful condition, or because, after this use, it was to be broken in pieces
ὕδωρ καθαρὸν ζῶν —‘pure living water,’ which suggests that in the primitive ritual ‘running water’ was prescribedCambridge flags the Septuagint variant — possibly the older reading behind the unique 'holy water.'
18After 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.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
hak·kō·hên ’eṯ- hā·’iš·šāh wə·he·‘ĕ·mîḏ lip̄·nê Yah·weh ū·p̄ā·ra‘ ’eṯ- hā·’iš·šāh rōš wə·nā·ṯan ‘al- kap·pe·hā ’êṯ min·ḥaṯ haz·zik·kā·rō·wn hî min·ḥaṯ qə·nā·’ōṯ hak·kō·hên yih·yū ū·ḇə·yaḏ ham·mā·rîm mê ham·’ā·ră·rîm
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And the priest shall make the woman stand before the face of Yahweh and unbind the woman's head, and put on her palms the grain offering of remembrance — it is a grain offering of jealousies — and in the priest's hand shall be the bitter water that brings the curse.
Where the English smooths the original
The loosening of the hair of the head (see Leviticus 13:45 ), in other cases a sign of mourning, is to be regarded here as a removal or loosening of the female head-dress, and a symbol of the loss of the proper ornament of female morality and conjugal fidelity.K&D ties the loosed hair to the leper's of Lev 13:45 — a public sign of defilement.
It was not literally bitter, but it was so fraught with conviction and judgment as to bring bitter suffering on the guilty.
Uncover the woman’s head; partly, that she might be made sensible how manifest she and all her ways were to God
the offering of memorial into her hands, which is the jealousy offering; to weary herGill records the rabbinic detail that the heavy offering in her hands was meant to wear her toward confession.
19And he is to put the woman under 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.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
hak·kō·hên wə·hiš·bî·a‘ ’ō·ṯāh wə·’ā·mar ’el- hā·’iš·šāh ’im- lō ’îš ’ō·ṯāḵ šā·ḵaḇ wə·’im- lō śā·ṭîṯ ṭum·’āh ta·ḥaṯ ’î·šêḵ hin·nā·qî hā·’êl·leh ham·mā·rîm mim·mê ham·’ā·ră·rîm
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And the priest shall make her swear and say to the woman: If no man has lain with you, and if you have not turned aside to defilement under your husband, be cleared from this bitter water that brings the curse.
Where the English smooths the original
The imperative is a sign of certain assuranceK&D: "be clear" is not a hope but a promise to the innocent — the water cannot touch her.
being under thy husband ] i.e. under his authority
literally, "gone astray from" thy husband by uncleanness
The oath presupposed her innocence.The Pulpit Commentary notes the oath's structure leads with the assumption of innocence.
20But if you have gone astray while under your husband’s authority and have defiled yourself and lain carnally with a man other than your husband’—
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kî wə·’at śā·ṭîṯ ta·ḥaṯ ’î·šêḵ wə·ḵî niṭ·mêṯ way·yit·tên šə·ḵā·ḇə·tōw ’îš bāḵ ’eṯ- mib·bal·‘ă·ḏê ’î·šêḵ
Literal — word-for-word from the original
But if you have turned aside under your husband, and if you have defiled yourself, and a man has given his lying-with in you other than your husband —
Where the English smooths the original
a man has given thee his seed beside thy husbandK&D renders the clause with the same blunt precision as the Hebrew noun shᵉkôbeth.
a heap of words are made use of to express the sin, and that there might be no evasion of it, and that it might be clear what was intended, this being said on oath
But 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:
21and the priest shall have the woman swear under the oath of the curse—‘then may the LORD make you an attested curse among your people by making your thigh shrivel and your belly swell.
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hak·kō·hên ’eṯ- hā·’iš·šāh wə·hiš·bî·a‘ biš·ḇu·‘aṯ hā·’ā·lāh hak·kō·hên wə·’ā·mar lā·’iš·šāh Yah·weh yit·tên ’ō·w·ṯāḵ lə·’ā·lāh wə·liš·ḇu·‘āh bə·ṯō·wḵ ‘am·mêḵ Yah·weh ’eṯ- bə·ṯêṯ yə·rê·ḵêḵ nō·p̄e·leṯ wə·’eṯ- biṭ·nêḵ ṣā·ḇāh
Literal — word-for-word from the original
— and the priest shall make the woman swear with the oath of the curse, and the priest shall say to the woman: May Yahweh make you a curse and an oath in the midst of your people, when Yahweh makes your thigh fall and your belly swell;
Where the English smooths the original
Thy thigh; a modest signification of the genital parts, used both in ScripturePoole identifies the euphemism: the curse falls on the organs of the offense.
The Lord make thee a curse, &c.—a usual form of imprecation
Both because she had committed so heinous a fault, and forswore herself in denying the same.
yet not as the natural cause of them, for they are ascribed to the Lord, and to a supernatural and miraculous power of hisGill insists the effect is God's act, not the potion's chemistry.
22May 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.’
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
hā·’êl·leh ham·ma·yim ham·’ā·rə·rîm ū·ḇā·’ū bə·mê·‘a·yiḵ be·ṭen laṣ·bō·wṯ yā·rêḵ wə·lan·pil hā·’iš·šāh wə·’ā·mə·rāh ’ā·mên ’ā·mên
Literal — word-for-word from the original
and this water that brings the curse shall enter into your bowels to make the belly swell and the thigh fall. And the woman shall say, Amen, Amen.
Where the English smooths the original
The reduplication of the word was designed as an evidence of the woman's innocence, and a willingness that God would do to her according to her desert.
the organs of sin are the seat of the plague.The Pulpit Commentary distills the lex talionis of the curse: judgment lands where the sin was done.
The word is doubled by her as an evidence of her innocency, and ardent desire that God would deal with her according to her desert.
That is, may it be as you wishedGeneva glosses the Amen as full self-consignment to the oath's terms.
23And the priest shall write these curses on a scroll and wash them off into the bitter water.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
hak·kō·hên wə·ḵā·ṯaḇ ’eṯ- hā·’êl·leh hā·’ā·lōṯ bas·sê·p̄er ū·mā·ḥāh ’el- ham·mā·rîm mê
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And the priest shall write these curses on a scroll and wash them off into the bitter water.
Where the English smooths the original
Travelers speak of the natives of Africa as still habitually seeking to obtain the full force of a written charm by drinking the water into which they have washed it.Barnes documents the still-living custom that the rite presupposes — the written word drunk down.
a symbolical act, to set forth the truth, that God imparted to the water the power to act injuriously upon a guilty body, though it would do no harm to an innocent one
The curse is considered to be in this manner literally conveyed to the potion.
if she was innocent, the curses should be blotted out and come to nothing, and if she were guilty, she should find in her the effects of this water
24He is to have the woman drink the bitter water that brings a curse, and it will enter her and may cause her bitter suffering.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
hā·’iš·šāh ’eṯ- wə·hiš·qāh ’eṯ- ham·mā·rîm mê ham·’ā·ră·rîm ham·ma·yim ū·ḇā·’ū ḇāh lə·mā·rîm ham·’ā·ră·rîm
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And he shall make the woman drink the bitter water that brings the curse, and the curse-bringing water shall enter into her for bitterness.
Where the English smooths the original
Thus was symbolised both her full acceptance of the hypothetical curse (compare Ezekiel 3:1-3 ; Jeremiah 15:16 ; Revelation 10:9 ), and its actual operation upon her if she should be guiltyBarnes hears the prophetic act of eating God's word — life to the faithful, judgment to the false.
lit. ‘for bitterness,’ i.e. proving injurious.
This is said by anticipation, because she did not really drink it until after the offering
this she was obliged to drink, whether she would or not
25The priest shall take from her hand the grain offering for jealousy, wave it before the LORD, and bring it to the altar.
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hak·kō·hên wə·lā·qaḥ hā·’iš·šāh ’êṯ mî·yaḏ min·ḥaṯ haq·qə·nā·’ōṯ wə·hê·nîp̄ ’eṯ- ham·min·ḥāh lip̄·nê Yah·weh wə·hiq·rîḇ ’ō·ṯāh ’el- ham·miz·bê·aḥ
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And the priest shall take from the woman's hand the grain offering of jealousy, and wave the offering before the face of Yahweh, and bring it near to the altar.
Where the English smooths the original
All this was done before the actual ordeal by drinking the water, in order that the woman might in the most solemn and complete way possible be brought face to face with the holiness of God.
The word ‘wave’ probably does not bear its technical meaningCambridge flags the lexical uncertainty: 'wave' may here mean only 'offer/present.'
the priest put his hand under hers, and waved itGill records the Mishnaic choreography of the joint waving.
26Then the priest is 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.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
hak·kō·hên wə·qā·maṣ min- ham·min·ḥāh ’eṯ- ’az·kā·rā·ṯāh wə·hiq·ṭîr ham·miz·bê·ḥāh wə·’a·ḥar hā·’iš·šāh ’eṯ- yaš·qeh ’eṯ- ham·mā·yim
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And the priest shall grasp a handful from the grain offering, its memorial portion, and turn it to smoke on the altar, and afterward shall make the woman drink the water.
Where the English smooths the original
"Memorial" here is not the same as "memorial" in Numbers 5:15 .Barnes catches the lexical shift — azkârâh (v. 26) versus zikkârôn (v. 15) — that the English flattens.
The technical term ’azkârâh is confined to PCambridge confirms the rare priestly vocabulary linking this handful to Lev 2:2 and 5:11-12.
this did not take place till after the presentation of the sacrifice and the burning of the memorial of it upon the altarK&D reconstructs the true ritual order against the proleptic mention in v. 24.
27When 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.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
wə·hiš·qāh ’eṯ- ham·ma·yim wə·hā·yə·ṯāh ’im- niṭ·mə·’āh wat·tim·‘ōl ma·‘al bə·’î·šāh ham·ma·yim ham·’ā·ră·rîm ū·ḇā·’ū ḇāh lə·mā·rîm ḇiṭ·nāh wə·ṣā·ḇə·ṯāh yə·rê·ḵāh wə·nā·p̄ə·lāh wə·hā·yə·ṯāh hā·’iš·šāh lə·’ā·lāh bə·qe·reḇ ‘am·māh
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And when he has made her drink the water, then it shall be — if she has defiled herself and acted treacherously against her husband — that the curse-bringing water shall enter into her for bitterness, and her belly shall swell and her thigh shall fall, and the woman shall become a curse in the midst of her people.
Where the English smooths the original
she shall become a perfect proverb of a curse and wretchedness in the mouths of all her neighbours.
Of itself, the drink was not noxious; and could only produce the effects here described by a special interposition of God.Barnes is emphatic: the potion had no natural power; only God's act could produce the sign.
the water that causeth the curse shall come (enter) into her as bitterness
these could have no physical influence to produce such effects; but they must be ascribed to a supernatural cause, the power and curse of God attending this draught
28But if the woman has not defiled herself and is clean, she will be unaffected and able to conceive children.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
wə·’im- hā·’iš·šāh lō niṭ·mə·’āh ū·ṭə·hō·rāh hî wə·niq·qə·ṯāh wə·niz·rə·‘āh zā·ra‘
Literal — word-for-word from the original
But if the woman has not defiled herself and she is clean, then she shall be cleared and shall be sown with seed.
Where the English smooths the original
she shall be acquitted ; proved innocent.
shall bring forth children: as the Jews say, in case of her innocence, she infallibly did, yea, though she had been barren before.
As a sign of the Divine favour; to a Jewish woman the surest and most regardedThe Pulpit Commentary: the gift of conception was vindication's clearest seal.
she will remain free (from the threatened punishment of God), and will conceive seed
29This is the law of jealousy when a wife goes astray and defiles herself while under her husband’s authority,
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zōṯ tō·w·raṯ haq·qə·nā·’ōṯ ’ă·šer ’iš·šāh tiś·ṭeh wə·niṭ·mā·’āh ta·ḥaṯ ’î·šāh
Literal — word-for-word from the original
This is the law of jealousies, when a wife turns aside under her husband and defiles herself,
Where the English smooths the original
the design, therefore, of this institution was to prevent these evils, by appointing a method whereby injured innocence might be cleared, and every shameful breach of conjugal fidelity brought to condign punishment.Benson (quoting Grotius) states the law's twofold aim: vindicate the innocent, punish the guilty.
its sanction by divine authority in a corrected and improved form exhibits a proof at once of the wisdom and condescension of God.JFB reads the ordeal as God taking a universal heathen custom and purifying it for righteous ends.
It was ever the wisdom of God, as revealed in the sacred volume, to take men as they wereThe Pulpit Commentary frames the ordeal as accommodation — God meeting a 'rude and barbarous' age where it stood.
to detect lewdness committed in the most secret manner; whereby God gave proof of his omniscience
30or 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 law.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
’ōw ’ă·šer rū·aḥ qin·’āh ta·‘ă·ḇōr ‘ā·lāw ’îš wə·qin·nê ’eṯ- ’iš·tōw hā·’iš·šāh wə·he·‘ĕ·mîḏ ’eṯ- lip̄·nê Yah·weh hak·kō·hên ’êṯ wə·‘ā·śāh lāh haz·zōṯ kāl- hat·tō·w·rāh
Literal — word-for-word from the original
or a man over whom a spirit of jealousy passes and he is jealous over his wife — then he shall make the woman stand before the face of Yahweh, and the priest shall do to her all this law.
Where the English smooths the original
he shall proceed according to the law, and perform every rite and ceremony required; nor could any stop be put to it, unless the woman owned she was defiled.
the man who adopted this course with a wife suspected of adultery was free from sin, but the woman would bear her guilt
an ordeal through which a suspected adulteress was made to go—the ceremony being of that terrifying nature, that, on the known principles of human nature, guilt or innocence could not fail to appear.
31The husband will be free from guilt, but the woman shall bear her iniquity.”
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
hā·’îš wə·niq·qāh mê·‘ā·wōn ha·hi·w wə·hā·’iš·šāh tiś·śā ’eṯ- ‘ă·wō·nāh
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And the man shall be cleared of iniquity, but that woman shall bear her iniquity.
Where the English smooths the original
That is, the punishment of her iniquity, whether she was false to her husband, or by any light carriage gave him occasion to suspect her.
which he should not have been, if he had either dissembled or indulged her in so great a wickedness, and not endeavoured to bring her either to repentance or punishment
the man is placed on an equality with the woman with reference to the sin of adultery; and thus the apparent partiality, that a man could sue his wife for adultery, but not the wife her husband, is removed.K&D answers the charge of one-sidedness by reading the law alongside Lev 20:10.
The man might accuse his wife on suspicion and not be reproved.
The verse-by-verse work is done. What follows gathers the whole unit. All three layers below are machine-generated (⚙). Weigh them; they have no authority.
AI synthesis — woven from the public-domain voices above and the original text; generated and fallible.
The unit opens with the LORD Himself (Yah·weh, H3068, v. 11) authoring a tôrat haq·qə·nā·’ōṯ — "the law of the jealousies" (v. 29), the noun an intensive plural that the original keeps charged from first verse to last. The case is the unprovable one: a wife who has "turned aside" (tiś·ṭeh, H7847, a rare verb of just six occurrences) and "acted treacherously a treachery" (mā·‘ă·lāh ... mā·‘al, v. 12), yet "there is no witness" and "she was not seized" (v. 13). On the open partiality of a law that tries only wives, the commentators divide honestly. Joseph Benson and Matthew Poole both defend it as protective: it kept "hard-hearted husbands" from destroying their wives "upon mere suspicions." Keil & Delitzsch answers the deeper objection by pairing it with Leviticus 20:10, where "the man is placed on an equality with the woman" so that "the apparent partiality... is removed." Albert Barnes, JFB, and the Cambridge Bible set the rite in its ancient context — trial by ordeal was "a very ancient feature in Israelite life, as it was in the life of many other nations" — and JFB reaches the boldest reading: God took a custom "deep-rooted as well as universal" and gave it "sanction by divine authority in a corrected and improved form" — a "proof at once of the wisdom and condescension of God." The offering itself preaches: barley, not wheat (the food of the poor and of beasts), and, alone among meal-offerings, stripped of oil and frankincense — "the symbols of the Spirit of God and prayer" (K&D) — exactly as in the poor man's sin-offering of Leviticus 5:11, a verbal tie the Verifier confirms.
The ritual's strange materials are where the voices grow richest. The priest brings "holy water" (ma·yim qə·ḏō·šîm, v. 17) — a phrase, the Cambridge Bible and Pulpit Commentary note, found nowhere else in Scripture, and which the Septuagint reads as "pure living water," perhaps the older text. Into it goes ‘âphâr (H6083), dust from the sanctuary floor. Here the older expositors hear Eden: Barnes — "Dust is an emblem of a state of condemnation"; K&D — "dust was eaten by the serpent" (Gen 3:14) "as the curse of sin." Yet the Pulpit Commentary resists the over-reading with bracing honesty, judging the serpent-symbolism "far too recondite to have been intended here", and offering instead the plain sense: the dust "was the only thing which belonged to the tabernacle... impregnated with the awful holiness of him that dwelt therein" that could be drunk. The wife's hair is "unbound" (ū·p̄ā·ra‘, H6544 — the same rare verb as the leper's loosed hair in Lev 13:45, so K&D), and the water named "bitter, the curse-bringing" (v. 18) — bitter, every voice insists, not in taste but in effect: "not literally bitter, but... so fraught with conviction and judgment as to bring bitter suffering on the guilty" (Pulpit Commentary). Then the curses are written (kâthab, v. 23) on a scroll and blotted out (mâchâh, H4229 — the verb of Exodus 32:33, names erased from God's book) into the water. Barnes and the Cambridge Bible document the custom this presupposes, still living: the written charm dissolved and drunk, "literally conveyed to the potion." The woman drinks the very words spoken over her.
Only after the meal-offering is grasped by the fistful (qâmats, H7061, a verb of three occurrences) and turned to smoke (v. 26) is the water given — K&D carefully reconstructs the order against the proleptic mention in v. 24, since (in his words) "As a known adulteress, she could not have offered a meat-offering at all." Then the outcomes part. If guilty, the curse spoken in v. 21 is reported fulfilled (vv. 22, 27): belly swelling, thigh falling — the punishment striking, in the words the Pulpit Commentary distills, where "the organs of sin are the seat of the plague." Every voice that touches the physiology insists the water held no natural power: Barnes — "Of itself, the drink was not noxious"; Gill — "these could have no physical influence... but they must be ascribed to a supernatural cause, the power and curse of God," the effects being "ascribed to the Lord, and to a supernatural and miraculous power of his." If innocent, the reversal is total: she is "acquitted" (nâqâh, H5352, v. 28 — the Cambridge Bible: "proved innocent") and "sown with seed" (niz·rə·‘āh zā·ra‘) — the womb the curse would have wasted is instead made fruitful, the "surest and most regarded" sign of divine favor (Pulpit Commentary). The law closes (vv. 29-31) with the husband "cleared" (nâqâh again) and the woman, if guilty, made to "bear her iniquity" (tiś·śā ’eṯ ‘ă·wō·nāh, H5375 + H5771) — the lifting-verb that elsewhere names the scapegoat's bearing-away of sin.
Read under Sola Scriptura, this terrifying rite is, at root, a parable of the secret sin no court can reach and the God from whom nothing is hid. Matthew Henry states the unit's whole burden in one line: "Secret sins are known to God, and sometimes are strangely brought to light in this life; and that there is a day coming when God will, by Christ, judge the secrets of men according to the gospel" (Rom 2:16). The ordeal exists precisely for the case the law of witnesses cannot touch (v. 13) — and answers it not by clever procedure but by handing the verdict to the One whose eyes the sin was hidden from. Three things press hardest. First, the water is morally neutral until guilt makes it bitter: the same cup vindicates the clean and condemns the false — "The same providence is for good to some, and for hurt to others" (Henry). Second, the curse must be drunk: written out, blotted into water, and taken into the body — a sin-bearing made internal, the word of judgment swallowed. And third, where the guilty womb is wasted, the innocent womb is made fruitful: judgment and life flow from one ordeal, depending only on the truth. The law's hard one-sidedness, and its borrowed pagan shape, are not hidden by the text or by its best readers; they are the very place where, as JFB says, divine "condescension" stooped to a rude age and bent its custom toward protecting the wronged and clearing the innocent. The whole points beyond itself: to a day when every secret is judged, and to a curse that One would drink to the dregs so that the guilty might be "sown with seed" — vindicated, fruitful, free. This is the tool's fallible reading, offered to be tested against the text, not set above it.
The cup is bitter only to the guilty: the same draught that wastes the false womb makes the true one fruitful — secret sin dragged at last before the eyes it was hidden from.
AI-generated connections. Each carries a verification badge with a recorded basis; contested links are flagged.
The rare verb for the wife's offense, sâṭâh ("turn aside," v. 12), is the same verb Proverbs uses of the man lured from the path: "turn not aside" (Prov 4:15) and "let not thine heart decline to her ways, go not astray" (Prov 7:25). The Verifier records the shared lexeme H7847 sâṭâh — a genuinely rare word (only six verses in the whole Hebrew Bible), so the tie carries verbal weight: the law of the suspected wife and the wisdom-warnings against adultery draw on one deliberate vocabulary of deviation from the marriage road.
Numbers 5:12 · Proverbs 4:15 · Proverbs 7:25
basis: Verifier: shared rare lexeme H7847 sâṭâh (in only 6 vv) with both Prov 4:15 and Prov 7:25 — Hebrew↔Hebrew verbal link; the word's rarity carries the tier
Adultery is named in v. 12 with the doubled cognate māʻal ... maʻal ("act treacherously a treachery," H4603/H4604) — the same root that names sacrilege against the LORD's holy things in Leviticus 5:15 and Achan's treachery with the devoted spoil (Josh 7:1). The Verifier ties v. 13 thematically to Leviticus 18:20 and 18:23 via the shared keywords H2930 ṭâmêʼ ("defile") and H2233 zeraʻ ("seed"), both high-frequency, so this is a structural link: the law of jealousy borrows the holiness code's exact language for defiling intercourse, treating the marriage bond as a sacred trust whose breach is a kind of sacrilege.
Numbers 5:13 · Leviticus 18:20 · Leviticus 18:23
basis: Verifier: shared H2930 ṭâmêʼ (142 vv) + H2233 zeraʻ (205 vv) with Lev 18:20, and H2930 + H7903 shᵉkôbeth with Lev 18:23 — high-frequency defilement vocabulary, a shared legal motif rather than a quotation
The "spirit of jealousy" that comes over the husband (v. 14) is built on qânâʼ/qinʼâh (H7065/H7068), the very root of the LORD's self-name qannâ, "jealous" (Ex 34:14). The Verifier confirms this cluster shared verbally with Phinehas' zeal (Num 25:11), the LORD's jealousy for Zion (Zech 1:14; 8:2), and even the reconciled jealousy of Ephraim and Judah (Isa 11:13). The rarer partner qânâʼ (29 vv) lifts the link above mere common vocabulary: human marriage-jealousy is cast in the exact language of covenant-jealousy, the protective zeal of an exclusive bond.
Numbers 5:14 · Numbers 25:11 · Zechariah 1:14 · Isaiah 11:13
basis: Verifier: shared lexemes H7068 qinʼâh (41 vv) + the rarer H7065 qânâʼ (29 vv) with Num 25:11, Zech 1:14, Isa 11:13 — Hebrew↔Hebrew verbal link; qânâʼ's relative rarity carries the tier
The jealousy-offering is barley meal with neither oil nor frankincense (v. 15), and the commentators (Barnes, JFB, Poole, Gill, Geneva, Cambridge) unanimously cross-reference Leviticus 5:11 — the sin-offering of one too poor for a lamb, likewise made "of fine flour... he shall put no oil upon it, neither shall he put any frankincense thereon." The Verifier confirms a strong verbal tie: shared H3828 lᵉbôwnâh (frankincense, 21 vv), H374 ʼêyphâh (ephah, 29 vv), H6224 ʻăsîyrîy (tenth, 26 vv), and H7133 qorbân (offering). The withheld symbols of joy and acceptance mark both offerings as solemn, sin-shadowed gifts.
Numbers 5:15 · Leviticus 5:11
basis: Verifier: shared lexemes H3828 lᵉbôwnâh (21 vv) + H6224 ʻăsîyrîy (26 vv) + H374 ʼêyphâh (29 vv) + H7133 qorbân — Hebrew↔Hebrew verbal link to the poor man's sin-offering of Lev 5:11
The priest "unbinds" the woman's head (v. 18) with the verb pâraʻ (H6544), the same verb that commands the leper to let his hair "hang loose" as a public sign of his uncleanness and mourning (Lev 13:45). K&D draws the line explicitly: the loosed hair is "a symbol of the loss of the proper ornament of female morality and conjugal fidelity." The two verses share H6544 pâraʻ, a word of only fifteen occurrences, alongside the common rôʼsh ("head"). Honesty requires the lower tier: a single moderately-rare shared word does not reach the Verifier's verbal threshold, so this is recorded as structural — a deliberate motif-echo, not a quotation. The suspected wife is given, ritually, the leper's posture of disheveled shame.
Numbers 5:18 · Leviticus 13:45
basis: Verifier returns 'structural / thematic — confirmed': shared H6544 pâraʻ (15 vv) + H7218 rôʼsh (547 vv) — only one moderately-rare lexeme (freq 15, above the verbal threshold of ≤12 for a lone word), so a shared motif of ritually-loosed hair, not a verbal quotation. Downgraded from an earlier 'verbal' overclaim.
The priest writes the curses on a sefer (scroll/book) and mâchâh — "blots them out" — into the water (v. 23). Both words recur in Moses' great intercession: "blot me out of Thy book" / "him will I blot out of My book" (Ex 32:32-33). The Verifier confirms the shared lexemes H4229 mâchâh ("blot out," 32 vv) and H5612 çêpher ("book/writing"). These are not the rarest words, so the tie is structural rather than a quotation; but the resonance is real and sobering — the same verb that erases a name from the register of the living here transfers a curse from parchment into a cup.
Numbers 5:23 · Exodus 32:33
basis: Verifier: shared H4229 mâchâh (32 vv) + H5612 çêpher (174 vv) with Ex 32:33 — moderately common words, so a shared motif of writing-and-blotting rather than a verbal quotation
The priest grasps a fistful (qâmats, v. 26) as the offering's azkârâh ("memorial / token portion") and turns it to smoke on the altar — the precise procedure of the meal-offering in Leviticus 2:2 and the poor man's sin-offering in Leviticus 5:12. The Verifier confirms a strong verbal tie on two rare words: H7061 qâmats ("grasp a handful") appears in only three verses, and H234 ʼazkârâh in only seven, both alongside H6999 qâṭar and H4196 mizbêach. The jealousy-rite is folded exactly into the standing law of the grain offering.
Numbers 5:26 · Leviticus 2:2 · Leviticus 5:12
basis: Verifier: shared rare lexemes H7061 qâmats (3 vv) + H234 ʼazkârâh (7 vv), with H6999 qâṭar + H4196 mizbêach; confirmed against both Lev 2:2 and Lev 5:12 — Hebrew↔Hebrew verbal link
The unit closes with the guilty woman made to "bear her iniquity" (tiśśā ’et ʻăwōnāh, v. 31), the technical formula nâsâʼ ʻâvôn for shouldering guilt and its penalty. K&D cross-references Leviticus 5:1, where one who hears an oath and conceals knowledge likewise "shall bear his iniquity." The Verifier confirms the shared lexemes H5771 ʻâvôn ("iniquity," 215 vv) and H5375 nâsâʼ ("bear/lift," 612 vv) — both common, so the link is the recurring legal idiom rather than a quotation: one consistent principle of bearing one's own guilt before God.
Numbers 5:31 · Leviticus 5:1
basis: Verifier: shared H5771 ʻâvôn (215 vv) + H5375 nâsâʼ (612 vv) with Lev 5:1 — high-frequency words forming the standing legal idiom 'bear iniquity,' a shared motif not a verbal quotation
The accused woman seals the self-curse with a doubled ’āmên ’āmên (H543, v. 22) — "surely, surely; so be it." The Pulpit Commentary hears the formula reach forward across the Testaments: "Amen, amen. Doubled here, as in the Gospel of John." Where the suspected wife uses the reduplicated word to bind herself under judgment, the same emphatic doubling on the lips of Christ ("Verily, verily, I say unto you," John 3:3; 5:24) opens not a curse but a guarantee of life. This is a cross-Testament link, so it cannot be verbal: Hebrew ’āmên and Greek ἀμήν share no Strong's number and the Verifier records no lexeme match between Hebrew and Greek. It is tiered structural — a shared liturgical form (the solemn reduplicated assent) that the New Testament inherits and transfigures, exactly as a Public-Domain commentator on the verse already observed.
Numbers 5:22 · John 3:3 · John 5:24
basis: Cross-Testament (Hebrew↔Greek): Hebrew H543 ’āmên and Greek ἀμήν cannot share a Strong's number, so this can never be tiered verbal. Recorded structural — a shared liturgical form (the doubled solemn assent) explicitly noted by the Pulpit Commentary on Num 5:22 ('Doubled here, as in the Gospel of John').
Zechariah's vision of a "flying scroll" of curse that "enters into the house" of the thief and the false-swearer and "consumes it" (Zech 5:3-4) bears a striking conceptual likeness to the written curse here drunk into the body (vv. 22-24). But the Verifier finds no shared original-language lexeme between Num 5:22 and Zech 5:3 in the index — the apparent kinship is thematic only and must be argued, not asserted. It is recorded here flagged, lest a vivid resemblance be mistaken for a verbal tie.
Numbers 5:22 · Zechariah 5:3
basis: Verifier: no shared original-language lexeme found between Num 5:22 and Zech 5:3 — the 'written curse that enters and consumes' resemblance is thematic/structural and must be argued, not asserted as a verbal link
AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.
At the center of the ordeal is a curse made drinkable: the imprecations written, blotted into water, and swallowed (vv. 22-24), so that the curse enters "into thy bowels." The Christian tradition has long heard, behind the bitter cup of judgment, the cup Christ took: "Father... let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless not as I will" (Matt 26:39), and "He hath made Him to be sin for us... who knew no sin" (2 Cor 5:21), "being made a curse for us" (Gal 3:13). The suspected wife drank a curse she might be innocent of; the sinless One drank a curse He was wholly innocent of, in the place of the guilty. This is a typological reading — a figural correspondence, not a shared-lexeme tie, since it crosses from Hebrew narrative to a Greek-Testament theological claim — and the drinking-of-judgment figure is ancient and widely held, though its specific application to this ordeal is the synthesis' own.
Numbers 5:24 · Galatians 3:13 · 2 Corinthians 5:21
The unit ends with the guilty "bearing her iniquity" (nâsâʼ ʻâvôn, v. 31) — the same verb (nâsâʼ, H5375, "to lift/carry") that names the scapegoat bearing Israel's sins away into the wilderness (Lev 16:22) and the Servant who "hath borne our griefs" and "bare the sin of many" (Isa 53:4, 12). Where the law leaves each to carry her own iniquity, the gospel announces One who lifts it from the guilty: "the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world" (John 1:29). This is a typological link — Hebrew narrative to a Greek-Testament fulfillment cannot be verbal — and the figure of borne sin culminating in Christ is ancient and widely held across the church.
Numbers 5:31 · Isaiah 53:12 · John 1:29
The rabbinic tradition, preserved by John Gill and the Pulpit Commentary, held that the ordeal of the bitter water ceased about the time of Christ — "when adulterers increased... the bitter waters ceased" (Gill, citing the Mishnah on Hos 4:14), the Talmud dating its end to within our Lord's lifetime. The church has read a quiet providence here: the rite that exposed the secret sins of others fell silent just as the One came who "needed not that any should testify of man, for He knew what was in man" (John 2:25), and who, faced with a woman taken in adultery, wrote in the dust and said, "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone" (John 8:7) — the dust of the sanctuary giving way to the finger of God in the dust of the temple court. This is a historical-typological observation, widely noted in the tradition; the specific reading of the ceased ordeal as preparing for Christ's mercy is the synthesis' own and is offered as such.
Numbers 5:27 · John 8:7
The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). Hebrew/Greek text, transliteration, morphology and Strong’s are transcribed from the Berean interlinear (CC0) + Strong’s lexicons (PD); the literal renderings, divergence notes, word notes and all synthesis are this tool’s own work (⚙) — fallible; verify them.
Named voices, quoted verbatim from public-domain works:
This unit is entirely Hebrew (Numbers 5:11-31), so every cross-reference to another Hebrew text can in principle carry a verbal tier where a rare shared lexeme exists. The Verifier confirmed verbal links to the wisdom-warnings of Proverbs (H7847 sâṭâh, only 6 vv), to the jealousy-cluster of Phinehas, Zechariah, and Isaiah (the rarer H7065 qânâʼ, 29 vv, paired with H7068 qinʼâh), to the poor man's sin-offering of Leviticus 5:11 (three rare words: H3828 lᵉbôwnâh, H374 ʼêyphâh, H6224 ʻăsîyrîy), and to the meal-offering fistful of Leviticus 2:2 / 5:12 (H7061 qâmats, 3 vv; H234 ʼazkârâh, 7 vv). Three ties were deliberately downgraded to structural because they fall short of the verbal threshold: the leper's loosed hair of Leviticus 13:45 (H6544 pâraʻ, 15 vv — a single moderately-rare word above the ≤12 cut-off for a lone lexeme; an earlier draft over-claimed this as 'verbal' and it is here corrected), the 'blotted scroll' echo of Exodus 32:33 (H4229 mâchâh, H5612 çêpher), and the 'bear iniquity' idiom of Leviticus 5:1 (H5375 nâsâʼ, H5771 ʻâvôn) — real resonances and motif-echoes, not quotations. One candidate, the 'flying scroll' of Zechariah 5:3, returned no shared lexeme and is recorded flagged, so a vivid thematic likeness is not mistaken for a verbal link. One cross-Testament thread is carried among the threads themselves — the doubled ’āmên ’āmên of v. 22 and the Johannine "Verily, verily" — and it is deliberately tiered structural, never verbal, because Hebrew and Greek cannot share a Strong's number; it rests on the Pulpit Commentary's own observation that the form is "Doubled here, as in the Gospel of John." All cross-Testament links in the Christ section (to Galatians, 2 Corinthians, Isaiah-as-fulfilled, John) likewise cannot be verbal — Greek shares no Strong's number with Hebrew — and are therefore tiered typological, with attestation marked ancient/widely-held or novel. This unit does not contain Joshua 1:5, so the Joshua 1:5 → Hebrews 13:5 flag-rule does not apply here.
Four honesty flags internal to the text. (1) ma·yim qə·ḏō·šîm, "holy water" (v. 17), is a unique expression; the Septuagint reads instead "pure living (running) water," which the Cambridge Bible and Pulpit Commentary suspect was the original reading, later altered — a genuine textual question, reported and not resolved. (2) The disease of the curse — yârêk nōp̄eleṯ ("thigh falling") and beṭen ṣābāh ("belly swelling," vv. 21, 22, 27) — is of uncertain identity: Michaelis proposed ovarian dropsy, Josephus ordinary dropsy, and the Pulpit Commentary frankly admits the term tsâbeh (H6639) is "not of quite certain meaning". The synthesis reports the symptoms and the lex-talionis principle ("the organs of sin are the seat of the plague") without forcing a diagnosis. (3) The serpent/Eden symbolism of the dust (v. 17) is read by Barnes, Poole, JFB, and K&D, but expressly rejected as over-subtle by the Pulpit Commentary, which prefers the plain 'sanctuary-holiness' explanation; both readings are preserved, neither asserted as certain. (4) Verses 24 and 26 are in tension over when the woman drinks: v. 24 mentions the drinking before the offering, v. 26 after. K&D and the Pulpit Commentary read v. 24 as proleptic (spoken by anticipation); the Cambridge Bible suspects 'some accidental disarrangement of the text.' The synthesis follows the proleptic reading while flagging the Cambridge alternative.
On the law's evident one-sidedness — that only wives, not husbands, are tried — the synthesis does not smooth the difficulty but records the range of the voices: Poole and Benson defend it as protective of the woman against summary destruction; K&D removes the 'apparent partiality' by reading it alongside Leviticus 20:10, where adultery is capital for both man and woman; JFB and the Pulpit Commentary frame the whole ordeal as divine accommodation to a rude, ordeal-believing age, a stooping of God to meet His people where they stood. These are the human voices, sourced verbatim; the Sola reading and the Christ links above are the machine layer, marked fallible. Every voice excerpt is a verbatim contiguous substring of the supplied PD commentary; nothing has been paraphrased, modernized, reordered, or stitched.
✦ = human, public-domain source, quoted and named. ⚙ = machine synthesis, to be verified. Flagged cross-references are left visible on purpose — the verifier working in the open. “Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)