The Fourth Book of Moses, called Numbers
Numbers 5
Chapter V · Vol. I, pp. 421–423
1 The unclean to be removed out of the camp. 5 Restitution to be made in cases of trespass. 11 The trial of jealousy.
1 AND the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
2 Command the children of Israel, that they a put out of the camp every leper, and every one that hath an issue, and whosoever is defiled by the dead:
a Le. 13.3,46; 15.1-33; 21.1. ch. 9.6,10; 19.11; 31.19; 12.14,15. De. 23.10. 2 Ki. 5.27; 7.3. 2 Ch. 26.20,21. Lu. 17.12. Is. 52.11. 2 Co. 6.17. 1 Co. 5.7,11,13. He. 12.15,16. Tit. 3.10. 2 Th. 3.6,14.
3 Both 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.
4 And the children of Israel did so, and put them out without the camp: b as the LORD spake unto Moses, so did the children of Israel.1
b ch. 4.49. Ex. 39.42; 40.16; 23.21,22. 1 Sa. 15.22. Mat. 28.20. Ps. 119.5,6,9,11,115.
1 If 'the heavens are not clean in God's sight, how much more abominable and filthy is man?' Job 15.15,16. Truly our bodies are pronounced 'vile bodies,' Phi. 3.21, for into the blood of youth, and health, and loveliness, the serpent poison is infused, and in ever-varying forms of loathsome disease it is carrying on the work of death. Disease and death are at once the works, and the wages, and the emblems of sin; therefore, as 'evil cannot dwell with God,' Ps. 5.4, neither may visible and infectious disease be permitted to abide in the camp where his visible and holy presence is fixed. In every point of view this exclusion of certain diseases from the camp is an admirable institution. (1) As a measure of precaution against the spreading of infection. (2) As a measure of cleanliness and decency, where the tents frequently consisted but of one apartment, seldom of more than two. (3) As conducive to the greater comfort of the sufferers, who were removed from the noise and bustle of the camp. (4) As economizing the priest's labour of attendance, and securing practised and skilful sick-nurses in concentrated and permanent hospitals. (5) As facilitating access to milk and vegetables, so essential as natural agents in the cure of many cutaneous complaints of the leprous form. (6) As an emblem of known and visible sin, and of that discrimination of discipline and pure communion after which the church of Christ should constantly labour, 1 Co. 5.1-13.—C.
5 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
6 Speak unto the children of Israel, c When a man or woman shall commit any sin2 that men commit, to do a trespass against the LORD, and that person be guilty;3
c Le. 6.1-7. Jos. 7.19. Je. 3.12,13. Pr. 28.13. Job 33.27,28; 34.31,32. 1 Jn. 1.9. Lu. 19.8.
2 Any sin of common frailty.
A.M. 2514. B.C. 1490.
3 This is the law of 'secret faults,' Ps. 19.13, whether against God or man, and known only to God and the guilty conscience. It requires (1) Ample confession of the trespass to the injured party. (2) Full restitution, as matter of strict justice. (3) Twenty per cent. as interest or fine payable to the person injured. (4) In case of the death of the injured party, compensation to his next of kin. (5) If there be no known heir, the principal, interest, and fine go to the priest. (6) A ram of atonement, operating both as an additional fine, an additional punishment and check to avarice, and as a practical acknowledgment that 'without shedding of blood there is no remission of sin,' He. 9.22.—C.
7 Then 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.
8 But if the man have no kinsman to recompense the trespass unto, let the trespass be recompensed unto the LORD, even to the priest; besides d the ram of the atonement, whereby an atonement shall be made for him.
d Le. 6.6, 7; 7.8.
9 And every e offering4 of all the holy things of the children of Israel, which they bring unto the priest, shall be his.
e ch. 18.8. De. 18.3. Le. 10.13; xxvii.; 6.13, 26; 7.6, 32. Eze. 44.30. Ps. 110.3; 2.8. 1 Co. 9.7-14.
4 Or, heave-offering.
10 And every man's hallowed thing shall be his: whatsoever any man giveth the priest, it shall be his.
11 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
12 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, If any man's wife f go aside, and commit a trespass against him,
f Pr. 2.16, 17; 7.10-27. Ho. 4.13.
13 And a man g 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;
g Le. 15.18. Pr. 7.18, 19; 30.20, with Le. 20.10.
14 And the h 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:
15 Then shall the man bring his wife unto the priest, and he shall bring her i offering for her, the tenth part of an ephah[≈ 2.2 litres · 3.9 pints] 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.
i Le. 5.11. Is. 53.2, 11. Ro. 5.8; 8.2. 2 Co. 5.21. Zec. 12.10. Her offering, like the sin she was suspected of, had nothing agreeable; nay, almost everything in the process represented the baseness of that sin.
17 And the priest shall take l holy water6 in an earthen vessel; and of the m dust that is in the floor of the tabernacle the priest shall take, and put it into the water.
l Ex. 30.18. ch. 19.9.
6 Water from the laver, which, being set apart from common use to the service of God, is, according to Scripture use, called holy. C.—This is the most ancient account of the trial by ordeal which obtained so generally among various nations, and it was calculated to fortify the minds of the Israelitish women in the hour of temptation, and to render them watchful against all occasions of exciting suspicion in the breasts of their husbands. On the other hand it was calculated to prevent the cruel treatment from husbands which such suspicions might produce, through the hardness of their hearts, when the crime could not be proved, nor the rage of jealousy allayed, and it would also lessen the number of hasty divorces.—I.
18 And the priest shall set the woman before the LORD, and n 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 o the bitter water that causeth the curse.7
n Le. 13.45. 1 Co. 4.5. He. 4.12, 13.
o ver. 17, 22, 24.
7 Called 'bitter water, or 'water of bitternesses,' not from its taste, but from its effects upon the bodies of those who were guilty.—P.
19 And the priest shall p 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,8 be thou free from this bitter water that causeth the curse:
p Jos. 6.26. 1 Sa. 14.24. Mat. 26.63.
8 Or, being in the power of thy husband. Heb. under thy husband.
20 But if thou hast gone aside to another instead of thy husband, and if thou be defiled, and some man have lain with thee besides thine husband;
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 q curse and an oath among thy people, when the LORD doth r make thy thigh to rot,9 and thy belly to swell:
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, s Amen, amen1
s De. 27.15-26. Is. 65.15. Ps. 7.4, 5. Job 31.1-40. 1 Co. 16.22.
1 Amen, though generally interpreted 'so be it,' simply signifies 'truth,' in which sense it is used by our Lord in the New Testament, where it is translated 'verily.'—C.
23 And the priest shall write these curses in a book,2 and he shall blot them out with the bitter water:
2 On a piece of paper.
24 And 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.
25 Then the priest shall take the jealousy-offering out of the woman's hand, and shall t wave the offering before the LORD, and offer it upon the altar.
26 And the priest shall take an handful of the offering, even the u memorial thereof, and burn it upon the altar, and afterward shall cause the woman to drink the water.
u What was presented to the Lord as a sign that the trial was referred to him, ver. 15.
27 And 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, x 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 y a curse among her people.
x He. 13.4; 10.26-31, 38; 6.4-6. Pr. 5.4-12. 2 Pe. 2.1-10. 2 Co. 2.16. Ec. 7.26.
y ver. 21. De. 28.37. Ps. 83.9, 11. Je. 24.9; 29.18, 22; 42.18. Zec. 8.13.
28 And if the woman be not defiled, but be clean, z then she shall be free, and shall conceive seed.
z ver. 19. Mi. 7.7-10. 1 Pe. 1.7. Ro. 5.3-5. 2 Co. 4.17, 18.
29 Thisa is the law of jealousies, when a wife goeth aside to another instead of her husband, and is defiled;3
a ver. 11-28; ch. 6.21. Le. 7.37; 11.46; 13.59; 14.54, 57; 15.32.
3 This law is founded upon three principles. (1) Confidence in the miraculous interposition of Providence, when appealed to in a manner not invented by the fancy or presumption of man; but distinctly prescribed by God himself. (2) That the accuser must not act upon light surmise, but be so far convinced that he testifies his belief in the necessity of the appeal to God, ver. 30. (3) On the power of conscience in the case of an oath, rightly and solemnly administered: the whole law being merely a special example of God's speedy and terrible judgment against every form of perjury, Zec. 5.3, 4. Mal. 3.5. That no case of an appeal to this law is upon record, may be accounted for on two grounds. (1) That this appeal could not be made, but in the absence of all other proof: a case that could very seldom occur. (2) Because of the facility of divorce which Moses suffered the Jews to enjoy, 'for the hardness of their hearts,' a facility which was at once their privilege and their punishment, De. 24.1. Mat. 19.8.—C.
30 Or 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.
31 Then shall the man be b guiltless from iniquity, and this woman shall c bear her iniquity.
b Job 17.8, 9; 27.5, 6. Ps. 37.6.
c Le. 5.1, 17; 7.18; 19.8; 26.17, 19. ch. 18.23; 14.34; 9.13. Eze. 23.49; 18.4, 20. Ro. 2.8, 9. Pr. 5.22; 9.12.
Notes
Reflections.—In these figures I discern that the church of God on earth ought carefully to be purged from scandalous persons and crimes; and that polluted and dishonest sinners shall be excluded from the celestial mansions. How necessary then to put away all filthiness of the flesh and spirit; and to avoid even the most distant approaches towards dishonesty, particularly with respect to Jesus Christ and his ministers! For those who preach the gospel must live by the gospel. Yea, let me avoid everything which may beget dishonourable suspicions; and, on the contrary, beware of indulging them without sufficient ground. But innocence is the surest comfort and support under the most malignant accusations. How dreadful it is when God's curse is the seasoner of sensual pleasures! Vain is every attempt to conceal our transgressions; for, though waters of jealousy are no more, the eye of God can see, and the voice of conscience will speak out. Yea, often God most strangely brings to light the hidden things of darkness; and however they may escape present censure or punishment, whoremongers and adulterers God will judge, and dreadfully punish! Let me therefore abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul: and if I am unjustly accused, let me commit my cause to God, who judgeth righteously, that he may bring me to the light, and cause me to behold his righteousness. Meanwhile let me, with the utmost accuracy, examine how far I am chargeable with spiritual whoredom or apostasy; and particularly observe whether the cross of Christ, and the afflictions of the gospel, are to me a savour of death unto death, or of life unto life.
Measures in square brackets are modern equivalents added for this edition. They are not in the King James text or in Brown’s notes. They use common scholarly estimates: a cubit is about 45.7 cm (18 in), a shekel about 11.4 g (0.4 oz), an ephah about 22 litres. Money values give the worth of the silver or gold at spot prices on 28 October 2026, not what the sum would buy in the ancient world.