Numbers 5:20

Good News Translation

But if you have committed adultery,

Parallel Translations

Hebrew Names Version
But if you have gone astray, being under your husband, and if you are defiled, and some man has lain with you besides your husband:'

King James Version
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:

Lexham English Bible
But if you have had an affair under your husband, and if you are defiled and a man other than your husband had intercourse with you,"

New Century Version
But if you have been unfaithful to your husband and have had sexual relations with a man besides him"—

New English Translation
But if you have gone astray while under your husband's authority, and if you have defiled yourself and some man other than your husband has had sexual relations with you…."

Amplified Bible
but if you have gone astray [while married] and you have defiled yourself and a man other than your husband has been intimate with you"

New American Standard Bible
if, however, you have gone astray, though under the authority of your husband, and if you have defiled yourself and a man other than your husband has had sexual intercourse with you"

Geneva Bible (1587)
But if thou hast turned fro thine husband, and so art defiled, and some man hath lyen with thee beside thine husband,

Legacy Standard Bible
if you, however, have gone astray, being under the authority of your husband, and if you have defiled yourself, and a man other than your husband has lain with you"

Complete Jewish Bible
But if you have in fact gone astray while under your husband's authority and become unclean, because some man other than your husband has gone to bed with you . . ."

Darby Translation
But if thou hast gone astray to another instead of thy husband, and hast been defiled, and a man other than thy husband have lain with thee,

Easy-to-Read Version
But if you have sinned against your husband—if you had sexual relations with a man who is not your husband—then you are not pure.

English Standard Version
But if you have gone astray, though you are under your husband's authority, and if you have defiled yourself, and some man other than your husband has lain with you,

George Lamsa Translation
But if you have done wrong by having lain with another man besides your husband, and if you have defiled yourself, and some other man has lain with you besides your husband;

Christian Standard Bible®
But if you have gone astray while under your husband’s authority, if you have defiled yourself and a man other than your husband has slept with you’—

Literal Translation
And you, if you have turned aside under your husband, and if you have been defiled, and any man besides your husband has given his semen to you,

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
But yf thou hast gone asyde from thy hu?bande, so that thou art defyled, and some other man hath lyen with the besyde thy hu?bande,

American Standard Version
But if thou have gone aside, being under thy husband, and if thou be defiled, and some man have lain with thee besides thy husband:

Bible in Basic English
But if you have been with another in place of your husband and have made yourself unclean with a lover:

Bishop's Bible (1568)
But and if thou hast gone aside from thyne husbande, and art defiled, and some man hath lyen with thee beside thyne husbande:

JPS Old Testament (1917)
but if thou hast gone aside, being under thy husband, and if thou be defiled, and some man have lain with thee besides thy husband--

King James Version (1611)
But 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:

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
But if being a married woman thou hast transgressed, or been polluted, and any one has lain with thee, beside thy husband:

English Revised Version
but if thou hast gone aside, being under thy husband, and if thou be defiled, and some man have lain with thee besides thine husband:

Berean Standard Bible
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'-

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
ellis if thou bowidst awei fro thin hosebonde, and art defoulid, and hast leyn with another man,

Young's Literal Translation
and thou, if thou hast turned aside under thy husband, and if thou hast been defiled, and any man doth give his copulation to thee besides thy husband --

Update Bible Version
But if you have gone aside, being under your husband, and if you are defiled, and some man has lain with you besides your husband:

Webster's Bible Translation
But if thou hast gone aside [to another] instead of thy husband, and if thou art defiled, and some man hath lain with thee besides thy husband:

World English Bible
But if you have gone astray, being under your husband, and if you are defiled, and some man has lain with you besides your husband:'

New King James Version
But if you have gone astray while under your husband's authority, and if you have defiled yourself and some man other than your husband has lain with you"--

New Living Translation
But if you have gone astray by being unfaithful to your husband, and have defiled yourself by having sex with another man—'

New Life Bible
If you have turned away, while under the power of your husband, and have made yourself unclean by having another man who is not your husband,"

New Revised Standard
But if you have gone astray while under your husband's authority, if you have defiled yourself and some man other than your husband has had intercourse with you,"

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
But, if, thou, hast turned aside, to another instead of thy husband and if thou hast made thyself unclean, - in that a man hath known thee carnally, other than thy husband,

Douay-Rheims Bible
But if thou hast gone aside from thy husband, and art defiled, and hast lain with another man:

Revised Standard Version
But if you have gone astray, though you are under your husband's authority, and if you have defiled yourself, and some man other than your husband has lain with you,

New American Standard Bible (1995)
if you, however, have gone astray, being under the authority of your husband, and if you have defiled yourself and a man other than your husband has had intercourse with you"

Contextual Overview

¹¹ The Lord commanded Moses ¹²to give the Israelites the following instructions. It may happen that a man becomes suspicious that his wife is unfaithful to him and has defiled herself by having intercourse with another man. But the husband may not be certain, for his wife may have kept it secret—there was no witness, and she was not caught in the act. Or it may happen that a husband becomes suspicious of his wife, even though she has not been unfaithful. ¹⁵ In either case the man shall take his wife to the priest. He shall also take the required offering of two pounds of barley flour, but he shall not pour any olive oil on it or put any incense on it, because it is an offering from a suspicious husband, made to bring the truth to light. ¹⁶ The priest shall bring the woman forward and have her stand in front of the altar. ¹⁷ He shall pour some holy water into a clay bowl and take some of the earth that is on the floor of the Tent of the Lord 's presence and put it in the water to make it bitter. ¹⁸ Then he shall loosen the woman's hair and put the offering of flour in her hands. In his hands the priest shall hold the bowl containing the bitter water that brings a curse. ¹⁹ Then the priest shall make the woman agree to this oath spoken by the priest: "If you have not committed adultery, you will not be harmed by the curse that this water brings. ²⁰ But if you have committed adultery, ²¹ may the Lord make your name a curse among your people. May he cause your genital organs to shrink and your stomach to swell up. ²² May this water enter your stomach and cause it to swell up and your genital organs to shrink." The woman shall respond, "I agree; may the Lord do so."

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Reciprocal: Numbers 5:12 - General Numbers 5:27 - if she be defiled

Gill's Notes on the Bible

But if thou hast gone aside to another instead of thy husband,.... Gone aside from the paths of modesty and chastity, and betook herself to another man's bed instead of her husband's:

and if thou be defiled, by committing adultery:

and some man hath lain with thee beside thy husband; these phrases are all synonymous, and 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.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The trial of jealousy. 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 process prescribed has lately been strikingly illustrated from an Egyptian “romance,” which refers to the time of Rameses the Great, and may therefore well serve to illustrate the manners and customs of the Mosaic times. This mode of trial, like several other ordinances, was adopted by Moses from existing and probably very ancient and widely spread institutions.

Numbers 5:15

The offering was to be of the cheapest and coarsest kind, barley (compare 2 Kings 7:1, 2 Kings 7:16, 2 Kings 7:18), representing the abused condition of the suspected woman. It was, like the sin-offering Leviticus 5:11, to be made without oil and frankincense, the symbols of grace and acceptableness. The woman herself stood with head uncovered Numbers 5:18, in token of her shame.

Numbers 5:17

The dust that is in the floor of the tabernacle - To set forth the fact that the water was endued with extraordinary power by Him who dwelt in the tabernacle. Dust is an emblem of a state of condemnation Genesis 3:14; Micah 7:17.

Numbers 5:19

Gone aside ... - literally, “gone astray from” thy husband by uncleanness; compare Hosea 4:12.

Numbers 5:23

Blot them out with the bitter water - In order to transfer the curses to the water. The action was symbolic. 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.

Numbers 5:24

Shall cause the woman to drink - 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 guilty (compare Psalms 109:18).

Numbers 5:26

The memorial thereof - See the marginal reference. “Memorial” here is not the same as “memorial” in Numbers 5:15.

Numbers 5:27

Of itself, the drink was not noxious; and could only produce the effects here described by a special interposition of God. We do not read of any instance in which this ordeal was resorted to: a fact which may be explained either (with the Jews) as a proof of its efficacy, since the guilty could not be brought to face its terrors at all, and avoided them by confession; or more probably by the license of divorce tolerated by the law of Moses. Since a husband could put away his wife at pleasure, a jealous man would naturally prefer to take this course with a suspected wife rather than to call public attention to his own shame by having recourse to the trial of jealousy. The trial by red water, which bears a general resemblance to that here prescribed by Moses, is still in use among the tribes of Western Africa.