Numbers 5:26

Good News Translation

Then he shall take a handful of it as a token offering and burn it on the altar. Finally, he shall make the woman drink the water.

Parallel Translations

Hebrew Names Version
The Kohen shall take a handful of the meal offering, as the memorial of it, and burn it on the altar, and afterward shall make the woman drink the water.

King James Version
And 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.

Lexham English Bible
the priest will grasp her memorial offering from the grain offering, and he will turn it into smoke on the altar, and afterward he will make the woman drink the waters.

New Century Version
He will take a handful of the grain, which is a memorial offering, and burn it on the altar. After that he will make the woman drink the water

New English Translation
Then the priest will take a handful of the grain offering as its memorial portion, burn it on the altar, and afterward make the woman drink the water.

Amplified Bible
'Then the priest shall take a handful of the grain offering as the memorial portion of it and offer it up in smoke on the altar, and afterward he shall make the woman drink the water.

New American Standard Bible
and the priest shall take a handful of the grain offering as its reminder offering and offer it up in smoke on the altar, and afterward he shall make the woman drink the water.

Geneva Bible (1587)
And the Priest shal take an handfull of the offring for a memorial thereof, and burne it vpon the altar, and afterwarde make the woman drinke the water.

Legacy Standard Bible
and the priest shall take a handful of the grain offering as its memorial offering and offer it up in smoke on the altar, and afterward he shall make the woman drink the water.

Contemporary English Version
and burn part of it as a sacrifice. After that, the woman must drink the bitter water.

Complete Jewish Bible
The cohen is to take a handful of the grain offering as its reminder portion and make it go up in smoke on the altar; afterwards, he is to make the woman drink the water.

Darby Translation
And the priest shall take a handful of the oblation as a memorial thereof, and burn it upon the altar; and afterwards he shall make the woman drink the water.

Easy-to-Read Version
The priest will fill his hands with some of the grain and put it on the altar and let it burn there. After that he will tell the woman to drink the water.

English Standard Version
And the priest shall take a handful of the grain offering, as its memorial portion, and burn it on the altar, and afterward shall make the woman drink the water.

George Lamsa Translation
And the priest shall take some of the meal offering as the memorial thereof, and burn it upon the altar, and afterward shall make the woman drink the water.

Christian Standard Bible®
The priest is to take a handful of the grain offering as a memorial portion and burn it on the altar. Afterward, he will require the woman to drink the water.

Literal Translation
And the priest shall take a handful of the food offering, its memorial, and shall burn it as incense on the altar. And afterward he shall cause the woman to drink the water.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
namely, he shall take an handfull of the meatofferynge for hir remebraunce, & burne it vpo the altare, & then geue the wife the water to drinke.

American Standard Version
and the priest shall take a handful of the meal-offering, as the memorial thereof, and burn it upon the altar, and afterward shall make the woman drink the water.

Bible in Basic English
And he will take some of it in his hand, burning it on the altar as a sign, and then he will give the woman the bitter water.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
And the priest shall take an handfull of the offeryng for a memoriall, & burne it vpon the aulter, and then make the woman drynke the waters:

JPS Old Testament (1917)
And the priest shall take a handful of the meal-offering, as the memorial-part thereof, and make it smoke upon the altar, and afterward shall make the woman drink the water.

King James Version (1611)
And 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.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And the priest shall take a handful of the sacrifice as a memorial of it, and shall offer it up upon the altar; and afterwards he shall cause the woman to drink the water.

English Revised Version
and the priest shall take an handful of the meal offering, as the memorial thereof, and burn it upon the altar, and afterward shall make the woman drink the water.

Berean Standard Bible
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.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
so oneli that he take bifore an handful of sacrifice `of that that is offrid, and brenne on the auter, and so yyue drynke to the womman the moost bittere watris.

Young's Literal Translation
and the priest hath taken a handful of the present, its memorial, and hath made perfume on the altar, and afterwards doth cause the woman to drink the water:

Update Bible Version
and the priest shall take a handful of the meal-offering, as the memorial thereof, and burn it on the altar, and afterward shall make the woman drink the water.

Webster's Bible Translation
And the priest shall take a handful of the offering, [even] the memorial of it, and burn [it] upon the altar, and afterward shall cause the woman to drink the water.

World English Bible
The priest shall take a handful of the meal offering, as the memorial of it, and burn it on the altar, and afterward shall make the woman drink the water.

New King James Version
and the priest shall take a handful of the offering, as its memorial portion, burn it on the altar, and afterward make the woman drink the water.

New Living Translation
He will take a handful of the flour as a token portion and burn it on the altar, and he will require the woman to drink the water.

New Life Bible
The religious leader will fill his hand with the grain gift, as the part to be remembered. And he will burn it on the altar. Then he will make the woman drink the water.

New Revised Standard
and the priest shall take a handful of the grain offering, as its memorial portion, and turn it into smoke on the altar, and afterward shall make the woman drink the water.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
and the priest shall take a handful from the meal-offering, a remembrancer thereof, and make a perfume at the altar, - and afterwards, shall cause the woman to drink the water.

Douay-Rheims Bible
To take a handful of the sacrifice of that which is offered, and burn it upon the altar: and so give the most bitter waters to the woman to drink.

Revised Standard Version
and the priest shall take a handful of the cereal offering, as its memorial portion, and burn it upon the altar, and afterward shall make the woman drink the water.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
and the priest shall take a handful of the grain offering as its memorial offering and offer it up in smoke on the altar, and afterward he shall make the woman drink the water.

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

Leviticus 2:2, Leviticus 2:9, Leviticus 5:12, Leviticus 6:15

Reciprocal: Numbers 5:18 - and put

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And the priest shall take an handful of the offering, [even] the memorial thereof,.... For good or evil, according as her works were, as Aben Ezra observes; a memorial for good, if innocent, and a memorial for evil, if guilty:

and burn [it] upon the altar; as the handful of other meat offerings used to be, Leviticus 1:2;

and afterwards shall cause the woman to drink the water; oblige her to it; having proceeded thus far, and no confession made, namely, an oath taken, the curses of it written in a scroll and scraped into the waters, and the jealousy offering waved and offered.

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.