Numbers 5:29

Good News Translation

This is the law in cases where a man is jealous and becomes suspicious that his wife has committed adultery. The woman shall be made to stand in front of the altar, and the priest shall perform this ritual.

Parallel Translations

Hebrew Names Version
"This is the law of jealousy, when a wife, being under her husband, goes astray, and is defiled;

King James Version
This is the law of jealousies, when a wife goeth aside to another instead of her husband, and is defiled;

Lexham English Bible
"‘This is the regulation of jealousy, when a woman has an affair under her husband and she is defiled,

New Century Version
"‘So this is the teaching about jealousy. This is what to do when a woman does wrong and is unfaithful while she is married to her husband.

New English Translation
"‘This is the law for cases of jealousy, when a wife, while under her husband's authority, goes astray and defiles herself,

Amplified Bible
'This is the law of jealousy: when a wife goes astray [while married] and defiles herself,

New American Standard Bible
'This is the law of jealousy: when a wife, who is under the authority of her husband, goes astray and defiles herself,

Geneva Bible (1587)
This is the law of ielousie, when a wife turneth from her husband and is defiled,

Legacy Standard Bible
‘This is the law of jealousy: when a wife, being under the authority of her husband, goes astray and defiles herself,

Contemporary English Version
This is the ceremony that must take place at my altar when a husband suspects that his wife has been unfaithful. The priest must have the woman stand in my presence and carefully follow these instructions.

Complete Jewish Bible
This is the law for jealousy: when either a wife under her husband's authority goes astray and becomes unclean,

Darby Translation
This is the law of jealousies, when a wife goeth astray to another instead of her husband and is defiled,

Easy-to-Read Version
"So this is the law about jealousy. This is what you should do when a woman sins against her husband while she is married to him.

English Standard Version
"This is the law in cases of jealousy, when a wife, though under her husband's authority, goes astray and defiles herself,

George Lamsa Translation
This is the law of jealousy when a woman does wrong by having lain with another man besides her husband and defiles herself,

Christian Standard Bible®
“This is the law regarding jealousy when a wife goes astray and defiles herself while under her husband’s authority,

Literal Translation
This is the law of jealousies when a wife turns aside under her husband, and has been defiled;

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
This is the lawe of gelousy, whan a wyfe goeth asyde from hir hu?bande, and is defyled:

American Standard Version
This is the law of jealousy, when a wife, being under her husband, goeth aside, and is defiled;

Bible in Basic English
This is the law for testing a wife who goes with another in place of her husband and becomes unclean;

Bishop's Bible (1568)
This is the lawe of gelousie, when a wyfe goeth aside from her husbande, and is defiled:

JPS Old Testament (1917)
This is the law of jealousy, when a wife, being under her husband, goeth aside, and is defiled;

King James Version (1611)
This is the law of ielousies, when a wife goeth aside to another in stead of her husband, and is defiled:

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
This is the law of jealousy, wherein a married woman should happen to transgress, and be defiled;

English Revised Version
This is the law of jealousy, when a wife, being under her husband, goeth aside, and is defiled;

Berean Standard Bible
This is the law of jealousy when a wife goes astray and defiles herself while under her husband's authority,

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
This is the lawe of gelousie, if a womman bowith awei fro hir hosebonde, and is defoulid,

Young's Literal Translation
`This [is] the law of jealousies, when a wife turneth aside under her husband, and hath been defiled,

Update Bible Version
This is the law of jealousy, when a wife, being under her husband, goes aside, and is defiled;

Webster's Bible Translation
This [is] the law of jealousies, when a wife goeth astray [to another] instead of her husband, and is defiled;

World English Bible
"This is the law of jealousy, when a wife, being under her husband, goes astray, and is defiled;

New King James Version
"This is the law of jealousy, when a wife, while under her husband's authority, goes astray and defiles herself,

New Living Translation
"This is the ritual law for dealing with suspicion. If a woman goes astray and defiles herself while under her husband's authority,

New Life Bible
‘This is the law of jealousy. If a wife who is under the power of her husband turns away and makes herself unclean,

New Revised Standard
This is the law in cases of jealousy, when a wife, while under her husband's authority, goes astray and defiles herself,

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
This, is the law of jealousies, - when a wife shall turn aside to another instead of her husband, and fall into uncleanness;

Douay-Rheims Bible
This is the law of jealousy. If a woman hath gone aside from her husband, and be defiled,

Revised Standard Version
"This is the law in cases of jealousy, when a wife, though under her husband's authority, goes astray and defiles herself,

THE MESSAGE
"This is the law of jealousy in a case where a woman goes off and has an affair and defiles herself while married to her husband, or a husband is tormented with feelings of jealousy because he suspects his wife. The priest is to have her stand in the presence of God and go through this entire procedure with her. The husband will be cleared of wrong, but the woman will pay for her wrong."

New American Standard Bible (1995)
'This is the law of jealousy: when a wife, being under the authority of her husband, goes astray and defiles herself,

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

the law: Leviticus 7:11, Leviticus 11:46, Leviticus 13:59, Leviticus 14:54-57, Leviticus 15:32, Leviticus 15:33

when a wife goeth: Numbers 5:12, Numbers 5:15, Numbers 5:19, Isaiah 5:7, Isaiah 5:8

Reciprocal: Numbers 6:21 - the law Numbers 30:16 - General John 4:18 - is not

Cross-References

Genesis 5:8
and died at the age of 912.

Genesis 5:9
When Enosh was 90, he had a son, Kenan,

Genesis 5:11
and died at the age of 905.

Genesis 5:12
When Kenan was 70, he had a son, Mahalalel,

Genesis 5:17
and died at the age of 895.

Genesis 5:19
and then lived another 800 years. He had other children

Genesis 5:26
and then lived another 782 years. He had other children

Genesis 5:27
and died at the age of 969.

Genesis 7:23
The Lord destroyed all living beings on the earth—human beings, animals, and birds. The only ones left were Noah and those who were with him in the boat.

Genesis 9:24
When Noah sobered up and learned what his youngest son had done to him,

Gill's Notes on the Bible

This [is] the law of jealousies,.... Which was appointed by God to deter wives from adultery, and preserve the people of Israel, the worshippers of him, from having a spurious brood among them; and to keep husbands from being cruel to their wives they might be jealous of, and to protect virtue and innocence, and to detect lewdness committed in the most secret manner; whereby God gave proof of his omniscience, that he had knowledge of the most private acts of uncleanness, and was the avenger of all such. The reasons why such a law was not made equally in favour of women, as of men, are supposed to be these: because of the greater authority of the man over the woman, which would seem to be lessened, if such a power was granted her; because marriage was not so much hurt, or so much damage came to families by the adultery of men, as of women; because women are more apt to be suspicious than men, and in those times more prone to adultery, through their eager desire of children, that they might not lie under reproach o:

when a wife goeth aside [to another] instead of her husband, and is defiled; is suspected of going aside to another man, and is supposed to be defiled by him.

o Vid. Salden. ut supra, (Otia, l. 1. Exercitat. 6.) sect. 19.

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.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Numbers 5:29. This is the law of jealousies — And this is the most singular law in the whole Pentateuch: a law that seems to have been copied by almost all the nations of the earth, whether civilized or barbarian, as we find that similar modes of trial for suspected offences were used when complete evidence was wanting to convict; and where it was expected that the object of their worship would interfere for the sake of justice, in order that the guilty should be brought to punishment, and the innocent be cleared. For general information on this head see at the end of this chapter. Numbers 5:31; Numbers 5:31.