Bible Commentaries
Numbers 5

Verse 3

5:3 Both male and female shall ye put out, without the camp shall ye put them; that they defile not their camps, in the {a} midst whereof I dwell.

(a) There were three types of tents: of the Lord, of the Levites, and of the Israelites.

Verse 6

5:6 Speak unto the children of Israel, When a man or woman shall commit any sin {b} that men commit, to do a trespass against the LORD, and that person be guilty;

(b) Commit any fault willingly.

Verse 8

5:8 But if the {c} man have no kinsman to recompense the trespass unto, let the trespass be recompensed unto the LORD, [even] to the priest; beside the ram of the atonement, whereby an atonement shall be made for him.

(c) If he is dead to whom the wrong is done and also has no relatives.

Verse 9

5:9 And every offering of all the {d} holy things of the children of Israel, which they bring unto the priest, shall be his.

(d) Or, things offered to the Lord, as first fruits, etc.

Verse 12

5:12 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, If any man’s wife {e} go aside, and commit a trespass against him,

(e) By breaking the band of marriage, and playing the harlot.

Verse 15

5:15 Then shall the man bring his wife unto the priest, and he shall bring her offering for her, the tenth [part] of an ephah of barley meal; he shall pour no {f} oil upon it, nor put frankincense thereon; for it [is] an offering of jealousy, an offering of memorial, bringing iniquity to {g} remembrance.

(f) Only in the sin offering, and so this offering of jealousy were neither oil nor incense offered.

(g) Or, making the sin known, and not purging it.

Verse 17

5:17 And the priest shall take {h} holy water in an earthen vessel; and of the dust that is in the floor of the tabernacle the priest shall take, and put [it] into the water:

(h) Which also is called the water of purification of sprinkling, read Numbers 19:9.

Verse 18

5:18 And the priest shall set the woman before the LORD, and 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 the bitter water that causeth the {i} curse:

(i) It was so called by the effect, because it declared the woman to be accursed, and turned to her destruction.

Verse 21

5:21 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 {k} curse and an oath among thy people, when the LORD doth make thy thigh to rot, and thy belly to swell;

(k) Both because she had committed so heinous a fault, and forswore herself in denying the same.

Verse 22

5:22 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, {l} Amen, amen.

(l) That is, may it be as you wished, as in Psalms 41:13 De 27:15.

Verse 23

5:23 And the priest shall write these curses in a book, and he shall {m} blot [them] out with the bitter water:

(m) Shall wash the curses, which are written, into the water in the vessel.

Verse 26

5:26 And the priest shall take an handful of the offering, [even] the memorial thereof, and burn [it] upon the {n} altar, and afterward shall cause the woman to drink the water.

(n) Where the incense was offered.

Verse 31

5:31 Then shall the man be {o} guiltless from iniquity, and this woman shall bear her iniquity.

(o) The man might accuse his wife on suspicion and not be reproved.