The Fourth Book of Moses: Numbers

⭑ Douay-Rheims :: World English Bible Catholic ⭑

- Chapter 5 -

(Leviticus 13:1–46)

And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

Command the children of Israel, that they cast out of the camp every leper, and whosoever hath an issue of seed, or is defiled by the dead:

Whether it be man or woman, cast ye them out of the camp, lest they defile it when I shall dwell with you.

And the children of Israel did so, and they cast them forth without the camp, as the Lord had spoken to Moses.

Restitution for Trespasses

(Luke 19:1–10)

And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

Say to the children of Israel: When a man or woman shall have committed any of all the sins that men are wont to commit, and by negligence shall have transgressed the commandment of the Lord, and offended,

They shall confess their sin, and restore the principal itself, and the fifth part over and above, to him against whom they have sinned.

But if there be no one to receive it, they shall give it to the Lord, and it shall be the priest’s, besides the ram that is offered for expiation, to be an atoning sacrifice.

All the firstfruits also, which the children of Israel offer, belong to the priest:

And whatsoever is offered into the sanctuary by every one, and is delivered into the hands of the priest, it shall be his.

The Adultery Test

And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

Speak to the children of Israel, and thou shalt say to them: The man whose wife shall have gone astray, and contemning her husband,

Shall have slept with another man, and her husband cannot discover it, but the adultery is secret, and cannot be proved by witnesses, because she was not found in the adultery:

If the spirit of jealousy stir up the husband against his wife, who either is defiled, or is charged with false suspicion,

He shall bring her to the priest, and shall offer an oblation for her, the tenth part of a measure of barley meal: he shall not pour oil thereon, nor put frankincense upon it: because it is a sacrifice of jealousy, and an oblation searching out adultery.

The priest therefore shall offer it, and set it before the Lord.

And he shall take holy water in an earthen vessel, and he shall cast a little earth of the pavement of the tabernacle into it.

And when the woman shall stand before the Lord, he shall uncover her head, and shall, put on her hands the sacrifice of remembrance, and the oblation of jealousy: and he himself shall hold the most bitter waters, whereon he hath heaped curses with execration.

And he shall adjure her, and shall say: If another man hath not slept with thee, and if thou be not defiled by forsaking thy husband’s bed, these most bitter waters, on which I have heaped curses, shall not hurt thee.

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

These curses shall light upon thee: The Lord make thee a curse, and an example for all among his people: may he make thy thigh to rot, and may thy belly swell and burst asunder.

Let the cursed waters enter into thy belly, and may thy womb swell and thy thigh rot. And the woman shall answer, Amen, amen.

And the priest shall write these curses in a book, and shall wash them out with the most bitter waters, upon which he hath heaped the curses,

And he shall give them her to drink. And when she hath drunk them up,

The priest shall take from her hand the sacrifice of jealousy, and shall elevate it before the Lord, and shall put it upon the altar: yet so as first,

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.

And when she hath drunk them, if she be defiled, and having despised her husband be guilty of adultery, the malediction shall go through her, and her belly swelling, her thigh shall rot: and the woman shall be a curse, and an example to all the people.

But if she be not defiled, she shall not be hurt, and shall bear children.

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

And the husband stirred up by the spirit of jealousy bring her before the Lord, and the priest do to her according to all things that are here written:

The husband shall be blameless, and she shall bear her iniquity.

(Leviticus 13:1–46)

The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

“Command the children of Israel that they put out of the camp every leper, everyone who has a discharge, and whoever is unclean by a corpse.

You shall put both male and female outside of the camp so that they don’t defile their camp, in the midst of which I dwell.”

The children of Israel did so, and put them outside of the camp; as the LORD spoke to Moses, so the children of Israel did.

Restitution for Trespasses

(Luke 19:1–10)

The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

“Speak to the children of Israel: ‘When a man or woman commits any sin that men commit, so as to trespass against the LORD, and that soul is guilty,

then he shall confess his sin which he has done; and he shall make restitution for his guilt in full, add to it the fifth part of it, and give it to him in respect of whom he has been guilty.

But if the man has no kinsman to whom restitution may be made for the guilt, the restitution for guilt which is made to the LORD shall be the priest’s, in addition to the ram of the atonement, by which atonement shall be made for him.

Every heave offering of all the holy things of the children of Israel, which they present to the priest, shall be his.

Every man’s holy things shall be his; whatever any man gives the priest, it shall be his.’”

The Adultery Test

The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

“Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them: ‘If any man’s wife goes astray and is unfaithful to him,

and a man lies with her carnally, and it is hidden from the eyes of her husband and this is kept concealed, and she is defiled, there is no witness against her, and she isn’t taken in the act;

and the spirit of jealousy comes on him, and he is jealous of his wife and she is defiled; or if the spirit of jealousy comes on him, and he is jealous of his wife and she isn’t defiled;

then the man shall bring his wife to the priest, and shall bring her offering for her: one tenth of an ephah(a) of barley meal. He shall pour no oil on it, nor put frankincense on it, for it is a meal offering of jealousy, a meal offering of memorial, bringing iniquity to memory.

The priest shall bring her near, and set her before the LORD.

The priest shall take holy water in an earthen vessel; and the priest shall take some of the dust that is on the floor of the tabernacle and put it into the water.

The priest shall set the woman before the LORD, and let the hair of the woman’s head go loose, and put the meal offering of memorial in her hands, which is the meal offering of jealousy. The priest shall have in his hand the water of bitterness that brings a curse.

The priest shall cause her to take an oath and shall tell the woman, “If no man has lain with you, and if you haven’t gone aside to uncleanness, being under your husband’s authority, be free from this water of bitterness that brings a curse.

But if you have gone astray, being under your husband’s authority, and if you are defiled, and some man has lain with you besides your husband—”

then the priest shall cause the woman to swear with the oath of cursing, and the priest shall tell the woman, “May The LORD make you a curse and an oath among your people, when the LORD allows your thigh to fall away, and your body to swell;

and this water that brings a curse will go into your bowels, and make your body swell, and your thigh fall away.” The woman shall say, “Amen, Amen.”

“‘The priest shall write these curses in a book, and he shall wipe them into the water of bitterness.

He shall make the woman drink the water of bitterness that causes the curse; and the water that causes the curse shall enter into her and become bitter.

The priest shall take the meal offering of jealousy out of the woman’s hand, and shall wave the meal offering before the LORD, and bring it to the altar.

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

When he has made her drink the water, then it shall happen, if she is defiled and has committed a trespass against her husband, that the water that causes the curse will enter into her and become bitter, and her body will swell, and her thigh will fall away; and the woman will be a curse among her people.

If the woman isn’t defiled, but is clean; then she shall be free, and shall conceive offspring.(b)

“‘This is the law of jealousy, when a wife, being under her husband, goes astray, and is defiled,

or when the spirit of jealousy comes on a man, and he is jealous of his wife; then he shall set the woman before the LORD, and the priest shall execute on her all this law.

The man shall be free from iniquity, and that woman shall bear her iniquity.’”

Footnotes

(a)5:15 1 ephah is about 22 liters or about 2/3 of a bushel

(b)5:28 or, seed