Números 5

ARC · Chapter 5/36

1E fallou o Senhor a Moysés, dizendo:

2Ordena aos filhos de Israel que lancem fóra do arraial a todo o leproso, e a todo o que padece fluxo, e a todos os immundos por causa de contacto com algum morto.

3Desde o homem até á mulher os lançareis: fóra do arraial os lançareis, para que não contaminem os seus arraiaes, no meio dos quaes eu habito.

4E os filhos de Israel fizeram assim, e os lançaram fóra do arraial: como o Senhor fallara a Moysés, assim fizeram os filhos de Israel.

5Fallou mais o Senhor a Moysés, dizendo:

6Dize aos filhos de Israel: Quando homem ou mulher fizer algum de todos os peccados humanos, trespassando contra o Senhor, tal alma culpada é.

7E confessarão o seu peccado que fizeram; então restituirá a sua culpa, segundo a somma total, e lhe accrescentará o seu quinto, e o dará áquelle contra quem se fez culpado.

8Mas, se aquelle homem não tiver resgatador, a quem se restitua a culpa, então a culpa que se restituir ao Senhor será do sacerdote, além do carneiro da expiação com que por elle fará expiação.

9Similhantemente toda a offerta de todas as coisas sanctificadas dos filhos de Israel, que trouxerem ao sacerdote, será sua.

10E as coisas sanctificadas de cada um serão suas: o que alguem der ao sacerdote será seu.

11Fallou mais o Senhor a Moysés, dizendo:

12Falla aos filhos de Israel, e dize-lhes; Quando a mulher de algum se desviar, e trespassar contra elle,

13De maneira que algum homem se houver deitado com ella, e fôr occulto aos olhos de seu marido, e ella o tiver occultado, havendo-se ella contaminado, e contra ella não houver testemunha, e no feito não fôr apanhada,

14E o espirito de ciumes vier sobre elle, e de sua mulher tiver ciumes, por ella se haver contaminado, ou sobre elle vier o espirito de ciumes, e de sua mulher tiver ciumes, não se havendo ella contaminado,

15Então aquelle varão trará a sua mulher perante o sacerdote, e juntamente trará a sua offerta por ella: uma decima de epha de farinha de cevada, sobre a qual não deitará azeite, nem sobre ella porá incenso, porquanto é offerta de manjares de ciumes, offerta memorativa, que traz a iniquidade em memoria

16E o sacerdote a fará chegar, e a porá perante a face do Senhor.

17E o sacerdote tomará agua sancta n'um vaso de barro; tambem tomará o sacerdote do pó que houver no chão do tabernaculo, e o deitará na agua

18Então o sacerdote apresentará a mulher perante o Senhor, e descobrirá a cabeça da mulher; e a offerta memorativa de manjares, que é a offerta de manjares dos ciumes, porá sobre as suas mãos, e a agua amarga, que traz comsigo a maldição, estará na mão do sacerdote.

19E o sacerdote a conjurará, e dirá áquella mulher: Se ninguem comtigo se deitou, e se não te apartaste de teu marido pela immundicia, d'estas aguas amargas, amaldiçoantes, serás livre

20Mas, se te apartaste de teu marido, e te contaminaste, e algum homem, fóra de teu marido, se deitou comtigo;

21Então o sacerdote conjurará á mulher com a conjuração da maldição; e o sacerdote dirá á mulher: O Senhor te ponha por maldição e por conjuração no meio do teu povo, fazendo-te o Senhor descair a côxa e inchar o ventre.

22E esta agua amaldiçoante entre nas tuas entranhas, para te fazer inchar o ventre, e te fazer descair a côxa. Então a mulher dirá: Amen, Amen.

23Depois o sacerdote escreverá estas mesmas maldições n'um livro, e com a agua amarga as apagará.

24E a agua amarga, amaldiçoante, dará a beber á mulher, e a agua amaldiçoante entrará n'ella para amargurar.

25E o sacerdote tomará a offerta de manjares dos ciumes da mão da mulher, e moverá a offerta de manjares perante o Senhor; e a offerecerá sobre o altar.

26Tambem o sacerdote tomará um punhado da offerta de manjares, da offerta memorativa, e sobre o altar o queimará: e depois dará a beber a agua á mulher.

27E, havendo-lhe dado a beber aquella agua, será que, se ella se tiver contaminado, e contra seu marido tiver trespassado, a agua amaldiçoante entrará n'ella para amargura, e o seu ventre se inchará, e a sua côxa descairá; e aquella mulher será por maldição no meio do seu povo

28E, se a mulher se não tiver contaminado, mas estiver limpa, então será livre, e conceberá semente.

29Esta é a lei dos ciumes, quando a mulher, em poder de seu marido, se desviar e fôr contaminada;

30Ou quando sobre o homem vier o espirito de ciumes, e tiver ciumes de sua mulher, apresente a mulher perante o Senhor, e o sacerdote n'ella execute toda esta lei.

31E o homem será livre da iniquidade, porém a mulher levará a sua iniquidade.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

God orders the temporary expulsion of the unclean from the camp, establishes the law of restitution for theft or fraud, and institutes the strange ritual of the 'bitter water' to resolve cases of suspected marital unfaithfulness when there are no witnesses.

Explanation

The ritual for a woman suspected of adultery, though strange to modern eyes, was actually a remarkable legal protection for the woman in the ancient culture: instead of allowing a jealous husband to freely accuse and punish her, the case was handed over to God through a formal, public process, and if she was innocent, she would go free and unblemished. This contrasts with neighboring legal codes of the time, which often gave the husband almost absolute power over a suspected wife. The insistence on keeping the camp free of physical and moral impurity again reflects the central idea of Numbers: God dwells literally in the midst of the people, and that demands a high standard of collective holiness.

Fun facts

  • There is no biblical or archaeological record that this 'bitter water' ritual was ever actually carried out in Israel's history — many scholars believe it served more as a psychological deterrent and formal process than as a frequent practice.
  • The principle of restitution with an added fifth (20%) for fraud, repeated here, is the same one already established in Leviticus 6:5, showing the consistency of the Mosaic law across the books.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Números 5:1After the chapters on organization and census-taking, the Lord speaks to Moses again, now about rules of purity within the camp.
  2. Números 5:2The order is to temporarily remove from the camp anyone with leprosy, any kind of bodily discharge, or anyone who had touched a dead body — the same cases detailed in the next verse.
  3. Números 5:3People with leprosy, with certain bodily discharges, or who had touched a corpse were sent outside the camp for a time. This was not a moral punishment but a rule of health and ritual purity: since the camp was seen as the place where God dwelt in the midst of the people, anything associated with disease or death had to stay away until it passed.
  4. Números 5:4The people obey without question: whoever fell into these cases was sent outside the camp, exactly as the Lord had determined.
  5. Números 5:5Another word from the Lord to Moses, now changing subject to deal with restitution when someone wrongs another person.
  6. Números 5:6If a man or woman wronged someone in any way, this was treated also as a breach of trust with God, not just a matter between people.
  7. Números 5:7Whoever had wronged another person was to confess and repay the full value of the loss, adding a fifth more on top as extra compensation.
  8. Números 5:8If the wronged person had already died without a relative to receive that restitution, the value went to the priest, along with the ram offered for the atonement of guilt.
  9. Números 5:9In the same way, any offering of the holy things that the Israelites brought to the priest became his.
  10. Números 5:10The general rule was simple: whatever someone voluntarily handed over to the priest as an offering became his.
  11. Números 5:11Once more the Lord speaks to Moses, this time introducing a very specific law about suspected unfaithfulness in marriage.
  12. Números 5:12The case dealt with next is that of a wife who strayed from her husband, being unfaithful to him.
  13. Números 5:13The situation described is one of a betrayal no one witnessed: no witness, no proof, and the woman hiding what happened.
  14. Números 5:14Even without proof, it was enough for the husband to be seized by a feeling of jealousy and suspicion, whether or not the wife was guilty, for the process described in the rest of the chapter to begin.
  15. Números 5:15When a husband suspected his wife without proof, the law required him to bring her to the priest with a simple offering of barley flour. This offering came without oil or frankincense, the ingredients that normally made an offering pleasant — here it is deliberately plain, because this is not a celebration, but a case of suspicion to be settled.
  16. Números 5:16The priest would bring the suspected woman and set her before the Lord, beginning the ritual described in the verses that follow.
  17. Números 5:17The priest would prepare the mixture used for the trial: water in a clay vessel, mixed with a little dust from the floor of the tabernacle itself.
  18. Números 5:18The priest would mix water with dust from the floor of the tabernacle and have the suspected woman hold the offering while she drank this “bitter water.” The idea was that if she were innocent, nothing would happen, but if she were guilty, the drink would bring visible physical consequences. It is an ancient trial custom for when there was no other way to prove an accusation, and one that shocks us today because it fell only on the woman.
  19. Números 5:19Before giving her the drink, the priest would have the woman take an oath: if she were innocent, that bitter water would not harm her at all.
  20. Números 5:20But the oath also covered the other side: if she really had been involved with another man, the next verse describes the curse that would fall on her.
  21. Números 5:21The priest would then pronounce the formal curse: if guilty, the woman’s body would show visible signs, her belly swollen and her thigh wasted, before all her people.
  22. Números 5:22The woman had to answer “Amen, amen” to the curse, formally agreeing to take part in that trial even before drinking the water.
  23. Números 5:23The priest would write these curses on a scroll and then wash them off into the bitter water itself, mixing the written curse into the liquid she would drink.
  24. Números 5:24Only after all of this was prepared would the woman finally drink the bitter water, which would bring the consequences if she were guilty.
  25. Números 5:25Before giving her the water, the priest would also take the flour offering from the woman’s hand, presenting it to the Lord over the altar.
  26. Números 5:26The priest would burn a handful of that offering on the altar as a memorial, and only then have the woman drink the water.
  27. Números 5:27If the woman really had been involved with another man, the text says the drink would make her belly swell and her thigh waste away — signs understood as public proof of guilt. This ritual existed only for cases where there was no witness or confession; it served as an ancient way of settling an accusation that would otherwise remain unresolved.
  28. Números 5:28If the woman were truly innocent, nothing bad happened: she was cleared of the accusation and could still bear children normally.
  29. Números 5:29This passage sums up everything already described: this is the law applied when a wife strays and defiles herself with another man.
  30. Números 5:30The same law also covered the opposite case: when the husband himself, seized by jealousy, decided to bring his wife to this trial before the priest.
  31. Números 5:31In the end, a husband who made the accusation suffered no consequence for it, but the woman, if truly guilty, bore the result alone.

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