Numbers 5:28

Contemporary English Version

But if she is innocent, her body will not be harmed, and she will still be able to have children.

Parallel Translations

Hebrew Names Version
If the woman isn't defiled, but is clean; then she shall be free, and shall conceive seed.

King James Version
And if the woman be not defiled, but be clean; then she shall be free, and shall conceive seed.

Lexham English Bible
And if the woman is not defiled, and she is pure, she will go unpunished and be able to conceive children.

New Century Version
But if the woman has not sinned, she is pure. She is not guilty, and she will be able to have babies.

New English Translation
But if the woman has not defiled herself, and is clean, then she will be free of ill effects and will be able to bear children.

Amplified Bible
'But if the woman has not defiled herself and is clean, then she will be free and conceive children.

New American Standard Bible
'But if the woman has not defiled herself and is clean, she will be immune and conceive children.

Geneva Bible (1587)
But if the woman bee not defiled, but bee cleane, she shalbe free & shall conceiue & beare.

Legacy Standard Bible
But if the woman has not defiled herself and is clean, she will then be free and conceive a seed.

Complete Jewish Bible
But if the woman is not unclean but clean, then she will be innocent and will have children.

Darby Translation
But if the woman have not been defiled, and be clean, then she shall be clear, and shall conceive seed.

Easy-to-Read Version
But if the woman has not sinned against her husband and she is pure, the priest will say that she is not guilty. Then she will be normal and able to have children.

English Standard Version
But if the woman has not defiled herself and is clean, then she shall be free and shall conceive children.

George Lamsa Translation
But if the woman has not defiled herself, but is pure, then she shall be absolved, and shall bear a male child.

Good News Translation
But if she is innocent, she will not be harmed and will be able to bear children.

Christian Standard Bible®
But if the woman has not defiled herself and is pure, she will be unaffected and will be able to conceive children.

Literal Translation
And if the woman has not been defiled, and is pure, then she shall be clean and shall conceive seed.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
But yf the same wife be not defyled, but is cleane, then shall it do her no harme, so that she maye be with childe.

American Standard Version
And if the woman be not defiled, but be clean; then she shall be free, and shall conceive seed.

Bible in Basic English
But if she is clean she will be free and will have offspring.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
And yf the woman be not defiled, but is cleane, she shall haue no harme, but shall conceaue and beare.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
And if the woman be not defiled, but be clean; then she shall be cleared, and shall conceive seed.

King James Version (1611)
And if the woman be not defiled, but be cleane, then she shall be free, and shall conceiue seed.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
But if the woman have not been polluted, and be clean, then shall she be guiltless and shall conceive seed.

English Revised Version
And if the woman be not defiled, but be clean; then she shall be free, and shall conceive seed.

Berean Standard Bible
But if the woman has not defiled herself and is clean, she will be unaffected and able to conceive children.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
That if sche is not pollutid, sche schal be harmeles, and schal brynge forth fre children.

Young's Literal Translation
`And if the woman hath not been defiled, and is clean, then she hath been acquitted, and hath been sown [with] seed.

Update Bible Version
And if the woman is not defiled, but is clean; then she shall be innocent, and shall conceive seed.

Webster's Bible Translation
And if the woman is not defiled, but is clean; then she shall be free, and shall conceive seed.

World English Bible
If the woman isn't defiled, but is clean; then she shall be free, and shall conceive seed.

New King James Version
But if the woman has not defiled herself, and is clean, then she shall be free and may conceive children.

New Living Translation
But if she has not defiled herself and is pure, then she will be unharmed and will still be able to have children.

New Life Bible
But if the woman has not sinned and is clean, she will be free and able to have children.

New Revised Standard
But if the woman has not defiled herself and is clean, then she shall be immune and be able to conceive children.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
But, if the woman have not fallen into uncleanness, but is pure, then shall she be clear and shall bear seed.

Douay-Rheims Bible
But if she be not defiled, she shall not be hurt, and shall bear children.

Revised Standard Version
But if the woman has not defiled herself and is clean, then she shall be free and shall conceive children.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
'But if the woman has not defiled herself and is clean, she will then be free and conceive children.

Contextual Overview

¹¹ The Lord told Moses ¹²to say to the people of Israel: Suppose a man becomes jealous and suspects that his wife has been unfaithful, but he has no proof. ¹⁵ He must take his wife to the priest, together with two pounds of ground barley as an offering to find out if she is guilty. No olive oil or incense is to be put on that offering. ¹⁶ The priest is to have the woman stand at my altar, ¹⁷ where he will pour sacred water into a clay jar and stir in some dust from the floor of the sacred tent. ¹⁸Next, he will remove her veil, then hand her the barley offering, and say, "If you have been faithful to your husband, this water won't harm you. But if you have been unfaithful, it will bring down the Lord 's curse—you will never be able to give birth to a child, and everyone will curse your name." Then the woman will answer, "If I am guilty, let it happen just as you say." ²³ The priest will write these curses on special paper and wash them off into the bitter water, ²⁴ so that when the woman drinks this water, the curses will enter her body. ²⁵ He will take the barley offering from her and lift it up in dedication to me, the Lord . Then he will place it on my altar ²⁶ and burn part of it as a sacrifice. After that, the woman must drink the bitter water.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

And if: Numbers 5:19, Micah 7:7-10, 2 Corinthians 4:17, 1 Peter 1:7

and shall: Psalms 113:9

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And if the woman be not defiled, but be clean,.... If she is not guilty of adultery, but pure from that sin:

then she shall be free; from the effects of the bitter water; they shall have no such influence upon her, but she shall be as soured and healthful as ever; nay, the Jewish writers say more so, that if she had any sickness or disease upon her she would now be freed from it n; the Targum of Jonathan has it, her splendour shall shine, the brightness and beauty of her countenance:

and shall conceive seed; a man child, as the same Targum; and the Jewish writers say, if she was barren before, now she would be fruitful; but no more is meant by it than that her husband should receive her gladly, and she should live comfortably with him hereafter, and the blessing of God would be upon her, which would still be a confirmation of her chastity.

n Maimon. Hilchot Sotah, c. 3. sect. 22.

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.