Numbers 5:28

THE MESSAGE

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.

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

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 God spoke to Moses: "Tell the People of Israel, Say a man's wife goes off and has an affair, is unfaithful to him by sleeping with another man, but her husband knows nothing about it even though she has defiled herself. And then, even though there was no witness and she wasn't caught in the act, feelings of jealousy come over the husband and he suspects that his wife is impure. Even if she is innocent and his jealousy and suspicions are groundless, he is to take his wife to the priest. He must also take an offering of two quarts of barley flour for her. He is to pour no oil on it or mix incense with it because it is a Grain-Offering for jealousy, a Grain-Offering for bringing the guilt out into the open. ¹⁶"The priest then is to take her and have her stand in the presence of God . He is to take some holy water in a pottery jar and put some dust from the floor of The Dwelling in the water. After the priest has her stand in the presence of God he is to uncover her hair and place the exposure-offering in her hands, the Grain-Offering for jealousy, while he holds the bitter water that delivers a curse. Then the priest will put the woman under oath and say, ‘If no man has slept with you and you have not had an adulterous affair and become impure while married to your husband, may this bitter water that delivers a curse not harm you. But if you have had an affair while married to your husband and have defiled yourself by sleeping with a man other than your husband'—here the priest puts the woman under this curse—‘may God cause your people to curse and revile you when he makes your womb shrivel and your belly swell. Let this water that delivers a curse enter your body so that your belly swells and your womb shrivels.' "Then the woman shall say, ‘Amen. Amen.' ²³"The priest is to write these curses on a scroll and then wash the words off into the bitter water. He then is to give the woman the bitter water that delivers a curse. This water will enter her body and cause acute pain. The priest then is to take from her hands a handful of the Grain-Offering for jealousy, wave it before God, and bring it to the Altar. The priest then is to take a handful of the Grain-Offering, using it as an exposure-offering, and burn it on the Altar; after this he is to make her drink the water. If she has defiled herself in being unfaithful to her husband, when she drinks the water that delivers a curse, it will enter her body and cause acute pain; her belly will swell and her womb shrivel. She will be cursed among her people. But if she has not defiled herself and is innocent of impurity, her name will be cleared and she will be able to have children. ²⁹"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."

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.