Study Desk

And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying,

Speak to the sons of Israel, and you shall say to them, When any man's wife goes astray, and has committed a trespass against him,

and a man lies with her with semen, and it has been hidden from her husband's eyes, and is kept hidden, and she is defiled, and there is no other witness against her, and she has not been caught;

and a spirit of jealousy has passed over him, and he has become jealous of his wife, and she has been defiled. Or, a spirit of jealousy has passed over him, and he has become jealous of his wife, and she has not become defiled:

then the man shall bring his wife in to the priest, and he shall bring in her offering for her, a tenth of an ephah of barley meal. He shall not pour oil on it, nor shall he put frankincense on it, for it is a food offering of jealousy,a food offering of memorial, bringing iniquity to remembrance.

And the priest shall bring her near, and shall cause her to stand before Jehovah.

And the priest shall take holy water in an earthen vessel. And the priest shall take of the dust which is on the tabernacle floor, and shall put it into the water.

And the priest shall cause the woman to stand before Jehovah, and shall uncover the woman's head, and shall give into her hand the food offering of memorial; it is a food offering of jealousy; and in the priest's hand shall be the bitter waterswhich cause the curse.

And the priest shall cause her to swear and shall say to the woman, If no man has lain with you, and if you have not turned aside to impurity under your husband, be free from these bitter waters which cause the curse.

And you, if you have turned aside under your husband, and if you have been defiled, and any man besides your husband has given his semen to you,

then the priest shall cause the woman to swear with an oath of cursing, and the priest shall say to the woman: Jehovah shall make you a curse and an oath among your people, when Jehovah makes your thigh to fall away, and your belly to swell.

And these waters which cause the curse shall go into your bowels to cause the belly to swell, and the thigh to fall. And the woman shall say, Amen, amen.

And the priest shall write these curses in a book, and shall blot them with the bitter waters.

And he shall cause the woman to drink the bitter waters which cause the curse. And the waters which cause the curse shall enter into her for bitter things.

And the priest shall take the food offering of jealousy out of the woman's hand, and shall wave the food offering before Jehovah, and shall bring it near to the altar.

And the priest shall take a handful of the food offering, its memorial, and shall burn it as incense on the altar. And afterward he shall cause the woman to drink the water.

And when he shall cause her to drink the water, then it shall be, if she has been defiled and has committed a trespass against her husband, the waters which cause the curse shall go into her for bitter things; and her belly shall swell, and her thigh shall fall away, and the woman shall become a curse in the midst of her people.

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

This is the law of jealousies when a wife turns aside under her husband, and has been defiled;

or when a spirit of jealousy passes over a man, and he has become jealous of his wife, then he shall cause the woman to stand before Jehovah, and the priest shall do to her all this law;

and the man shall be clean from sin, and the woman shall bear her iniquity.