Numbers 5:11–28

The Jealousy Ritual

¹¹The Lord spoke to Moses: ¹²“Speak to the Israelites and tell them: If any man’s wife goes astray, is unfaithful to him, ¹³and sleeps with another, ^obut it is concealed from her husband, and she is undetected, even though she has defiled herself, since there is no witness against her, and she wasn’t caught in the act; ¹⁴and if a feeling of jealousy ^pcomes over the husband and he becomes jealous because of his wife who has defiled herself—or if a feeling of jealousy comes over him and he becomes jealous of her though she has not defiled herself— ¹⁵then the man is to bring his wife to the priest. He is also to bring an offering for her of two quarts ^qof barley flour. He is not to pour oil over it or put frankincense on it because it is a grain offering of jealousy, a grain offering for remembrance that brings sin to mind.

¹⁶“The priest is to bring her forward and have her stand before the Lord. ¹⁷Then the priest is to take holy water in a clay bowl, and take some of the dust from the tabernacle floor and put it in the water. ¹⁸After the priest has the woman stand before the Lord, he is to let down her hair ^rand place in her hands the grain offering for remembrance, which is the grain offering of jealousy. The priest is to hold the bitter water that brings a curse. ¹⁹The priest will require the woman to take an oath and will say to her, ‘If no man has slept with you, if you have not gone astray and become defiled while under your husband’s authority, be unaffected by this bitter water that brings a curse. ²⁰But if you have gone astray while under your husband’s authority, if you have defiled yourself and a man other than your husband has slept with you’— ²¹at this point the priest must make the woman take the oath with the sworn curse, and he is to say to her—‘May the Lord make you into an object of your people’s cursing and swearing when He makes your thigh ^sshrivel and your belly swell. ^t22May this water that brings a curse enter your stomach, causing your belly to swell and your thigh to shrivel.’

“And the woman must reply, ‘Amen, Amen.’

²³“Then the priest is to write these curses on a scroll and wash them off into the bitter water. ²⁴He will require the woman to drink the bitter water that brings a curse, and it will enter her and cause bitter suffering. ²⁵The priest is to take the grain offering of jealousy from the woman’s hand, wave the offering before the Lord, and bring it to the altar. ²⁶The priest is to take a handful of the grain offering as a memorial portion ^uand burn it on the altar. Then he will require the woman to drink the water.

²⁷“When he makes her drink the water, if she has defiled herself and been unfaithful to her husband, the water that brings a curse will enter her and cause bitter suffering; her belly will swell, and her thigh will shrivel. She will become a curse among her people. ²⁸But if the woman has not defiled herself and is pure, she will be unaffected and will be able to conceive children.