Numbers 5:23-31 | The Way of Scripture

Numbers 5:23-31

How does the procedure distinguish accusation from the final outcome?

Berean Standard Bible

23 And the priest shall write these curses on a scroll and wash them off into the bitter water. 24 He is to have the woman drink the bitter water that brings a curse, and it will enter her and may cause her bitter suffering. 25 The priest shall take from her hand the grain offering for jealousy, wave it before the LORD, and bring it to the altar. 26 Then the priest is to take a handful of the grain offering as a memorial portion and burn it on the altar; after that he is to have the woman drink the water. 27 When he has made her drink the water, if she has defiled herself and been unfaithful to her husband, then the water that brings a curse will enter her and cause bitter suffering; her belly will swell, her thigh will shrivel, and she will become accursed among her people. 28 But if the woman has not defiled herself and is clean, she will be unaffected and able to conceive children. 29 This is the law of jealousy when a wife goes astray and defiles herself while under her husband’s authority, 30 or when a feeling of jealousy comes over a husband and he suspects his wife. He is to have the woman stand before the LORD, and the priest is to apply to her this entire law. 31 The husband will be free from guilt, but the woman shall bear her iniquity.”

What is the context?

The written curses are washed into the water, the offering is presented, and the woman drinks. The stated consequences remain conditional: unfaithfulness brings the curse, while an innocent woman is unaffected and able to conceive.

The summary calls this the law for jealousy and places the woman before the Lord under the whole procedure. The husband’s stated freedom from guilt does not erase the paragraph’s explicit distinction between a wife who is guilty and one who is clean. The passage does not say she was pregnant when brought forward.

How is this passage commonly understood?

The USCCB note on verse 31 reads the husband as not punished if the ordeal fails to confirm his charge, while the guilty wife bears punishment. Mishnah Sotah 3:4 later describes the punishment in bodily terms and discusses merit delaying it. That is a later Jewish explanation, beyond the timing stated in Numbers.

Mishnah Sotah 9:9 reports that the bitter-water procedure ceased when adultery became widespread and attributes its ending to Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai. This records a later tradition about the practice; it should not be confused with an additional command printed in Numbers.

What is our position?

We don't have a position on this passage yet. When our study reaches a conclusion the text supports, it will appear here.

Where can I study this further?

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