Passage

Numbers 5.28

Book: Numbers · NASB95

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

26. and the priest shall take a handful of the meal-offering, as the memorial thereof, and burn it upon the altar, and afterward shall make the woman drink the water. 27. And when he hath made her drink the water, then it shall come to pass, if she be defiled, and have committed a trespass against her husband, that the water that causeth the curse shall enter into her and become bitter, and her body shall swell, and her thigh shall fall away: and the woman shall be a curse among her people.

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

This is the law of jealousy, when a wife, being under her husband, goeth aside, and is defiled; 30. or when the spirit of jealousy cometh upon a man, and he is jealous of his wife; then shall he set the woman before Jehovah, and the priest shall execute upon her all this law. (Numbers 5:26-30, ASV)

WEB

26. The priest shall take a handful of the meal offering, as its memorial, and burn it on the altar, and afterward shall make the woman drink the water. 27. When he has made her drink the water, then it shall happen, if she is defiled, and has committed a trespass against her husband, that the water that causes the curse will enter into her and become bitter, and her body will swell, and her thigh will fall away: and the woman will be a curse among her people.

28. If the woman isn’t defiled, but is clean; then she shall be free, and shall conceive offspring.

“‘This is the law of jealousy, when a wife, being under her husband, goes astray, and is defiled; 30. or when the spirit of jealousy comes on a man, and he is jealous of his wife; then he shall set the woman before Yahweh, and the priest shall execute on her all this law. (Numbers 5:26-30, WEB)

KJV

26. And the priest shall take an handful of the offering, even the memorial thereof, and burn it upon the altar, and afterward shall cause the woman to drink the water. 27. And when he hath made her to drink the water, then it shall come to pass, that, if she be defiled, and have done trespass against her husband, that the water that causeth the curse shall enter into her, and become bitter, and her belly shall swell, and her thigh shall rot: and the woman shall be a curse among her people.

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

This is the law of jealousies, when a wife goeth aside to another instead of her husband, and is defiled; 30. Or when the spirit of jealousy cometh upon him, and he be jealous over his wife, and shall set the woman before the LORD, and the priest shall execute upon her all this law. (Numbers 5:26-30, KJV)

YLT

26. and the priest hath taken a handful of the present, its memorial, and hath made perfume on the altar, and afterwards doth cause the woman to drink the water: 27. yea, he hath caused her to drink the water, and it hath come to pass, if she hath been defiled, and doth commit a trespass against her husband, that the waters which cause the curse have gone into her for bitter things, and her belly hath swelled, and her thigh hath fallen, and the woman hath become an execration in the midst of her people.

28. 'And if the woman hath not been defiled, and is clean, then she hath been acquitted, and hath been sown [with] seed.

'This [is] the law of jealousies, when a wife turneth aside under her husband, and hath been defiled, 30. or when a spirit of jealousy passeth over a man, and he hath been jealous of his wife, then he hath caused the woman to stand before Jehovah, and the priest hath done to her all this law, (Numbers 5:26-30, YLT)

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Setting

Speaker: Yahweh, giving the law of jealousy to Moses (Numbers 5:11).
Audience: Israel through Moses, and the priest who administers the rite (Numbers 5:15-26).
Location: The camp in the wilderness of Sinai.
Time period: At Sinai in the second year after the Exodus, between the census of Numbers 1:1 and the departure on the twentieth day of the second month (Numbers 10:11); traditionally dated to the 15th or 13th century BC, depending on the Exodus chronology.

Theological reading

The innocent outcome is vindication and fertility. "And if the woman be not defiled, but be clean; then she shall be free, and shall conceive seed" (Numbers 5:28, ASV). The verse is the counterpart of Numbers 5:27, the outcome for a guilty wife. Both are framed around the body and childbearing: guilt brings the curse on her capacity to bear, and innocence clears her and leaves her able to conceive. "Free" here means cleared of the charge.

The text never states a pregnancy. Nothing in Numbers 5:11-31 says the suspected wife is with child, and the promise that the innocent woman "shall conceive" points to future childbearing, not an existing pregnancy. This is why the codex reads the curse as concerning fertility, and why the claim that the passage commands an abortion does not fit the text. See Numbers 5 Commands Abortion Objection Defeater and Numbers 5.11-31.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word.

None of the words in this verse has its own lexicon entry yet.

Quoted in

Arguments and defeaters:

Concepts:

Abortion, via Numbers 5.11-31
Idolatry, via Numbers 5.11-31
Misogyny in the Bible Objection, via Numbers 5.11-31
OT Sexual-Violence Laws, via Numbers 5.11-31

Lexicon:

H3409 - yarek
H7068 - qinah, via Numbers 5.11-31

Notes

Your annotations.

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.