Numbers 5

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¹And the Lord spake to Moses, and said,

²Command thou to the sons of Israel, that they cast out of the tents each leprous man, and that floweth out the seed, and that is defouled upon a dead body;

³cast ye out of the tents, as well a male as a female, lest they defoul those or them, when they dwell with you.

⁴And the sons of Israel did so; and they putted them out of the tents, as the Lord spake to Moses.

⁵And the Lord spake to Moses, and said,

⁶Speak thou to the sons of Israel, When a man either a woman hath done any of all the sins that be wont to fall to men, and have broken by negligence the behest of the Lord, and have trespassed,

⁷they shall acknowledge their sin, and they shall yield that head, or debt, and the fifth part above, to him against whom they sinned.

⁸But if none there is that shall receive that, they shall give it to the Lord, and it shall be the priest’s part, besides the ram that is offered for cleansing, that it be a quemeful sacrifice.

⁹Also all the first fruits, which the sons of Israel offer, pertain to the priest;

¹⁰and whatever thing is offered of each man in the saintuary, which a man hallowed, and gave to the hands of the priest, it shall be the priest’s part.

¹¹And the Lord spake to Moses, and said,

¹²Speak thou to the sons of Israel, and thou shalt say to them, If a man’s wife hath erred, and hath despised her husband,

¹³and hath slept with another man, and the husband may not take, either prove this, but the adultery is hid, and may not be proved by witnesses, for she is not found in lechery;

¹⁴if the spirit of jealousy stirreth the husband against his wife, which is either defouled, either she is impeached by false suspicion,

¹⁵the man shall bring her to the priest, and he shall offer an offering for her, the tenth part of a measure called a saton of barley meal; he shall not pour oil thereupon, neither he shall put incense thereto, for it is the sacrifice of jealousy, and an offering inquiring adultery.

¹⁶Therefore the priest shall offer her, and shall set her before the Lord;

¹⁷and he shall take holy water in an earthen vessel, and he shall put into it a little earth of the pavement of the tabernacle.

¹⁸And when the woman standeth in the sight of the Lord, the priest shall uncover her head, and he shall put upon her hands the sacrifice of remembering, and the offering of jealousy. Soothly he shall hold the most bitter waters, in which he hath gathered together curses with cursing.

¹⁹And he shall conjure or adjure her, and say, If an alien man slept not with thee, and if thou art not defouled in forsaking the bed of thine husband, these bitter waters shall not harm thee, into which I have gathered together curses;

²⁰else if thou bowedest away from thine husband, and art defouled, and hast lain with another man,

²¹thou shalt be subject to these cursings; the Lord give thee into cursing, and into ensample of all men in his people; the Lord make thine hip to wax rotten, and thy womb swell, and be it broken;

²²these cursed waters enter into thy womb, and while thy womb swelleth, thine hip wax rotten. And the woman shall answer, Amen! amen!

²³And the priest shall write these curses in a little book, and he shall do away those curses with the bitterest waters,

²⁴into which he gathered curses, and he shall give to her the waters to drink. And when she hath drunk those waters,

²⁵the priest shall take of her hand the sacrifice of jealousy, and he shall raise it up before the Lord, and he shall put it on the altar;

²⁶so only that he take before an handful of that sacrifice that is offered, and burn it upon the altar, and so give drink to the woman the most bitter waters.

²⁷And when she hath drunk those waters, if she is defouled, and is guilty of adultery, for her husband is despised of her, the waters of cursing shall pass through her, and while her womb is swollen, her hip shall wax rotten, and the woman shall be into cursing and into ensample to all the people.

²⁸That if she is not defouled, she shall be harmless, and shall bring forth free children.

²⁹This is the law of jealousy, if a woman boweth away from her husband, and is defouled,

³⁰and the husband is stirred with the spirit of jealousy, and bringeth her into the sight of the Lord, and the priest doeth to her by all things that be written,

³¹the husband shall be without sin, and she shall receive her wickedness.