🔢WEB · Numbers 5:23
What does Numbers 5:23 mean?
"“‘The priest shall write these curses in a book, and he shall blot them out into the water of bitterness."
— Numbers 5:23 (World English Bible)
Surrounding context
But if you have gone astray, being under your husband, and if you are defiled, and some man has lain with you besides your husband:”
then the priest shall cause the woman to swear with the oath of cursing, and the priest shall tell the woman, “Yahweh make you a curse and an oath among your people, when Yahweh allows your thigh to fall away, and your body to swell;
and this water that brings a curse will go into your bowels, and make your body swell, and your thigh fall away.” The woman shall say, “Amen, Amen.”
“‘The priest shall write these curses in a book, and he shall blot them out into the water of bitterness.
He shall make the woman drink the water of bitterness that causes the curse; and the water that causes the curse shall enter into her and become bitter.
The priest shall take the meal offering of jealousy out of the woman’s hand, and shall wave the meal offering before Yahweh, and bring it to the altar.
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.
Explanation
Numbers 5:23 describes a small but important step within a larger ceremonial procedure. In plain language, it says that a priest would write down a set of curses on a scroll, and then wash the ink off that scroll into a container of water, so that the very words of the curse became mixed into the water itself. This water would then be given to a woman to drink as part of a ritual test.
The context is the "test for an unfaithful wife," found in Numbers 5:11–31, a passage addressed to the Israelites through Moses during their wilderness journey. This ritual was designed for situations where a husband suspected his wife of adultery but had no witnesses or proof. Rather than allowing suspicion, jealousy, or accusation to fester without resolution, God provided a formal, priestly process to settle the matter. The woman would be brought before a priest, who would prepare "bitter water" (verse 17) mixed with dust from the tabernacle floor, have the woman take an oath, and then write out curses that would take effect on her body if she were guilty of unfaith
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