🔢WEB · Numbers 5:30
What does Numbers 5:30 mean?
"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 5:30 (World English Bible)
Surrounding context
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.
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;
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.
The man shall be free from iniquity, and that woman shall bear her iniquity.’”
Explanation
Numbers 5:30 comes at the close of a passage (Numbers 5:11–31) describing the "test for an unfaithful wife," sometimes called the ordeal of bitter water. This verse serves as a summary statement, restating the trigger for the entire ritual: a husband is overcome with suspicion that his wife has been unfaithful, though he has no witnesses or proof. In that situation, he is to bring her before the priest at the tabernacle, and the priest carries out the procedure God had just outlined—a ritual involving an oath, a grain offering, and drinking water mixed with dust from the tabernacle floor, with the outcome believed to reveal guilt or innocence.
The historical context is ancient Israel, roughly during the wilderness wandering after the Exodus, when Moses received detailed instructions for community and worship life. This law is addressed to the priests and to Israelite husbands generally. In the ancient Near East, accusations of adultery were common and dangerous, often resolved through violence, mob justice, or the unchecked power of a jealous husband. What is notable here is that Israel's law removed this matter from private vengeance and placed it under God's authority and priestly mediation. Instead of the husband punishing his wife himself, or her being tried by ordinary human courts using only circumstantial suspicion, the case was brought "before Yahweh"—into the sacred space—where God alone, not human testimony, would determine the truth.
Theologically, the passage underscores several important themes. First, God is portrayed as the ultimate judge of hid
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