Numbers 5

NEW JERUSALEM	NEW AMERICAN BIBLE
1 Yahweh spoke to Moses and said:	1 The LORD said to Moses:
2 'Order the Israelites to expel from the camp al those suffering from a contagious skin-disease or froma discharge, or who have become unclean by touching a corpse.	2 "Order the Israelites to expel from camp every leper, and everyone suffering from a discharge, and everyone who has become unclean by contact with a corpse.
3 Whether man or woman, you will expel them; you wil expel them from the camp, so that they do notpollute their encampments, in the heart of which I dwel .'	3 Male and female alike, you shall compel them to go out of the camp; they are not to defile the camp in which I dwell."
4 The Israelites did so: they expel ed them from the camp. The Israelites did as Yahweh had told Moses.	4 The Israelites obeyed the command that the LORD had given Moses; they expelled them from the camp.
5 Yahweh spoke to Moses and said,	5 The LORD said to Moses,
6 'Speak to the Israelites: "If a man or woman commits any of the sins by which people break faith withYahweh, that person incurs guilt.	6 "Tell the Israelites: If a man (or a woman) commits a fault against his fellow man and wrongs him, thus breaking faith with the LORD,
7 "The person must confess the sin committed and restore in ful the amount owed, with one-fifth added.Payment is to be made to the person wronged.	7 he shall confess the wrong he has done, restore his ill-gotten goods in full, and in addition give one fifth of their value to the one he has wronged.
8 "If, however, the latter has no relation to whom restitution can be made, the restitution due to Yahwehreverts to the priest, apart from the ram of expiation with which the priest makes expiation for the guilty party.	8 However, if the latter has no next of kin to whom restoration of the ill-gotten goods can be made, the goods to be restored shall be the LORD'S and shall fall to the priest; this is apart from the atonement ram with which the priest makes amends for the guilty man.
9 For of everything the Israelites consecrate and bring to the priest he has a right to the portion setaside.	9 Likewise, every sacred contribution that the Israelites are bound to make shall fall to the priest.
10 Whatever anyone consecrates is his own; whatever is given to the priest belongs to the priest." '	10 Each Israelite man may dispose of his own sacred contributions; they become the property of the priest to whom he gives them."
11 Yahweh spoke to Moses and said,	11 The LORD said to Moses,
12 'Speak to the Israelites and say: "If anyone has a wife who goes astray and is unfaithful to him,	12 "Speak to the Israelites and tell them: If a man's wife goes astray and becomes unfaithful to him
13 if some other man sleeps with the woman without the husband's knowledge, and she secretly makesherself unclean, without any witness against her, and without anyone catching her in the act;	13 by having intercourse with another man, though her husband has not sufficient evidence of the fact, so that her impurity remains unproved for lack of a witness who might have caught her in the act;
14 if, then, a spirit of suspicion comes over the husband and makes him suspicious of the wife who hasdisgraced herself, or again if this spirit of suspicion comes over him and makes him suspicious of his wife evenwhen she is innocent,	14 or if a man is overcome by a feeling of jealousy that makes him suspect his wife, whether she was actually impure or not:
15 the man wil bring his wife before the priest, and on her behalf make an offering of one-tenth of anephah of barley meal. He will not pour oil over it or put incense on it, because this is a cereal offering for a caseof suspicion, a memorial offering to recal guilt to mind.	15 he shall bring his wife to the priest and shall take along as an offering for her a tenth of an ephah of barley meal. However, he shall not pour oil on it nor put frankincense over it, since it is a cereal offering of jealousy, a cereal offering for an appeal in a question of guilt.
16 "The priest will then bring the woman forward and place her before Yahweh.	16 "The priest shall first have the woman come forward and stand before the LORD.
17 The priest wil then take fresh water in an earthen jar, and on the water throw dust that he has takenfrom the floor of the Dwel ing.	17 In an earthen vessel he shall meanwhile put some holy water, as well as some dust that he has taken from the floor of the Dwelling.
18 After he has placed the woman before Yahweh, he will unbind her hair and put the commemorativecereal offering (that is, the cereal offering for a case of suspicion) into her hands. In his own hands the priest wilhold the water of bitterness and cursing.	18 Then, as the woman stands before the LORD, the priest shall uncover her head and place in her hands the cereal offering of her appeal, that is, the cereal offering of jealousy, while he himself shall hold the bitter water that brings a curse.
19 "The priest will then put the woman on oath. He will say to her: If it is not true that a man has sleptwith you, that you have gone astray and made yourself unclean while under your husband's authority, may thiswater of bitterness and cursing do you no harm.	19 Then he shall adjure the woman, saying to her, 'If no other man has had intercourse with you, and you have not gone astray by impurity while under the authority of your husband, be immune to the curse brought by this bitter water.
20 But if it is true that you have gone astray while under your husband's authority, that you have madeyourself unclean and that a man other than your husband has slept with you . . .	20 But if you have gone astray while under the authority of your husband and have acted impurely by letting a man other than your husband have intercourse with you'--
21 Here the priest wil impose an imprecatory oath on the woman. He wil say to her: . . . May Yahwehmake you the object of your people's execration and curses, by making your sexual organs shrivel and your bel yswel !	21 so shall the priest adjure the woman with this oath of imprecation--'may the LORD make you an example of malediction and imprecation among your people by causing your thighs to waste away and your belly to swell!
22 May this water of cursing entering your bowels, make your belly swell and your sexual organs shrivel!To which the woman will reply: Amen! Amen!	22 May this water, then, that brings a curse, enter your body to make your belly swell and your thighs waste away!' And the woman shall say, 'Amen, amen!'
23 "Having written these curses on a scrol and washed them off in the water of bitterness,	23 The priest shall put these imprecations in writing and shall then wash them off into the bitter water,
24 the priest wil make the woman drink the water of bitterness and cursing; when the water of cursingenters into her, it wil become bitter.	24 which he is to have the woman drink, so that it may go into her with all its bitter curse.
25 "The priest will then take the cereal offering for a case of suspicion from the woman's hands, and holdit up before Yahweh with a gesture of offering, and so carry it up to the altar.	25 But first he shall take the cereal offering of jealousy from the woman's hand, and having waved this offering before the LORD, shall put it near the altar,
26 He will take a handful of it as a memorial and burn it on the altar. "After this, he wil make the woman drink the water.	26 where he shall take a handful of the cereal offering as its token offering and burn it on the altar. Only then shall he have the woman drink the water.
27 After he has made her drink it, if it is true that she has made herself unclean and been unfaithful toher husband, the water of cursing then entering into her wil indeed be bitter: her bel y wil swel and her sexualorgans shrivel, and she wil be an object of execration to her people.	27 Once she has done so, if she has been impure and unfaithful to her husband, this bitter water that brings a curse will go into her, and her belly will swell and her thighs will waste away, so that she will become an example of imprecation among her people.
28 But if she has not made herself unclean, but is clean, then she will go unscathed and wil bearchildren.	28 If, however, the woman has not defiled herself, but is still pure, she will be immune and will still be able to bear children.
29 "Such is the ritual in cases of suspicion, when a woman has gone astray and made herself uncleanwhile under her husband's authority,	29 "This, then, is the law for jealousy: When a woman goes astray while under the authority of her husband and acts impurely,
30 or when a spirit of suspicion has come over a man and made him suspicious of his wife. When ahusband brings such a woman before Yahweh, the priest will apply this ritual to her in full.	30 or when such a feeling of jealousy comes over a man that he becomes suspicious of his wife, he shall have her stand before the LORD, and the priest shall apply this law in full to her.
31 The husband wil be guiltless, but the woman wil bear the consequences of her guilt." '	31 The man shall be free from guilt, but the woman shall bear such guilt as she may have."