Numbers 5

NEW JERUSALEM	CATHOLIC PUBLIC DOMAIN
1 Yahweh spoke to Moses and said:	1 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:
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 “Instruct the sons of Israel to cast out of the camp every leper, and those who have a flow of seed, and those who have been polluted because of the dead;
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 cast out of the camp both male and female, lest they contaminate it while I am dwelling with you.”
4 The Israelites did so: they expel ed them from the camp. The Israelites did as Yahweh had told Moses.	4 And the sons of Israel did so, and they cast them out, beyond the camp, just as the Lord had spoken to Moses.
5 Yahweh spoke to Moses and said,	5 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:
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 “Say to the sons of Israel: A man or a woman, when they have done anything out of all the sins that often befall men, or if, by negligence, they have transgressed the commandment of the Lord, and so have committed an offense,
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 they shall confess their sin, and they shall restore the principle itself, plus a fifth part above it, to any against whom they have sinned.
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 But if there would be no one to receive it, they shall give it to the Lord, and it shall be for the priest, except for the ram, which is offered for expiation, in order to be a pleasing victim.
9 For of everything the Israelites consecrate and bring to the priest he has a right to the portion setaside.	9 Likewise, all the first-fruits, which the sons of Israel offer, belong to the priest,
10 Whatever anyone consecrates is his own; whatever is given to the priest belongs to the priest." '	10 with whatever is offered by each one at the Sanctuary, and which is delivered into the hands of the priest; it shall be his.”
11 Yahweh spoke to Moses and said,	11 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:
12 'Speak to the Israelites and say: "If anyone has a wife who goes astray and is unfaithful to him,	12 “Speak to the sons of Israel, and you shall say to them: The man whose wife will have gone astray, and, disdaining her husband,
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 will have slept with another man, and if her husband cannot discover it, but the adultery is secret, and if it cannot be proved by witnesses, because she was not caught in the shameful 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 if the spirit of jealousy stirs up the husband against his wife, who either has been polluted or is being assailed with a false suspicion,
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 her to the priest, and he shall offer an oblation for her, a tenth part of native barley meal. He shall not pour oil over it, nor shall he place frankincense on it, because it is a sacrifice for jealousy, or an oblation investigating adultery.
16 "The priest will then bring the woman forward and place her before Yahweh.	16 Therefore, the priest shall offer it, and he shall set it in the sight of 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 And he shall take up holy water in an earthen vessel, and he shall cast a little earth from the pavement of the tabernacle into it.
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 And while the woman stands before the Lord, he shall uncover her head, and he shall place over her hands the sacrifice of recollection and oblation of jealousy. But he shall take hold of the most bitter waters, in which he has gathered curses with loathing.
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 And he shall bind her by an oath, and he shall say: ‘If another man has not slept with you, and if you have not been polluted by forsaking the bed of your husband, these most bitter waters, into which I have gathered curses, shall not harm you.
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 turned away from your husband, and also have been defiled, and have lain together with another man,
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 these curses shall be thrown upon you: May the Lord turn you into a curse and an example among all his people. May he cause your thigh to rot, and may your abdomen swell up and burst out.
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 the cursed waters enter into your stomach, and may your womb swell and your thigh rot.’ And the woman shall respond: ‘Amen, amen.’
23 "Having written these curses on a scrol and washed them off in the water of bitterness,	23 And the priest shall write these curses in a little book, and then he shall erase them with the very bitter waters, into which he had gathered the curses,
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 and he shall give it to her to drink. And when she has emptied it,
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 the priest shall take from her hand the sacrifice of jealousy, and he shall elevate it before the Lord, and he shall impose it upon the altar. Yet only after he first
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 takes a handful of the sacrifice from that which is offered, and burns it upon the altar, and then he may give the most bitter waters to the woman as a drink.
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 And when she drinks it, if she has been defiled, and, having despised her husband, is guilty of adultery, the curse shall pass through her, and as her belly swells up, her thigh shall decay, and the woman shall become a curse and an example to all the people.
28 But if she has not made herself unclean, but is clean, then she will go unscathed and wil bearchildren.	28 But if she has not been defiled, she shall be unharmed and she shall 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 is the law for jealousy. If a woman has turned aside from her husband, and if she has been polluted,
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 and if the husband, being stirred up by the spirit of jealousy, has brought her before the sight of the Lord, and the priest has acted toward her according to all that has been written:
31 The husband wil be guiltless, but the woman wil bear the consequences of her guilt." '	31 then the husband shall be without guilt, and she shall bear her iniquity.”