Three distinct laws address purity and justice within the camp: removal of those with serious skin disease, bodily discharges, or corpse contamination (vv. 1-4); restitution for wrongs committed against others, including the role of the go'el (vv. 5-10); and the sotah ordeal for resolving suspected marital unfaithfulness when no witnesses exist (vv. 11-31).
What Makes This Chapter Remarkable
The sotah ritual is one of the most unusual procedures in the Torah — a divine trial by ordeal using 'bitter water' (mei hammarim) mixed with dust from the tabernacle floor and dissolved ink from a written curse. The text deliberately presents both possibilities — the wife may be guilty or innocent — and the ritual resolves ambiguity in either direction. That a wrong against another person is simultaneously described as ma'al ('unfaithfulness') toward God (v. 6) fuses the interpersonal and the divine.
Translation Friction
The verb tisteh ('she strays,' v. 12) from the root s-t-h implies moral wandering rather than simple movement — we chose 'strays' to preserve the metaphorical weight. The term ruach qin'ah ('spirit of jealousy/suspicion,' v. 14) was rendered 'spirit of suspicion' because the Hebrew allows for both justified and unjustified distrust, and 'jealousy' in English carries only the negative connotation. The go'el ('kinsman-redeemer,' v. 8) resists any single English word, carrying legal, familial, and redemptive dimensions simultaneously.
Connections
The restitution law (vv. 5-8) parallels Leviticus 5:20-26 (6:1-7 in English Bibles). The camp purity rationale — asher ani shokhen betokham ('in the midst of which I dwell,' v. 3) — echoes Exodus 25:8. The go'el institution appears prominently in Ruth 3-4 and anticipates the cities of refuge in Numbers 35.
Numbers 5:1
וַיְדַבֵּ֥ר יְהֹוָ֖ה אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֥ה לֵּאמֹֽר׃
The LORD spoke to Moses:
KJV And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The standard revelation formula vayedabber YHWH el Mosheh le'mor introduces the first of three distinct legal sections in this chapter: camp purity (vv 1-4), restitution for wrongs (vv 5-10), and the suspected adultery ordeal (vv 11-31). Each section begins with this same introductory formula.
Command the Israelites to send out of the camp anyone with a serious skin disease, anyone with a bodily discharge, and anyone who has become ritually contaminated through contact with a corpse.
KJV Command the children of Israel, that they put out of the camp every leper, and every one that hath an issue, and whosoever is defiled by the dead:
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
Three categories of ritual impurity require removal from the camp: tsarua ('one afflicted with tsara'at' — a term covering various skin diseases broader than modern leprosy), zav ('one with a bodily discharge' — including both pathological and normal genital emissions per Leviticus 15), and tame lanefesh ('contaminated by a dead person' — literally 'impure to a soul/corpse'). These three represent escalating levels of impurity in the priestly system.
Send out both male and female — remove them to outside the camp — so they do not contaminate their encampments, in the middle of which I dwell.
KJV Both male and female shall ye put out, without the camp shall ye put them; that they defile not their camps, in the midst whereof I dwell.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The expulsion applies equally to men and women (mizzakhar ad neqevah — 'from male to female'). The theological rationale is stated directly: asher ani shokhen betokham ('in the midst of which I dwell'). God's presence within the camp makes ritual purity a spatial necessity — impurity and divine holiness cannot coexist in the same space. The verb shokhen ('dwelling, residing') is the root of mishkan ('tabernacle/dwelling place').
The Israelites complied, sending those individuals outside the camp. They did exactly as the LORD had told Moses.
KJV And the children of Israel did so, and put them out without the camp: as the LORD spake unto Moses, so did the children of Israel.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The obedience formula is doubled for emphasis: vayyaasu khen ('they did so') at the beginning and ken asu benei Yisra'el ('so did the Israelites') at the end. This bracketing structure underscores complete compliance. The paragraph marker (pe) closes the camp purity section and separates it from the restitution law that follows.
Numbers 5:5
וַיְדַבֵּ֥ר יְהֹוָ֖ה אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֥ה לֵּאמֹֽר׃
The LORD spoke to Moses:
KJV And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
This second revelation formula introduces the restitution law (vv 5-10), a section dealing with confession and financial compensation for wrongs committed against other people. The placement of this law between the camp purity laws and the jealousy ordeal creates a thematic progression: physical impurity, moral transgression, then suspected marital unfaithfulness.
Tell the Israelites: When a man or woman commits any wrong that people commit, acting unfaithfully against the LORD, and that person incurs guilt —
KJV Speak unto the children of Israel, When a man or woman shall commit any sin that men commit, to do a trespass against the LORD, and that person be guilty;
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The law applies equally to men and women (ish o ishah). The phrase lim'ol ma'al baYHWH ('to act unfaithfully against the LORD') is significant: a wrong against another person is simultaneously described as unfaithfulness toward God. The root m-'-l ('to act treacherously, to breach trust') is used for both human betrayal and covenant violation. The term ve'ashmah ('and becomes guilty') indicates the objective state of liability, not merely subjective feeling.
they must confess the wrong they have committed. The offender must make full restitution for the liability, adding a fifth of its value on top, and pay it to the person who was wronged.
KJV Then they shall confess their sin which they have done: and he shall recompense his trespass with the principal thereof, and add unto it the fifth part thereof, and give it unto him against whom he hath trespassed.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
Three steps are required: confession (vehitvaddu — a reflexive form meaning 'they shall confess themselves'), full restitution of the principal amount (bero'sho — literally 'in its head/capital'), and a twenty-percent penalty surcharge (chamishito — 'its fifth'). The verb veheshiv ('and he shall return') frames restitution as restoration — giving back what was taken. This parallels the Leviticus 5:20-26 (6:1-7 in English) guilt offering law.
If the wronged person has no kinsman-redeemer to whom the restitution can be paid, the restitution payment goes to the LORD — that is, to the priest — in addition to the ram of atonement through which expiation is made on the offender's behalf.
KJV But if the man have no kinsman to recompense the trespass unto, let the trespass be recompensed unto the LORD, even to the priest; beside the ram of the atonement, whereby an atonement shall be made for him.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The go'el ('kinsman-redeemer') is the closest male relative who acts as the family's legal representative. If the victim has died without an heir, the go'el receives restitution on their behalf. If no go'el exists at all, the payment reverts to God through His priestly representative. The eil hakkippurim ('ram of atonement') is an additional sacrifice beyond the financial restitution — the offender must address both the human and divine dimensions of the wrong.
Every sacred contribution from the Israelites' holy offerings that is presented to the priest belongs to that priest.
KJV And every offering of all the holy things of the children of Israel, which they bring unto the priest, shall be his.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The term terumah ('contribution, raised offering' — from the root r-w-m, 'to raise') refers to the portion separated for sacred use. This verse establishes a general priestly entitlement principle: qodashei benei Yisra'el ('holy things of the Israelites') presented to a priest become his personal property. This principle extends beyond the specific restitution case to all sacred contributions.
Each person retains ownership of his own sacred gifts until presented; but whatever someone gives to the priest becomes the priest's property.
KJV And every man's hallowed things shall be his: whatsoever any man giveth the priest, it shall be his.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The first clause — ish et qodashav lo yihyu ('a man's holy things shall be his') — is interpreted variously: either that a person owns the holy things until transferring them, or that each person controls which priest receives his offering. The second clause confirms the transfer principle: once given to a priest, it belongs to that priest. The paragraph marker (pe) closes the restitution section.
Numbers 5:11
וַיְדַבֵּ֥ר יְהֹוָ֖ה אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֥ה לֵּאמֹֽר׃
The LORD spoke to Moses:
KJV And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
This third revelation formula introduces the longest and most complex section of the chapter: the sotah ordeal (vv 11-31), a ritual procedure for resolving cases of suspected marital unfaithfulness where no witnesses exist. The rabbinic tradition calls this passage 'parashat sotah' (the section of the wayward wife). It is one of the most debated passages in biblical law.
Tell the Israelites: If any man's wife strays and acts unfaithfully against him,
KJV Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, If any man's wife go aside, and commit a trespass against him,
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The verb tisteh ('she strays, she turns aside') is from the root s-t-h, which implies deviation from a path — moral wandering rather than a simple directional word. The phrase uma'alah vo ma'al ('and acts treacherously against him') uses the same m-'-l root from verse 6, creating a verbal link between financial wrong and marital betrayal. The distributive ish ish ('any man whatsoever') makes the law universally applicable.
and another man has sexual relations with her, but it was concealed from her husband's awareness — she kept it hidden and became defiled, yet there is no witness against her and she was not caught in the act —
KJV And a man lie with her carnally, and it be hid from the eyes of her husband, and be kept close, and she be defiled, and there be no witness against her, neither she be taken with the manner;
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The phrase shakhav ishah otah shikhvat zera ('a man lay with her, a lying of seed') is the standard biblical expression for sexual intercourse. Four conditions define the scenario: concealment from the husband (ne'elam me'einei ishah — 'hidden from her husband's eyes'), secrecy (venisterah — 'she was hidden'), possible defilement (vehi nitma'ah — 'she was defiled'), and absence of proof — no witness (ed ein bah) and no apprehension in the act (lo nitpasah).
and a spirit of suspicion comes over him so that he suspects his wife — whether she has actually been defiled, or whether a spirit of suspicion comes over him and he suspects his wife even though she has not been defiled —
KJV And the spirit of jealousy come upon him, and he be jealous of his wife, and she be defiled: or if the spirit of jealousy come upon him, and he be jealous of his wife, and she be not defiled:
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The phrase ruach qin'ah ('spirit of jealousy/suspicion') describes an overwhelming feeling of distrust that may or may not be justified. The text deliberately presents both scenarios — vehi nitma'ah ('and she was defiled') and vehi lo nitma'ah ('and she was not defiled') — establishing that the ordeal applies regardless of actual guilt. The ritual resolves ambiguity in either direction, protecting both the suspicious husband's concern and the potentially innocent wife.
the husband must bring his wife to the priest and bring her offering on her behalf: a tenth of an ephah of barley flour. He must not pour oil on it or place frankincense on it, because it is a grain offering of suspicion — a memorial offering that brings wrongdoing to light.
KJV Then shall the man bring his wife unto the priest, and he shall bring her offering for her, the tenth part of an ephah of barley meal; he shall pour no oil upon it, nor put frankincense thereon; for it is an offering of jealousy, an offering of memorial, bringing iniquity to remembrance.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The offering is distinctive in three ways: it uses barley flour (qemach se'orim) rather than the usual fine wheat flour, it lacks oil, and it lacks frankincense. These absences strip the offering of any celebratory quality — it is austere and somber. Barley was the cheaper grain, associated with poverty or animal feed. The double designation minchat qena'ot ('offering of jealousy/suspicion') and minchat zikkaron mazkeret avon ('memorial offering bringing wrongdoing to remembrance') defines its investigative purpose.
The priest will bring her forward and present her before the LORD.
KJV And the priest shall bring her near, and set her before the LORD:
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The verb vehiqriv ('he shall bring near') is the standard sacrificial term for presenting an offering. The woman is brought lipnei YHWH ('before the LORD') — she stands in the divine presence at the tabernacle entrance, placing the entire proceeding under divine jurisdiction. The priest acts as mediator between the human dispute and divine adjudication.
The priest will take sacred water in a clay vessel and mix into it some of the dust from the tabernacle floor.
KJV And the priest shall take holy water in an earthen vessel; and of the dust that is in the floor of the tabernacle the priest shall take, and put it into the water:
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The ritual elements are charged with symbolic meaning: mayim qedoshim ('holy water' — possibly water from the bronze basin or a specially consecrated source), a keli chares ('clay vessel' — ordinary, breakable pottery, perhaps symbolizing fragility), and afar ('dust') from the tabernacle floor (qarqa hammishkan). The tabernacle dust connects the ritual to the sacred space itself. The combination produces the 'bitter water' that will serve as the ritual's central agent.
The priest will stand the woman before the LORD, loosen her hair, and place the memorial offering — the grain offering of suspicion — in her hands. Meanwhile the priest will hold the bitter water that carries the curse.
KJV And the priest shall set the woman before the LORD, and uncover the woman's head, and put the offering of memorial in her hands, which is the jealousy offering: and the priest shall have in his hand the bitter water that causeth the curse:
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The loosening of her hair (ufara et rosh ha'ishah — literally 'and he shall unbind the head of the woman') is a significant ritual act. Bound hair was a sign of respectability; unbound hair indicated mourning, shame, or transition into a liminal state. The woman holds the grain offering while the priest holds the mei hammarim hame'arrim ('the bitter waters that bring the curse'). The dual identification minchat hazzikkaron / minchat qena'ot ('memorial offering / suspicion offering') is repeated from verse 15.
The priest will place her under oath and say to the woman: 'If no man has slept with you, and if you have not strayed into defilement while under your husband's authority, may you be immune to this bitter water that carries the curse.
KJV And the priest shall charge her by an oath, and say unto the woman, If no man have lain with thee, and if thou hast not gone aside to uncleanness with another instead of thy husband, be thou free from this bitter water that causeth the curse:
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The oath formula begins with the case of innocence: im lo shakhav ish otakh ('if no man has lain with you') and im lo satit tum'ah tachat ishekh ('if you have not strayed into impurity under your husband' — tachat meaning 'under the authority of'). The verb hinnaqei ('be free, be immune') is an imperative of acquittal — if innocent, the water will have no effect. The structure — innocence scenario first, then guilt scenario (v 20) — gives rhetorical precedence to the possibility of innocence.
But if you have strayed while under your husband's authority and have become defiled — if a man other than your husband has been intimate with you —'
KJV But if thou hast gone aside to another instead of thy husband, and if thou be defiled, and some man have lain with thee beside thine husband:
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The guilt scenario uses the same vocabulary inverted: ki satit tachat ishekh ('since you have strayed under your husband') and vekhi nitme't ('since you have become defiled'). The phrase vayyitten ish bakh et shekhavto mibbal'adei ishekh ('a man has placed his emission in you apart from your husband') is sexually explicit in the Hebrew — the directness is characteristic of legal language that must be precise about the offense being adjudicated.
— then the priest will put the woman under the oath that invokes a curse, saying to her: 'May the LORD make you an example of cursing and oath-swearing among your people, when the LORD causes your body to waste away and your abdomen to distend.
KJV Then the priest shall charge the woman with an oath of cursing, and the priest shall say unto the woman, The LORD make thee a curse and an oath among thy people, when the LORD doth make thy thigh to rot, and thy belly to swell;
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The shevuat ha'alah ('oath of the curse') is a self-imprecatory oath — the woman invokes consequences upon herself if guilty. The physical effects described — yerekekh nofelet ('your thigh/side falling' — wasting of the reproductive organs) and bitnekh tsavah ('your belly swelling/distending') — likely describe reproductive dysfunction or a miscarriage. The euphemistic term yerekh ('thigh') frequently refers to the reproductive area in Hebrew (cf. Genesis 24:2, 46:26). The woman becomes le'alah velishvu'ah ('a byword of cursing and oath-swearing') — her name would be invoked in future curse formulas.
May this water that carries the curse enter your body, causing your abdomen to distend and your reproductive organs to waste away.' And the woman must respond: 'So be it, so be it.'
KJV And this water that causeth the curse shall go into thy bowels, to make thy belly to swell, and thy thigh to rot: And the woman shall say, Amen, amen.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The curse water is described as entering beme'ayikh ('into your intestines/innards'), specifying that the effect is internal and bodily. The woman's double amen (amen amen) constitutes formal legal consent to the ordeal — she voluntarily submits to divine adjudication. The word amen derives from the root '-m-n ('to be firm, trustworthy') and here functions as an oath ratification: 'let it be established, let it be so.'
The priest will write these curse-words on a scroll and then wash the ink off into the bitter water.
KJV And the priest shall write these curses in a book, and he shall blot them out with the bitter water:
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The priest records the curses bassefer ('on a scroll/document') — a written legal instrument. He then dissolves the writing into the water: umachah el mei hammarim ('and he shall blot/erase into the bitter water'). The verb machah ('to wipe away, to dissolve') means the ink itself becomes part of the potion. This is a unique biblical ritual in which written words are physically consumed — the curses literally enter the body. The act transforms language into substance.
He will make the woman drink the bitter water that carries the curse. When the curse-laden water enters her, it will produce bitter effects.
KJV And he shall cause the woman to drink the bitter water that causeth the curse: and the water that causeth the curse shall enter into her, and become bitter.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The verse describes the pivotal moment: vehishqah et ha'ishah ('he shall cause the woman to drink'). The phrase uva'u vah hammayim hame'arrim lemarim ('and the cursing waters shall enter her to bitterness') uses a wordplay: the waters are both me'arrim ('cursing,' from the root '-r-r) and marim ('bitter,' from the root m-r-r). The double meaning — cursing and bitterness — reinforces the water's dual nature as both ritual instrument and potential punishment.
The priest will then take the grain offering of suspicion from the woman's hands, elevate the offering before the LORD, and bring it to the altar.
KJV Then the priest shall take the jealousy offering out of the woman's hand, and shall wave the offering before the LORD, and offer it upon the altar:
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
Three ritual actions occur in sequence: the priest takes the minchat haqena'ot ('suspicion offering') from the woman's hands (she has been holding it since v 18), performs the tenufah ('wave/elevation offering' — the term henif describes lifting and moving the offering before the LORD), and approaches the altar (vehiqriv otah el hammizbe'ach). The progression moves the offering from the woman's possession to the divine realm.
The priest will scoop out the memorial portion from the grain offering and burn it on the altar. After that, he will have the woman drink the water.
KJV And the priest shall take an handful of the offering, even the memorial thereof, and burn it upon the altar, and afterward shall cause the woman to drink the water.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The verb vaqamats ('he shall scoop/take a handful') describes the standard grain offering procedure: extracting the azkaratah ('its memorial portion' — the representative handful burned on the altar). The remainder would be eaten by the priests. The sequence is precise: the altar offering comes first (vehiqtir hammizbe'chah), then the drinking (ve'achar yashqeh et ha'ishah et hammayim — 'and afterward he shall make the woman drink the water'). The sacrificial act precedes and sanctifies the ordeal.
After he has her drink the water, if she has been defiled and has acted unfaithfully against her husband, the curse-laden water will enter her and produce bitter effects — her abdomen will distend and her reproductive organs will waste away. That woman will become an object of cursing among her people.
KJV And when he hath made her to drink the water, then it shall come to pass, that, if she be defiled, and have done trespass against her husband, that the water that causeth the curse shall enter into her, and become bitter, and her belly shall swell, and her thigh shall rot: and the woman shall be a curse among her people.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The guilty outcome is described: if she is nitme'ah ('defiled') and vatim'ol ma'al be'ishah ('acted treacherously against her husband'), the physical consequences follow — vetsavetah bitnah ('her belly will swell') and venafela yerekhah ('her thigh/reproductive area will fall/waste'). She becomes le'alah beqerev ammah ('a curse-word among her people') — her name invoked in future imprecations. The conditional im ('if') is critical: the punishment is contingent on actual guilt, not on the accusation.
But if the woman has not been defiled and is pure, she will be cleared of guilt and will be able to conceive children.
KJV And if the woman be not defiled, but be clean; then she shall be free, and shall conceive seed.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The acquittal outcome is stated with equal clarity: im lo nitme'ah ha'ishah utehorah hi ('if the woman is not defiled and is pure'), she receives two results — veniqqetah ('she shall be acquitted/cleared') and venizre'ah zara ('she shall be sown with seed,' i.e., she will conceive). The fertility promise is significant: vindication brings not merely freedom from punishment but positive blessing. Some rabbinic interpreters understand this as a promise of easier childbirth or more children rather than initial fertility.
This is the procedure for cases of suspected unfaithfulness — when a wife strays while under her husband's authority and becomes defiled,
KJV This is the law of jealousies, when a wife goeth aside to another instead of her husband, and is defiled;
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The phrase zot torat haqena'ot ('this is the instruction/law of the jealousies') is a closing formula identifying the entire section as a distinct legal category. The term torah here means 'instruction, procedure, protocol' rather than 'Law' in the grand sense. The phrase tachat ishah ('under her husband') uses tachat ('beneath, under') in the sense of marital authority — the same preposition appears in the similar expression in verse 20.
or when a spirit of suspicion overcomes a husband and he suspects his wife. He shall present the woman before the LORD, and the priest will carry out this entire procedure regarding her.
KJV Or when the spirit of jealousy cometh upon him, and he be jealous over his wife, and shall set the woman before the LORD, and the priest shall execute upon her all this law.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
This verse provides the alternative trigger: the husband's suspicion alone (ruach qin'ah — 'spirit of jealousy/suspicion'), even without evidence of wrongdoing. The husband's role is to present the woman (vehe'emid et ha'ishah lipnei YHWH — 'and he shall stand the woman before the LORD'); the priest's role is to execute the ritual (ve'asah lah hakkohen et kol hattorah hazot — 'the priest shall perform for her all this instruction'). The division of roles ensures that no individual husband can unilaterally punish — only the divinely mediated ritual adjudicates.
The husband will be free of any guilt for bringing the charge, while the woman — if guilty — will bear the consequences of her wrongdoing.
KJV Then shall the man be guiltless from iniquity, and this woman shall bear her iniquity.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The closing verse addresses the husband's legal liability: veniqqah ha'ish me'avon ('the man shall be clean from iniquity') — he bears no guilt for initiating the process, even if the wife is found innocent. This protects men from false-accusation liability when they act on genuine suspicion. The final phrase veha'ishah hahi tissa et avonah ('that woman shall bear her iniquity') applies only in the case of guilt — she bears the full consequences. The paragraph marker (pe) closes the sotah section and the chapter. Rabbinic tradition records that the Sanhedrin discontinued this ordeal around the first century CE (Mishnah Sotah 9:9), citing the prevalence of male infidelity as grounds.