“Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them: ‘If any man’s wife goes astray and is unfaithful to him,
Parallel Translations
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“Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them: ‘If any man’s wife goes astray and is unfaithful to him,
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Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, If any man’s wife go aside, and commit a trespass against him,
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Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them: If any man's wife go aside, and act unfaithfully against him,
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Commandments (1)
The laws of the Torah, each cited and shown as a primary source.
Cross-references (2)
Passages linked to Numbers 5:12 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Numbers 5:19-20 The priest shall cause her to take an oath and shall tell the woman, “If no man has lain with you, and if you haven’t gone aside to uncleanness, being under your husband’s authority, be free from this water of bitterness that brings a curse. But if you have gone astray, being under your husband’s authority, and if you are defiled, and some man has lain with you besides your husband—”
- Proverbs 2:16-17 to deliver you from the strange woman, even from the foreigner who flatters with her words, who forsakes the friend of her youth, and forgets the covenant of her God;
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (9 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain By breaking the band of marriage, and playing the…
By breaking the band of marriage, and playing the harlot.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Num 5:12 Speak unto the children of Israel, and…
Num 5:12 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, If any man’s wife go aside, and commit a trespass against him,
Ver. 12. If any man’s wife go aside.] Ad alterum, vel ad alterius torum; unde dicitur adulterium. If, as a naughty woman, she want one, when she hath her own. But how naughty are the Lithuanians, who give way to their wives to have their gallants, if Maginus belie them not, and call such connubii adiutores, prizing them far above all their acquaintances!
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain This law was given partly to deter wives from…
This law was given partly to deter wives from adulterous practices, and partly to secure wives against the rage of their hard-hearted husbands, who otherwise might upon mere suspicions destroy them, or at least put them away.
Quest. Why was there not the same law for the trial of the husband, when the wife was jealous of him?
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Answ. This might be either,
1. Because the woman’s sin is greater, because there is not only filthiness and falseness in it, which is also in the man’s sin, but also peculiar unrighteousness in dishonouring his name and family, and transferring his estate to strangers and other men’s children. Or,
2. Because there was not like fear of inconveniences to the husband from the jealousy of the wife, who had not that authority, and power, and opportunity for the putting away or killing of the husband as the husband had over the wive. Or,
3. Because being the inferior and the weaker sex, and more subject to jealousies and groundless suspicions, it was not thought expedient to trust them with such a power or privilege.
Go aside, from the way of religion and justice, or from her faith given to her husband, or to the by-paths of falsehood and filthiness, and that either in truth, or in appearance, and in her husband’s opinion.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto…
Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them,.... It being an affair which concerned them:
if any man's wife go aside, and commit a trespass against him; the sin of adultery, which is a going aside out of the way of virtue and chastity, and a trespass against an husband, a breach of the marriage covenant with him, a defiling his bed, doing an injury and dishonour to him, bringing confusion into his family, and a spurious offspring to possess his substance: though this is to be understood, not of certain adultery, of which there is plain and full proof, for then there would be no occasion of such a trial, as is afterwards directed to; besides, her husband, in such a case, might put her away, and even, according to the law, she was to be put to death, Lev 20:10; but of her having committed it in the opinion of her husband, he having some ground of suspicion, though he could not be certain of it; and therefore, by this law, was allowed to make trial, that he might find it out, it at present only a suspected case, and a doubtful one; and the Jews (k) say,"they never gave the waters drink but in a doubtful case:''and so this may interpreted of her declining and departing from her husband's house, not keeping at home to mind the affairs of her family, but gadding abroad, and keeping company with another man, or other men; and that after she had been warned and charged by her husband to the contrary, and so had disobeyed him, and acted contrary to his will; and in that sense had committed a trespass, and so had given him suspicion of her unchastity, for which he might have some reason; if, as it is said in the Misnah (l), he gave her an admonition before two witnesses, saying, have no talk with such a man, and yet she talks with him; or, as the commentators add (m), be not secretly or in private with such an one, and yet goes into a private place with him, and stays so long with him that she may be defiled; this with them rendered her suspected.
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(k) Bemidbar Rabba, sect. 9. fol. 195. 2. (l) Sotah, c. 1. sect. 1, 2. (m) Maimon. & Bartenora in Misn. Bava Kama, c. 9. sect. 11.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain If a man's wife - This law was given…
If a man's wife - This law was given partly to deter wives from adulterous practices, and partly to secure wives against the rage of their hard-hearted husbands, who otherwise might upon mere suspicions destroy them, or at least put them away. There was not like fear of inconveniences to the husband from the jealousy, of the wife, who had not that authority and power, and opportunity for the putting away or killing the husband, as the husband had over the wife. Go aside - From the way of religion and justice, and that either in truth, or in her husband's opinion.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Num 5:12. If a man’s wife go aside —…
Num 5:12. If a man’s wife go aside — From the way of piety and virtue, and that either in truth or in her husband’s opinion. This law was given partly to deter wives from adulterous practices, and partly to secure them against the rage of their hard-hearted husbands, who otherwise might, upon mere suspicion, have effected their destruction, or at least put them away. There was not the like fear of inconveniences to husbands from the jealousy of their wives, who had not that authority and power, and opportunity for the putting away or killing their husbands, which the husbands had with respect to their wives.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain THE TRIAL OF JEALOUSY. (Num. 5:11-31)
THE TRIAL OF JEALOUSY. (Num. 5:11-31)
if any man's wife go aside, and commit a trespass against him--This law was given both as a strong discouragement to conjugal infidelity on the part of a wife, and a sufficient protection of her from the consequences of a hasty and groundless suspicion on the part of the husband. His suspicions, however, were sufficient in the absence of witnesses (Lev 20:10) to warrant the trial described; and the course of proceeding to be followed was for the jealous husband to bring his wife unto the priest with an offering of barley meal, because none were allowed to approach the sanctuary empty handed (Exo 23:15). On other occasions, there were mingled with the offering, oil which signified joy, and frankincense which denoted acceptance (Psa 141:2). But on the occasion referred to, both these ingredients were to be excluded, partly because it was a solemn appeal to God in distressing circumstances, and partly because it was a sin offering on the part of the wife, who came before God in the character of a real or suspected offender.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 12-14. If… wife go aside — Be faithless to…
12-14. If… wife go aside — Be faithless to her marriage vow.
No witness — If the crime could be proven by witnesses the adulteress was to be put to death. Lev_18:20; Lev_20:10.
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Taken with the manner — This means taken in the very act, as in Joh_8:4. The Authorized Version very properly puts all these words in italics except taken, for they are not in the Hebrew. The phrase comes from an old English law term long obsolete, implying taken with the evidence of guilt fresh upon him: thus a thief was said to be taken with the mainor (Latin, in manu) when he was caught with the thing stolen upon his person, that is, in his hand.
The spirit of jealousy come upon him — This form of expression would indicate that the affection did not arise within the heart, but came upon the man as an objective force. But jealousy cannot be a personality, though it may be inspired by the evil spirit. We prefer to view the phrase as a Hebraism for the strong and vehement feeling of jealousy, which frequently gains as complete a mastery over the mind as did the demons in the time of Christ. The study of Shakspeare’s impersonations of jealousy will justify the Hebrew strength of expression.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain If any man"s wife... commit a trespass against him.…
If any man"s wife... commit a trespass against him. The adultery of the wife is here regarded only from a social point of view; the injury to the husband, the destruction of his peace of mind, even by the bare suspicion, and the consequent troubling of Israel, is the thing dwelt upon. The punishment of adultery as a sin had been already prescribed. (Lev_20:10)
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.