A Test for Adultery
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And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,
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"Speak to the people of Israel, If any man's wife goes astray and breaks faith with him,
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if a man r lies with her sexually, and it is hidden from the eyes of her husband, and she is undetected though she has defiled herself, and there is no witness against her, s since she was not taken in the act,
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and if the spirit of jealousy comes over him and he is jealous of his wife who has defiled herself, or if the spirit of jealousy comes over him and he is jealous of his wife, though she has not defiled herself,
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then the man shall bring his wife to the priest and bring the offering required of her, a tenth of an ephah of barley flour. t He shall pour no oil on it and put no frankincense on it, for it is a grain offering of jealousy, a grain offering of remembrance, u bringing iniquity to remembrance.
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"And the priest shall bring her near and set her before the Lord.
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And the priest shall take holy water in an earthenware vessel and take some of the dust that is on the floor of the tabernacle and put it into the water.
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And the priest shall set the woman before the Lord and v unbind the hair of the woman's head and place in her hands the grain offering of remembrance, which is the grain offering of jealousy. And in his hand the priest shall have the water of bitterness that brings the curse.
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Then the priest shall make her take an oath, saying, 'If no man has lain with you, and if you have not turned aside to uncleanness while you were under your husband's authority, be free from this water of bitterness that brings the curse.
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But if you have gone astray, though you are under your husband's authority, and if you have defiled yourself, and some man other than your husband has lain with you,
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then' (let the priest make the woman take the oath of the curse, and say to the woman) w 'the Lord make you a curse and an oath among your people, when the Lord makes your thigh fall away and your body swell.
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May this water that brings the curse x pass into your bowels and make your womb swell and your thigh fall away.' And the woman shall say, y 'Amen, Amen.'
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"Then the priest shall write these curses in a book and wash them off into the water of bitterness.
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And he shall make the woman drink the water of bitterness that brings the curse, and the water that brings the curse shall enter into her and cause bitter pain.
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And the priest shall take the grain offering of jealousy out of the woman's hand z and shall wave the grain offering before the Lord and bring it to the altar.
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And the priest a shall take a handful of the grain offering, as its memorial portion, and burn it on the altar, and afterward shall make the woman drink the water.
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And when he has made her drink the water, then, if she has defiled herself and has broken faith with her husband, the water that brings the curse shall enter into her and cause bitter pain, and her womb shall swell, and her thigh shall fall away, and the woman b shall become a curse among her people.
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But if the woman has not defiled herself and is clean, then she shall be free and shall conceive children.
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"This is the law in cases of jealousy, when a wife, c though under her husband's authority, goes astray and defiles herself,
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or when the spirit of jealousy comes over a man and he is jealous of his wife. Then he shall set the woman before the Lord, and the priest shall carry out for her all this law.
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The man shall be free from iniquity, but the woman d shall bear her iniquity."
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Cross References
Leviticus 18:20
And you shall not lie sexually with your neighbor's wife and so make yourself unclean with her.
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Cross References
John 8:4
They said to him, "Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery.
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Cross References
Leviticus 2:1
When anyone brings a grain offering as an offering to the Lord, his offering shall be of fine flour. He shall pour oil on it and put frankincense on it
Leviticus 2:15
And you shall put oil on it and lay frankincense on it; it is a grain offering.
Leviticus 5:11
But if he cannot afford two turtledoves or two pigeons, then he shall bring as his offering for the sin that he has committed a tenth of an ephah of fine flour for a sin offering. He shall put no oil on it and shall put no frankincense on it, for it is a sin offering.
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Cross References
1 Kings 17:18
And she said to Elijah, "What have you against me, O man of God? You have come to me to bring my sin to remembrance and to cause the death of my son!
Ezekiel 29:16
And it shall never again be the reliance of the house of Israel, recalling their iniquity, when they turn to them for aid. Then they will know that I am the Lord God.
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Cross References
1 Corinthians 11:5 - 7
But every wife who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, since it is the same as if her head were shaven.
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Cross References
Jeremiah 29:22
Because of them this curse shall be used by all the exiles from Judah in Babylon: "The Lord make you like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire.
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Cross References
Psalms 109:18
He clothed himself with cursing as his coat; may it soak into his body like water, like oil into his bones!
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Cross References
Deuteronomy 27:15 - 26
"'Cursed be the man who makes a carved or cast metal image, an abomination to the Lord, a thing made by the hands of a craftsman, and sets it up in secret.' And all the people shall answer and say, 'Amen.'
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Cross References
Leviticus 8:27
And he put all these in the hands of Aaron and in the hands of his sons and waved them as a wave offering before the Lord.
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Cross References
Leviticus 2:2
And bring it to Aaron's sons the priests. And he shall take from it a handful of the fine flour and oil, with all of its frankincense, and the priest shall burn this as its memorial portion on the altar, a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the Lord.
Leviticus 2:9
And the priest shall take from the grain offering its memorial portion and burn this on the altar, a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the Lord.
Leviticus 5:12
And he shall bring it to the priest, and the priest shall take a handful of it as its memorial portion and burn this on the altar, on the Lord 's food offerings; it is a sin offering.
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Cross References
Deuteronomy 28:37
And you shall become a horror, a proverb, and a...
Jeremiah 24:9
I will make them a horror to all the kingdoms o...
Jeremiah 29:18
I will pursue them with sword, famine, and pest...
Jeremiah 29:22
Because of them this curse shall be used by all...
Jeremiah 42:18
For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Isr...
Jeremiah 44:12
I will take the remnant of Judah who have set t...
Zechariah 8:13
And as you have been a byword of cursing among ...
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Cross References
Numbers 5:19 - 20
Then the priest shall make her take an oath, saying, 'If no man has lain with you, and if you have not turned aside to uncleanness while you were under your husband's authority, be free from this water of bitterness that brings the curse.
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Cross References
Leviticus 20:17
If a man takes his sister, a daughter of his father or a daughter of his mother, and sees her nakedness, and she sees his nakedness, it is a disgrace, and they shall be cut off in the sight of the children of their people. He has uncovered his sister's nakedness, and he shall bear his iniquity.
Leviticus 20:19 - 20
You shall not uncover the nakedness of your mother's sister or of your father's sister, for that is to make naked one's relative; they shall bear their iniquity.
English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.