and the priest shall take holy water in an earthen vessel; and of the dust that is on the floor of the tabernacle the priest shall take, and put it into the water.
Parallel translations
- 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:
- BSB Then he is to take some holy water in a clay jar and put some of the dust from the tabernacle floor into the water.
- NKJV The priest shall take holy water in an earthen vessel, and take some of the dust that is on the floor of the tabernacle and put it into the water.
- NASB and the priest shall take holy water in an earthenware container; and he shall take some of the dust that is on the floor of the tabernacle and put it in the water.
- NLT He must take some holy water in a clay jar and pour into it dust he has taken from the Tabernacle floor.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The priest takes holy water in an earthen vessel and mixes in dust from the tabernacle floor. These sacred elements prepared the water used in the ordeal.
Overview
The water was made holy by its use in the sanctuary, and the dust came from the floor of God's dwelling, linking the test to His holy presence. The ordinary, even humble, elements signal that the outcome depended not on the substances but on God's direct judgment. The whole rite underscored that God alone would reveal the truth.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Exod 30:18“You shall also make a basin of brass, and its base of brass, in which to wash. You shall put it between the Tent of Meeting and the altar, and you shall put water in it.
- John 8:6They said this testing him, that they might have something to accuse him of. But Jesus stooped down, and wrote on the ground with his finger.
- Jer 17:13Yahweh, the hope of Israel, all who forsake you shall be disappointed. Those who depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken Yahweh, the spring of living waters.
- Job 2:12When they lifted up their eyes from a distance, and didn’t recognize him, they raised their voices, and wept; and they each tore his robe, and sprinkled dust on their heads toward the sky.
- John 8:8Again he stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground.
- Lam 3:29Let him put his mouth in the dust, if so be there may be hope.
- Num 19:2–9“This is the statute of the law which Yahweh has commanded. Tell the children of Israel to bring you a red heifer without spot, in which is no defect, and which was never yoked.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
In the wilderness Christ is the water from the rock, the bronze serpent lifted up that the dying might look and live (John 3:14), and the star and scepter that Balaam saw rising out of Jacob.
How Numbers 5:17 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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