And the priest shall write these curses on a scroll and wash them off into the bitter water.
Parallel translations
- WEB “‘The priest shall write these curses in a book, and he shall blot them out into the water of bitterness.
- KJV And the priest shall write these curses in a book, and he shall blot them out with the bitter water:
- NKJV ‘Then the priest shall write these curses in a book, and he shall scrape them off into the bitter water.
- NASB ‘The priest shall then write these curses on a scroll, and he shall wash them off into the water of bitterness.
- NLT And the priest will write these curses on a piece of leather and wash them off into the bitter water.
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 writes the curses and washes them into the bitter water, so that God's own word is symbolically ingested in this ordeal.
Overview
This concludes the ritual instructions for the suspected adulteress (Num 5:11-31), where written curses are dissolved into water she will drink. The act dramatizes that God Himself, not human suspicion, would render the verdict. It shows a holy God taking marital covenant seriously and protecting the innocent wife from mere accusation.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Ps 51:9Hide Your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquities.
- Exod 17:14Then the LORD said to Moses, “Write this on a scroll as a reminder and recite it to Joshua, because I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.”
- Ps 51:1For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. When Nathan the prophet came to him after his adultery with Bathsheba. Have mercy on me, O God, according to Your loving devotion; according to Your great compassion, blot out my transgressions.
- Isa 44:22I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud, and your sins like a mist. Return to Me, for I have redeemed you.
- Isa 43:25I, yes I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake and remembers your sins no more.
- 1 Cor 16:21–22This greeting is in my own hand—Paul.
- Jer 51:60–64Jeremiah had written on a single scroll about all the disaster that would come upon Babylon—all these words that had been written concerning Babylon.
- Acts 3:19Repent, then, and turn back, so that your sins may be wiped away,
- Job 31:35(Oh, that I had one to hear me! Here is my signature. Let the Almighty answer me; let my accuser compose an indictment.
- 2 Chr 34:24that this is what the LORD says: I am about to bring calamity on this place and on its people, according to all the curses written in the book that has been read in the presence of the king of Judah,
- Rev 20:12And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne. And there were open books, and one of them was the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their deeds, as recorded in the books.
- Deut 31:19Now therefore, write down for yourselves this song and teach it to the Israelites; have them recite it, so that it may be a witness for Me against them.
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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 5:23 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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