And the priest shall write these curses in a book, and he shall blot them out with 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.
- BSB And the priest shall write these curses on a scroll and wash them off into 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 thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities.
- Exod 17:14And the LORD said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua: for I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.
- Ps 51:1Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.
- Isa 44:22I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins: return unto me; for I have redeemed thee.
- Isa 43:25I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.
- 1 Cor 16:21–22The salutation of me Paul with mine own hand.
- Jer 51:60–64So Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil that should come upon Babylon, even all these words that are written against Babylon.
- Acts 3:19Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;
- Job 31:35Oh that one would hear me! behold, my desire is, that the Almighty would answer me, and that mine adversary had written a book.
- 2 Chr 34:24Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, and upon the inhabitants thereof, even all the curses that are written in the book which they have read before the king of Judah:
- Rev 20:12And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
- Deut 31:19Now therefore write ye this song for you, and teach it the children of Israel: put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for me against the children of Israel.
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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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