And the priest will write these curses on a piece of leather 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:
- 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.
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 of my iniquities.
- Exod 17:14Yahweh said to Moses, “Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua: that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under the sky.”
- Ps 51:1For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David, when Nathan the prophet came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba. Have mercy on me, God, according to your loving kindness. According to the multitude of your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions.
- Isa 44:22I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, your transgressions, and, as a cloud, your sins. Return to me, for I have redeemed you.
- Isa 43:25I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake; and I will not remember your sins.
- 1 Cor 16:21–22This greeting is by me, Paul, with my own hand.
- Jer 51:60–64Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil that should come on Babylon, even all these words that are written concerning Babylon.
- Acts 3:19“Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, so that there may come times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord,
- Job 31:35oh that I had one to hear me! Behold, here is my signature! Let the Almighty answer me! Let the accuser write my indictment!
- 2 Chr 34:24“Yahweh says, ‘Behold, I will bring evil on this place, and on its inhabitants, even all the curses that are written in the book which they have read before the king of Judah.
- Rev 20:12I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and they opened books. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged out of the things which were written in the books, according to their works.
- Deut 31:19“Now therefore write this song for yourselves, and teach it to the children of Israel. Put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for me against the children of Israel.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.