Then the man shall be free from iniquity, but that woman shall bear her guilt.’ ”
Parallel translations
- WEB The man shall be free from iniquity, and that woman shall bear her iniquity.’”
- KJV Then shall the man be guiltless from iniquity, and this woman shall bear her iniquity.
- BSB The husband will be free from guilt, but the woman shall bear her iniquity.”
- NASB The man, moreover, will be free of guilt, but that woman shall bear the consequences of her guilt.’ ”
- NLT The husband will be innocent of any guilt in this matter, but his wife will be held accountable for her sin.”
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 husband bears no guilt for invoking the ordeal, while a guilty wife bears her own iniquity.
Overview
This closing verse clears the husband of wrongdoing in seeking the rite and places responsibility squarely on the guilty party. It establishes that each person answers to God for their own sin, a principle running through Scripture. Ultimately all bear iniquity until it is borne away by Christ, who took our guilt upon Himself.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Lev 20:10“‘The man who commits adultery with another man’s wife, even he who commits adultery with his neighbor’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.
- Rom 2:8–9but to those who are self-seeking, and don’t obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, will be wrath and indignation,
- Ezek 18:4Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul who sins, he shall die.
- Ps 37:6he will make your righteousness go out as the light, and your justice as the noon day sun.
- Lev 20:17–20“‘If a man takes his sister, his father’s daughter, or his mother’s daughter, and sees her nakedness, and she sees his nakedness; it is a shameful thing. They shall be cut off in the sight of the children of their people. He has uncovered his sister’s nakedness. He shall bear his iniquity.
- Num 9:13But the man who is clean, and is not on a journey, and fails to keep the Passover, that soul shall be cut off from his people. Because he didn’t offer the offering of Yahweh in its appointed season, that man shall bear his sin.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Commentaries & study tools
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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 5:31 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.