Chapter 3

  1. And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying, Command the children of Israel that they put out of the camp every leper, and everyone that has a discharge, and whoever is defiled by the dead. Both male and female shall you put out; outside the camp shall you put them, that they defile not their camps, in the midst whereof I dwell. And the children of Israel did so and put them out, outside the camp. As the Lord spoke unto Moses, so did the children of Israel.
  2. And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, When a man or woman shall commit any sin that men commit, to do a trespass against the Lord, and that person is guilty, then they shall confess their sin which they have done. And he shall recompense his trespass with the principal thereof, and add unto it the fifth part thereof, and give it unto him against whom he has trespassed. But if the man has no kinsman to recompense the trespass unto, let the trespass be recompensed unto the Lord, even to the priest — beside the ram of the atonement, whereby an atonement shall be made for him. And every offering of all the holy things of the children of Israel, which they bring unto the priest, shall be his. And every man’s hallowed things shall be his. Whatever any man gives the priest, it shall be his.
  3. And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel and say unto them, If any man’s wife go aside and commit a trespass against him, and a man lie with her carnally, and it is hidden from the eyes of her husband and is kept close, and she is defiled, and there is no witness against her, neither is she caught in the act, and the spirit of jealousy comes upon him and he is jealous of his wife, and she is defiled — or if the spirit of jealousy come upon him and he is jealous of his wife, and she is not defiled — then shall the man bring his wife unto the priest. And he shall bring her offering for her, the tenth part of an ephah of barley meal. He shall pour no oil upon it, nor put frankincense thereon, for it is an offering of jealousy, an offering of memorial, bringing iniquity to remembrance.
  4. And the priest shall bring her near, and set her before the Lord. 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. And the priest shall set the woman before the Lord, and uncover the woman’s head, and put the offering of memorial in her hands, which is the jealousy offering. And the priest shall have in his hand the bitter water that causes the curse. And the priest shall charge her by an oath, and say unto the woman, If no man has lain with you, and if you have not gone aside to uncleanness with another instead of your husband, be free from this bitter water that causes the curse. But if you have gone aside to another instead of your husband, and if you are defiled, and some man has lain with you besides your husband, then the priest shall charge the woman with an oath of cursing. And the priest shall say unto the woman, The Lord make you a curse and an oath among your people when the Lord does make your thigh to rot and your belly to swell, and this water that causes the curse shall go into your inward parts, to make your belly to swell and your thigh to rot. And the woman shall say, Amen, amen.
  5. And the priest shall write these curses in a book, and he shall blot them out with the bitter water. And he shall cause the woman to drink the bitter water that causes the curse, and the water that causes the curse shall enter into her and become bitter. Then the priest shall take the jealousy offering out of the woman’s hand, and shall wave the offering before the Lord, and offer it upon the altar. And the priest shall take a handful of the offering, even the memorial thereof, and burn it upon the altar, and afterward shall cause the woman to drink the water. And when he has made her to drink the water, then it shall come to pass that — if she is defiled, and has done trespass against her husband — that the water that causes the curse shall enter into her, and become bitter, and her belly shall swell, and her thigh shall rot, and the woman shall be a curse among her people. And if the woman is not defiled but is clean, then she shall be free and shall conceive seed. This is the law of jealousies, when a wife goes aside to another instead of her husband and is defiled. Or when the spirit of jealousy comes upon him, and he is jealous over his wife, and shall set the woman before the Lord, and the priest shall execute upon her all this law. Then shall the man be guiltless from iniquity, and this woman shall bear her iniquity.