Numbers 5 · Verse 23

Numbers 5:23

And the priest shall write these curses in a book, and he shall blot them out with the bitter water:
Numbers 5:23, King James Version

Numbers 5:23 in other translations

BSBAnd the priest shall write these curses on a scroll and wash them off into the bitter water.
WEB“‘The priest shall write these curses in a book, and he shall wipe them into the water of bitterness.
ASVAnd the priest shall write these curses in a book, and he shall blot them out into the water of bitterness:
YLT‘And the priest hath written these execrations in a book, and hath blotted them out with the bitter waters,
DARBYAnd the priest shall write these curses in a book, and shall blot them out with the bitter water,
BBEAnd the priest will put these curses in a book, washing out the writing with the bitter water;
WebsterAnd the priest shall write these curses in a book, and he shall blot them out with the bitter water:

What does Numbers 5:23 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Numbers 5:23-24
23-24. write these curses in a book--The imprecations, along with her name, were inscribed in some kind of record--on parchment, or more probably on a wooden tablet. blot them out with the bitter water--If she were innocent, they could be easily erased, and were perfectly harmless; but if guilty, she would experience the fatal effects of the water she had drunk.

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 23 The priest shall write these curses - and he shall blot them out - It appears that the curses which were written down with a kind of ink prepared for the purpose, as some of the rabbins think, without any calx of iron or other material that could make a permanent dye, were washed off the parchment into the water which the woman was obliged to drink, so that she drank the very words of the execration. The ink used in the East is almost all of this kind - a wet sponge will completely efface the finest of their writings. The rabbins say that the trial by the waters of jealousy was omitted after the Babylonish captivity, because adulteries were so frequent amongst them, that they were afraid of having the name of the Lord profaned by being so frequently appealed to! This is a most humiliating confession. "Though," says pious Bishop Wilson, "this judgment is not executed now on adulteresses, yet they have reason from this to conclude that a more terrible vengeance will await them hereafter without a bitter repentance; these being only a shadow of heavenly things, i. e., of what the Gospel requires of its professors, viz., a strict purity, or a severe repentance." The pious bishop would not preclude the necessity of pardon through the blood of the cross, for without this the severest repentance would be of no avail.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Numbers 5:11-31

This law would make the women of Israel watch against giving cause for suspicion. On the other hand, it would hinder the cruel treatment such suspicions might occasion. It would also hinder the guilty from escaping, and the innocent from coming under just suspicion. When no proof could be brought, the wife was called on to make this solemn appeal to a heart-searching God. No woman, if she were guilty, could say…

Read the full comment on Numbers 5:11-31 →

Numbers 5:23 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

וְ֠כָתַבVe.kha.tavand he will writeH3789
אֶת\־'et-<obj.>H853
הָאָלֹ֥תha.'a.Lotthe cursesH423
הָאֵ֛לֶּהha.'E.leh<the> theseH428
הַכֹּהֵ֖ןha.ko.Henthe priestH3548
בַּסֵּ֑פֶרba.Se.feron the scrollH5612
וּמָחָ֖הu.ma.Chahand he will wipe [them] offH4229
אֶל\־'el-intoH413
מֵ֥יmei[the] waters ofH4325
הַמָּרִֽים\׃ha.ma.Rim<the> bitter [things]H4751

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Numbers 5:23

  • Job 31:35

    Oh that one would hear me! behold, my desire is, that the Almighty would answer me, and that mine adversary had written a book.

  • Psalms 51:1

    To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came unto him, after he had gone in to Bath–sheba. Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.

  • Jeremiah 51:60-64

    So Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil that should come upon Babylon, even all these words that are written against Babylon. And Jeremiah said to Seraiah, When thou comest to Babylon, and shalt see, and shalt read all these words; Then shalt thou say, O Lord, thou hast spoken against this place, to cut it off, that none shall remain in it, neither man nor beast, but that it shall be desolate for ever. And it shall be, when thou hast made an end of reading this book, that thou shalt bind a stone to it, and cast it into the midst of Euphrates: …

  • Isaiah 43:25

    I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.

  • Deuteronomy 31:19

    Now 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.

  • Isaiah 44:22

    I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins: return unto me; for I have redeemed thee.

  • Revelation 20:12

    And 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.

  • 1 Corinthians 16:21-22

    The salutation of me Paul with mine own hand. If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maran-atha.

  • Acts 3:19

    Repent 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;

  • 2 Chronicles 34:24

    Thus 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:

  • Psalms 51:9

    Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities.

  • Exodus 17:14

    And 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.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
write these.
Ex 17:14; De 31:19; 2Ch 34:24; Job 31:35; Jer 51:60-64
1Co 16:21,22; Re 20:12
blot.
Ps 51:1,9; Isa 43:25; 44:22; Ac 3:19

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Numbers 5:22

    And this water that causeth the curse shall go into thy bowels, to make thy belly to swell, and thy thigh to rot: And the woman shall say, Amen, amen.

  • Numbers 5:23

    And the priest shall write these curses in a book, and he shall blot them out with the bitter water:

  • Numbers 5:24

    And he shall cause the woman to drink the bitter water that causeth the curse: and the water that causeth the curse shall enter into her, and become bitter.

Read all of Numbers 5

Numbers 5:23 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909
Y el sacerdote escribirá estas maldiciones en un libro, y las borrará con las aguas amargas:
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885
– Et le sacrificateur écrira ces exécrations dans un livre, et les effacera avec les eaux amères.
German
Elberfelder 1871
Und der Priester soll diese Flüche in ein Buch schreiben und sie in das Wasser der Bitterkeit auslöschen;
Latin
Clementine Vulgate
Scribetque sacerdos in libello ista maledicta, et delebit ea aquis amarissimis, in quas maledicta congessit,