Numbers 5 · Verse 29

Numbers 5:29

This is the law of jealousies, when a wife goeth aside to another instead of her husband, and is defiled;
Numbers 5:29, King James Version

Numbers 5:29 in other translations

BSBThis is the law of jealousy when a wife goes astray and defiles herself while under her husband’s authority,
WEB“‘This is the law of jealousy, when a wife, being under her husband, goes astray, and is defiled,
ASVThis is the law of jealousy, when a wife, being under her husband, goeth aside, and is defiled;
YLT‘This is the law of jealousies, when a wife turneth aside under her husband, and hath been defiled,
DARBYThis is the law of jealousies, when a wife goeth astray to another instead of her husband and is defiled,
BBEThis is the law for testing a wife who goes with another in place of her husband and becomes unclean;
WebsterThis is the law of jealousies, when a wife goeth astray to another instead of her husband, and is defiled;

What does Numbers 5:29 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
29. This is the law of jealousies--Adultery discovered and proved was punished with death. But strongly suspected cases would occur, and this law made provision for the conviction of the guilty person. It was, however, not a trial conducted according to the forms of judicial process, but an ordeal through which a suspected adulteress was made to go--the ceremony being of that terrifying nature, that, on the known principles of human nature, guilt or innocence could not fail to appear. From the earliest times, the jealousy of Eastern people has established ordeals for the detection and punishment of suspected unchastity in wives. The practice was deep-rooted as well as universal. And it has been thought, that the Israelites being strongly biassed in favor of such usages, this law of jealousies "was incorporated among the other institutions of the Mosaic economy, in order to free it from the idolatrous rites which the heathens had blended with it." Viewed in this light, its sanction by divine authority in a corrected and improved form exhibits a proof at once of the wisdom and condescension of God.

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

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 29 This is the law of jealousies - And this is the most singular law in the whole Pentateuch: a law that seems to have been copied by almost all the nations of the earth, whether civilized or barbarian, as we find that similar modes of trial for suspected offenses were used when complete evidence was wanting to convict; and where it was expected that the object of their worship would interfere for the sake of justice, in order that the guilty should be brought to punishment, and the innocent be cleared. For general information on this head see at the end of this chapter. (See Num 5:31 (note)).

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 5:29 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.

זֹ֥אתzotthisH2063
תּוֹרַ֖תto.Rat[is] [the] law ofH8451
הַקְּנָאֹ֑תha.ke.na.'Ot<the> jealousi<es>H7068
אֲשֶׁ֨ר'a.SherthatH834
תִּשְׂטֶ֥הtis.Tehshe will turn asideH7847
אִשָּׁ֛ה'i.Shaha wifeH802
תַּ֥חַתTa.chatunderH8478
אִישָׁ֖הּ'i.Shahhusband herH376
וְנִטְמָֽאָה\׃ve.nit.Ma.'ahand she will make herself uncleanH2930

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

Cross references for Numbers 5:29

  • Numbers 5:19

    And the priest shall charge her by an oath, and say unto the woman, If no man have lain with thee, and if thou hast not gone aside to uncleanness with another instead of thy husband, be thou free from this bitter water that causeth the curse:

  • Numbers 5:12

    Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, If any man’s wife go aside, and commit a trespass against him,

  • Leviticus 15:32-33

    This is the law of him that hath an issue, and of him whose seed goeth from him, and is defiled therewith; And of her that is sick of her flowers, and of him that hath an issue, of the man, and of the woman, and of him that lieth with her that is unclean.

  • Isaiah 5:7-8

    For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry. Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth!

  • Numbers 5:15

    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.

  • Leviticus 13:59

    This is the law of the plague of leprosy in a garment of woollen or linen, either in the warp, or woof, or any thing of skins, to pronounce it clean, or to pronounce it unclean.

  • Leviticus 14:54-57

    This is the law for all manner of plague of leprosy, and scall, And for the leprosy of a garment, and of a house, And for a rising, and for a scab, and for a bright spot: To teach when it is unclean, and when it is clean: this is the law of leprosy.

  • Leviticus 11:46

    This is the law of the beasts, and of the fowl, and of every living creature that moveth in the waters, and of every creature that creepeth upon the earth:

  • Leviticus 7:11

    And this is the law of the sacrifice of peace offerings, which he shall offer unto the Lord.

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

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
the law.
Le 7:11; 11:46; 13:59; 14:54-57; 15:32,33
when a wife goeth.
12,15,19; Isa 5:7,8

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

Context

  • Numbers 5:28

    And if the woman be not defiled, but be clean; then she shall be free, and shall conceive seed.

  • Numbers 5:29

    This is the law of jealousies, when a wife goeth aside to another instead of her husband, and is defiled;

  • Numbers 5:30

    Or when the spirit of jealousy cometh upon him, and he be jealous over his wife, and shall set the woman before the Lord, and the priest shall execute upon her all this law.

Read all of Numbers 5

Numbers 5:29 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Esta es la ley de los celos, cuando la mujer hiciere traición á su marido, y se amancillare;
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Telle est la loi de jalousie, quand une femme se sera détournée pour être avec un autre que son mari et se sera rendue impure,
German
Elberfelder 1871		Das ist das Gesetz der Eifersucht: Wenn ein Weib, unter ihrem Manne seiend, ausschweift und sich verunreinigt,
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Ista est lex zelotypiæ. Si declinaverit mulier a viro suo, et si polluta fuerit,