Bible Strands
Numbers 5:13
by sleeping with another man, and it is concealed from her husband and her impurity is undetected (since there is no witness against her and she was not caught in the act),
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Moses addresses the Israelites concerning the legal procedure for a husband who suspects his wife of sexual unfaithfulness, specifically outlining the scenario that triggers the jealousy offering.
The words — וְ/נֶעְלַם (ve./ne'.Lam) = and/ it will be hidden; שִׁכְבַת־ זֶרַע (shikh.vat- ze.Ra') = a laying of seed.
The thread — The text establishes the baseline condition for the offering before detailing the investigation ritual in Numbers 5:14, while Leviticus 18:20 and Leviticus 20:10 define the same act as defilement requiring capital punishment.
Why it lands — The verse mandates that the law applies even when the act leaves no physical evidence or eyewitnesses, requiring the husband to bring his wife to the sanctuary for divine resolution rather than relying on human proof.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And a man lie with her carnally, and it be hid from the eyes of her husband, and be kept close, and she be defiled, and there be no witness against her, neither she be taken with the manner;
Cross-references
- Leviticus 18:20 You must not lie carnally with your neighbor’s wife and thus defile yourself with her.
- Leviticus 20:10 If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife—with the wife of his neighbor—both the adulterer and the adulteress must surely be put to death.
- Proverbs 7:18 Come, let us take our fill of love till morning. Let us delight in loving caresses!
- Proverbs 30:20 This is the way of an adulteress: She eats and wipes her mouth and says, ‘I have done nothing wrong.’