Bible Strands
Numbers 5:23
And the priest shall write these curses on a scroll and wash them off into the bitter water.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The priest addresses a suspected adulteress during the ritual of the bitter water ordeal. He writes the prescribed curses on a scroll before preparing the water that will test her fidelity.
The words — The Hebrew verb כָּתַב (kha.tav) means "he will write," and מָחָה (ma.Chah) means "he will wipe off." The priest inscribes the curses on a scroll and then washes them into the water.
The thread — This act of writing and blotting out curses parallels God's command to record judgments in Exodus 17:14 and Deuteronomy 31:19. The motif of erased curses also appears in 2 Chronicles 34:24 regarding impending calamity.
Why it lands — The text requires the reader to recognize that written words gain physical power when transferred into the ordeal water. It demands attention to the priest's precise actions in executing divine judgment.
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 the priest shall write these curses in a book, and he shall blot them out with the bitter water:
Cross-references
- Exodus 17:14 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Write this on a scroll as a reminder and recite it to Joshua, because I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.”
- Deuteronomy 31:19 Now therefore, write down for yourselves this song and teach it to the Israelites; have them recite it, so that it may be a witness for Me against them.
- 2 Chronicles 34:24 that this is what the LORD says: I am about to bring calamity on this place and on its people, according to all the curses written in the book that has been read in the presence of the king of Judah,
- Job 31:35 (Oh, that I had one to hear me! Here is my signature. Let the Almighty answer me; let my accuser compose an indictment.
- Psalms 51:1 For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. When Nathan the prophet came to him after his adultery with Bathsheba. Have mercy on me, O God, according to Your loving devotion; according to Your great compassion, blot out my transgressions.
- Psalms 51:9 Hide Your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquities.
- Isaiah 43:25 I, yes I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake and remembers your sins no more.
- Isaiah 44:22 I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud, and your sins like a mist. Return to Me, for I have redeemed you.
- Jeremiah 51:60 Jeremiah had written on a single scroll about all the disaster that would come upon Babylon—all these words that had been written concerning Babylon.
- Acts 3:19 Repent, then, and turn back, so that your sins may be wiped away,