Bible Strands
Numbers 5:31
The husband will be free from guilt, but the woman shall bear her iniquity.”
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The narrator records the priest’s concluding declaration regarding the jealousy ordeal, addressing the husband and the suspected wife standing before the Lord. This ruling applies when the ritual confirms the woman’s guilt.
The words — The Hebrew נִקָּה (niqqah) literally means "to be clear" or "free from guilt," while תִשָּׂא (tissa) means "to bear" or "carry." The text contrasts the man’s legal clearance with the woman’s obligation to carry her iniquity.
The thread — This distinction between legal clearance and bearing iniquity echoes the adultery judgment in Leviticus 20:10, where both parties face punishment, and anticipates the broader biblical principle that unrepentant wickedness brings wrath, as noted in Romans 2:8.
Why it lands — The verse demands recognition that ritual procedures resolve marital suspicion while affirming that personal guilt cannot be transferred to an innocent party. It requires the reader to accept that divine justice distinguishes between legal standing and moral accountability.
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
Then shall the man be guiltless from iniquity, and this woman shall bear her iniquity.
Cross-references
- 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.
- Romans 2:8 But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow wickedness, there will be wrath and anger.
- Leviticus 20:17 If a man marries his sister, whether the daughter of his father or of his mother, and they have sexual relations, it is a disgrace. They must be cut off in the sight of their people. He has uncovered the nakedness of his sister; he shall bear his iniquity.
- Numbers 9:13 But if a man who is ceremonially clean and is not on a journey still fails to observe the Passover, he must be cut off from his people, because he did not present the LORD’s offering at its appointed time. That man will bear the consequences of his sin.
- Psalms 37:6 He will bring forth your righteousness like the dawn, your justice like the noonday sun.
- Ezekiel 18:4 Behold, every soul belongs to Me; both father and son are Mine. The soul who sins is the one who will die.