translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: NUM

label: NET translator note

text: The construction uses the Piel imperative followed by this Piel imperfect/jussive form; it is here subordinated to the preceding volitive, providing the content of the command. The verb שָׁלַח ( shalakh ) in this verbal stem is a strong word, meaning “expel, put out, send away, or release” (as in “let my people go”).


text: The word is נֶפֶשׁ ( nefesh ), which usually simply means “[whole] life,” i.e., the soul in the body, the person. But here it must mean the corpse, the dead person, since that is what will defile (although it was also possible to become unclean by touching certain diseased people, such as a leper).


text: The imperfect tense functions here as a final imperfect, expressing the purpose of putting such folks outside the camp. The two preceding imperfects (repeated for emphasis) are taken here as instruction or legislation.


text: The perfect tense is here given a past perfect nuance to stress that the word of the Lord preceded the obedience.


text: The verse simply says “any sin of a man,” but the genitive could mean that it is any sin that a man would commit (subjective genitive), or one committed against a man (objective genitive). Because of the similarity with Lev 5:22, the subjective is better. The sin is essentially “missing the mark” which is the standard of the Law of the Lord . The sin is not in this case accidental or inadvertent. It means here simply failing to live up to the standard of the Lord . Since both men and women are mentioned in the preceding clause, the translation uses “people” here.


text: The verb is מַעַל ( ma ’ al ), which means to “defraud, violate, trespass against,” or “to deal treacherously, do an act of treachery.” In doing any sin that people do, the guilty have been unfaithful to the Lord , and therefore must bring him a sacrifice.


text: The word used here for this violation is אָשָׁם (’ asham ). It can be translated “guilt, to be guilty”; it can also be used for the reparation offering. The basic assumption here is that the individual is in a state of sin – is guilty. In that state he or she feels remorse for the sin and seeks forgiveness through repentance. See further P. P. Saydon, “Sin Offering and Trespass Offering,” CBQ 8 (1946): 393-98; H. C. Thompson, “The Significance of the Term ’Asham in the Old Testament,” TGUOS 14 (1953): 20-26.


text: The verb is the Hitpael perfect tense with vav ( ו ) consecutive from the verb יָדָה ( yadah ), which in this stem means “acknowledge, confess sin,” but in the Hiphil (primarily) it means “praise, give thanks.” In both cases one is acknowledging something, either the sin, or the person and work of the Lord . Here the verb comes in the apodosis: “when…then he must confess.”


text: The verb is the Hiphil perfect of שׁוּב ( shuv , “return”). Here it has the sense of “repay” with the word “reparation” (traditionally rendered “guilt offering,” but now is understood to refer to what was defrauded). The Levitical rulings called for the guilty to restore what was taken, if it could be made right, and pay a fifth more as a surcharge.


text: This is now the third use of אָשָׁם (’ asham ); the first referred to “guilt,” the second to “reparation,” and now “wronged.” The idea of “guilt” lies behind the second two uses as well as the first. In the second “he must repay his guilt” (meaning what he is guilty of); and here it can also mean “the one against whom he is guilty of sinning.”


label: NET textual note

text: The editors of BHS prefer to follow the Greek, Syriac, and Latin and not read “for the Lord ” here, but read a form of the verb “to be” instead. But the text makes more sense as it stands: The payment is to be made to the Lord for the benefit of the priests.


text: The Hebrew word תְּרוּמָה ( tÿrumah ) seems to be a general word for any offering that goes to the priests (see J. Milgrom, Studies in Cultic Theology and Terminology [SJLA 36] , 159-72).


text: Heb “and a man lies with her with the emission of semen.” This makes it clear that there was adultery involved, so that the going astray is going astray morally. The indication in the text is that if she had never behaved suspiciously the sin might not have been detected.


text: The sign of the accusative אֹתָהּ (’ otah ) is probably to be repointed to the preposition with the suffix, אִתָּהּ (’ ittah ).


text: Heb “and it is concealed from the eyes of her husband.”


text: The Hebrew text has the construct case, “spirit of jealousy.” The word “spirit” here has the sense of attitude, mood, feelings. The word קִנְאָה ( qin ’ ah ) is the genitive of attribute, modifying what kind of feelings they are. The word means either “zeal” or “jealousy,” depending on the context. It is a passionate feeling to guard or protect an institution or relationship. It can also express strong emotional possessiveness such as envy and coveting. Here there is a feeling of jealousy, but no proof of infidelity.


text: The word is now used in the Piel stem; the connotation is certainly “suspicious,” for his jealousy seems now to have some basis, even if it is merely suspicion.


text: The noun clause begins with the conjunction and the pronoun; here it is forming a circumstantial clause, either temporal or causal.


text: All the conditions have been laid down now for the instruction to begin – if all this happened, then this is the procedure to follow.


text: The Hebrew word is “jealousy,” which also would be an acceptable translation here. But since the connotation is that suspicion has been raised about the other person, “suspicion” seems to be a better rendering in this context.


text: The word “remembering” is זִכָּרוֹן ( zikkaron ); the meaning of the word here is not so much “memorial,” which would not communicate much, but the idea of bearing witness before God concerning the charges. The truth would come to light through this ritual, and so the attestation would stand. This memorial would bring the truth to light. It was a somber occasion, and so no sweet smelling additives were placed on the altar.


text: The final verbal form, מַזְכֶּרֶת ( mazkeret ), explains what the memorial was all about – it was causing iniquity to be remembered.


text: The verb is the Hiphil of the word “to stand.” It could be rendered “station her,” but that sounds too unnatural. This is a meeting between an accused person and the Judge of the whole earth.


text: This is probably water taken from the large bronze basin in the courtyard. It is water set apart for sacred service. “Clean water” (so NEB) does not capture the sense very well, but it does have the support of the Greek that has “pure running water.” That pure water would no doubt be from the bronze basin anyway.


text: Heb “from.” The preposition is used here with a partitive sense.


text: The expression has been challenged. The first part, “bitter water,” has been thought to mean “water of contention” (so NEB), but this is not convincing. It has some support in the versions which read “contention” and “testing,” no doubt trying to fit the passage better. N. H. Snaith ( Leviticus and Numbers [NCB], 129) suggests from an Arabic word that it was designed to cause an abortion – but that would raise an entirely different question, one of who the father of a child was. And that has not been introduced here. The water was “bitter” in view of the consequences it held for her if she was proven to be guilty. That is then enforced by the wordplay with the last word, the Piel participle הַמְאָרֲרִים ( ham ’ ararim ). The bitter water, if it convicted her, would pronounce a curse on her. So she was literally holding her life in her hands. sn This ancient ritual seems to have functioned like a lie detector test, with all the stress and tension involved. It can be compared to water tests in the pagan world, with the exception that in Israel it was stacked more toward an innocent verdict. It seems to have been a temporary provision, for this is the only place that it appears, and no provision is made for its use later. It may have served as a didactic force, warning more than actually legislating. No provision is made in it for a similar charge to be brought against the man, but in the case of the suspicion of the woman the man would be very hesitant to demand this test given the harshness on false witnessing in Israel. The passage remains a rather strange section of the Law.


text: The word “other” is implied, since the woman would not be guilty of having sexual relations with her own husband.


text: The pronoun is emphatic – “but you, if you have gone astray.”


text: This is an example of the rhetorical device known as aposiopesis, or “sudden silence.” The sentence is broken off due to the intensity or emphasis of the moment. The reader is left to conclude what the sentence would have said.


text: Heb “the priest will say.”


text: This interpretation takes the two nouns as a hendiadys. The literal wording is “the Lord make you a curse and an oath among the people.” In what sense would she be an oath? The point of the whole passage is that the priest is making her take an oath to see if she has been sinful and will be cursed.


text: The construction uses the infinitive construct with the preposition to form an adverbial clause: “in the giving of the Lord …,” meaning, “if and when the Lord makes such and such to happen.”


text: TEV takes the expression “your thigh” as a euphemism for the genitals: “cause your genital organs to shrink.”


text: The verb is the perfect tense with vav ( ו ) consecutive. It could be taken as a jussive following the words of the priest in the previous section, but it is more likely to be a simple future.


text: Heb “fall away.”


text: The word “amen” carries the idea of “so be it,” or “truly.” The woman who submits to this test is willing to have the test demonstrate the examination of God.


text: Heb “will be free”; the words “of ill effects” have been supplied as a clarification.


text: Heb “law of jealousies.”


text: The word “iniquity” can also mean the guilt for the iniquity as well as the punishment of consequences for the iniquity. These categories of meanings grew up through figurative usage (metonymies). Here the idea is that if she is guilty then she must “bear the consequences.”