Numbers 5:23
New International Version
“’The priest is to write these curses on a scroll and then wash them off into the bitter water.

New Living Translation
And the priest will write these curses on a piece of leather and wash them off into the bitter water.

English Standard Version
“Then the priest shall write these curses in a book and wash them off into the water of bitterness.

Berean Standard Bible
And the priest shall write these curses on a scroll and wash them off into the bitter water.

King James Bible
And the priest shall write these curses in a book, and he shall blot them out with the bitter water:

New King James Version
‘Then the priest shall write these curses in a book, and he shall scrape them off into the bitter water.

New American Standard Bible
‘The priest shall then write these curses on a scroll, and he shall wash them off into the water of bitterness.

NASB 1995
‘The priest shall then write these curses on a scroll, and he shall wash them off into the water of bitterness.

NASB 1977
‘The priest shall then write these curses on a scroll, and he shall wash them off into the water of bitterness.

Legacy Standard Bible
‘The priest shall then write these curses on a scroll, and he shall wash them off into the water of bitterness.

Amplified Bible
‘The priest shall then write these curses on a scroll and shall wash them off into the water of bitterness;

Christian Standard Bible
“Then the priest is to write these curses on a scroll and wash them off into the bitter water.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Then the priest is to write these curses on a scroll and wash them off into the bitter water.

American Standard Version
And the priest shall write these curses in a book, and he shall blot them out into the water of bitterness:

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
And the Priest shall write these curses in a scroll and he shall blot them out with the water of testing.

Brenton Septuagint Translation
And the priest shall write these curses in a book, and shall blot them out with the water of the conviction that brings the curse.

Contemporary English Version
The priest will write these curses on special paper and wash them off into the bitter water,

Douay-Rheims Bible
And the priest shall write these curses in a book, and shall wash them out with the most bitter waters, upon which he hath heaped the curses,

English Revised Version
And the priest shall write these curses in a book, and he shall blot them out into the water of bitterness:

GOD'S WORD® Translation
"The priest will write these curses on a scroll and wash them off into the bitter water.

Good News Translation
Then the priest shall write this curse down and wash the writing off into the bowl of bitter water.

International Standard Version
"Then the priest is to write all of these words in a document and wipe it off with the contaminated water.

JPS Tanakh 1917
And the priest shall write these curses in a scroll, and he shall blot them out into the water of bitterness.

Literal Standard Version
And the priest has written these execrations in a scroll, and has blotted [them] out with the bitter waters,

Majority Standard Bible
And the priest shall write these curses on a scroll and wash them off into the bitter water.

New American Bible
The priest shall put these curses in writing and shall then wash them off into the water of bitterness,

NET Bible
"'Then the priest will write these curses on a scroll and then scrape them off into the bitter water.

New Revised Standard Version
Then the priest shall put these curses in writing, and wash them off into the water of bitterness.

New Heart English Bible
"The priest shall write these curses on a scroll, and he shall blot them out into the water of bitterness.

Webster's Bible Translation
And the priest shall write these curses in a book, and he shall blot them out with the bitter water:

World English Bible
“‘The priest shall write these curses in a book, and he shall wipe them into the water of bitterness.

Young's Literal Translation
And the priest hath written these execrations in a book, and hath blotted them out with the bitter waters,

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
The Adultery Test
22May this water that brings a curse enter your stomach and cause your belly to swell and your thigh to shrivel.’ Then the woman is to say, ‘Amen, Amen.’ 23And the priest shall write these curses on a scroll and wash them off into the bitter water. 24He is to have the woman drink the bitter water that brings a curse, and it will enter her and cause her bitter suffering.…

Cross References
Numbers 5:22
May this water that brings a curse enter your stomach and cause your belly to swell and your thigh to shrivel.' Then the woman is to say, 'Amen, Amen.'

Numbers 5:24
He is to have the woman drink the bitter water that brings a curse, and it will enter her and cause her bitter suffering.


Treasury of Scripture

And the priest shall write these curses in a book, and he shall blot them out with the bitter water:

write these

Exodus 17:14
And the LORD said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua: for I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.

Deuteronomy 31:19
Now therefore write ye this song for you, and teach it the children of Israel: put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for me against the children of Israel.

2 Chronicles 34:24
Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, and upon the inhabitants thereof, even all the curses that are written in the book which they have read before the king of Judah:

blot

Psalm 51:1,9
To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came unto him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba. Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions…

Isaiah 43:25
I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.

Isaiah 44:22
I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins: return unto me; for I have redeemed thee.

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Bitter Bitterness Blot Blotted Book Curses Execrations Scroll Wash Washing Water Waters Write Writing Written
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Bitter Bitterness Blot Blotted Book Curses Execrations Scroll Wash Washing Water Waters Write Writing Written
Numbers 5
1. The unclean are removed out of camp
5. Restitution is to be made in trespass
11. The trial of jealously














Verse 23. - In a book. On a roll. Blot them out with the bitter water. Rather, "wash them off into the bitter water," in order to transfer the venom of the curses to the water. Ἐξαλείψει... εἰς τὸ ὔδωρ, Septuagint. The writing on the scroll was to be washed off in the vessel of water. Of course the only actual consequence was that the ink was mixed with the water, but in the imagination of the people, and to the frightened conscience of a guilty woman, the curses were also held in solution in the water of trial. The direction was founded on a world-wide superstition, still prevalent in Africa, and indeed amongst most semi-barbarous peoples. In the 'Romance of Setnan,' translated by Brugsch. Bey, the scene of which is laid in the time of Rameses the Great, a magical formula written on a papyrus leaf is dissolved in water, and drunk with the effect of imparting all its secrets to him that drinks it. So in the present day, by a similar superstition, do sick Mahomedans swallow texts of the Koran; and so in the middle ages the canonized Archbishop Edmund Rich (1240) on his death-bed washed a crucifix in water and drank it, saying, "Ye shall drink water from the wells of salvation."

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
And the priest
הַכֹּהֵ֖ן (hak·kō·hên)
Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 3548: Priest

shall write
וְ֠כָתַב (wə·ḵā·ṯaḇ)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Conjunctive perfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 3789: To grave, to write

these
הָאֵ֛לֶּה (hā·’êl·leh)
Article | Pronoun - common plural
Strong's 428: These, those

curses
הָאָלֹ֥ת (hā·’ā·lōṯ)
Article | Noun - feminine plural
Strong's 423: An imprecation

on a scroll
בַּסֵּ֑פֶר (bas·sê·p̄er)
Preposition-b, Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 5612: A missive, document, writing, book

and wash them off
וּמָחָ֖ה (ū·mā·ḥāh)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Conjunctive perfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 4229: To stroke, rub, to erase, to smooth, grease, make fat, to touch, reach to

into
אֶל־ (’el-)
Preposition
Strong's 413: Near, with, among, to

the bitter
הַמָּרִֽים׃ (ham·mā·rîm)
Article | Adjective - masculine plural
Strong's 4751: Bitter, bitterness, bitterly

water.
מֵ֥י (mê)
Noun - masculine plural construct
Strong's 4325: Water, juice, urine, semen


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OT Law: Numbers 5:23 The priest shall write these curses (Nu Num.)
Numbers 5:22
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