18 And he will make the woman come before the Lord with her hair loose, and will put the meal offering, the offering of a bitter spirit, in her hands; and the priest will take in his hand the bitter water causing the curse;
But her end is bitter as wormwood, and sharp as a two-edged sword;
And I went to the angel, and said to him, Give me the little book. And he said to me: Put it in your mouth; and it will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey. And I took the little book out of the angel's hand and did as he said; and it was sweet as honey in my mouth: and when I had taken it, my stomach was made bitter.
I have knowledge of your works, and your love and faith and help and strength in trouble, and that your last works are more than the first. But I have this against you, that you let the woman Jezebel say she is a prophet and give false teaching, making my servants go after the desires of the flesh and take food offered to false gods. And I gave her time for a change of heart, but she has no mind to give up her unclean ways. See, I will put her into a bed, and those who make themselves unclean with her, into great trouble, if they go on with her works. And I will put her children to death; and all the churches will see that I am he who makes search into the secret thoughts and hearts of men: and I will give to every one of you the reward of your works.
Let married life be honoured among all of you and not made unclean; for men untrue in married life will be judged by God.
For the word of God is living and full of power, and is sharper than any two-edged sword, cutting through and making a division even of the soul and the spirit, the bones and the muscles, and quick to see the thoughts and purposes of the heart. And there is nothing made which is not completely clear to him; there is nothing covered, but all things are open to the eyes of him with whom we have to do.
The evil you yourselves have done will be your punishment, your errors will be your judge: be certain then, and see that it is an evil and a bitter thing to give up the Lord your God, and no longer to be moved by fear of me, says the Lord, the Lord of armies.
See, in place of peace my soul had bitter sorrow. but you have kept back my soul from the underworld; for you have put all my sins out of your memory.
Then Samuel said, Make Agag, the king of the Amalekites, come here to me. And Agag came to him shaking with fear. And Agag said, Truly the pain of death is past.
So that there may not be among you any man or woman or family or tribe whose heart is turned away from the Lord our God today, to go after other gods and give them worship; or any root among you whose fruit is poison and bitter sorrow;
And he will give to the woman the bitter water for drink; and the bitter water causing the curse will go into her. And the priest will take from her hand the meal offering of doubt, waving it before the Lord, and will take it to the altar; And he will take some of it in his hand, burning it on the altar as a sign, and then he will give the woman the bitter water.
And this water of the curse will go into your body, causing disease of your stomach and wasting of your legs: and the woman will say, So be it.
And the priest will take holy water in a pot and put in it dust from the floor of the House;
And the leper who has the disease on him is to go about with signs of grief, with his hair loose and his mouth covered, crying, Unclean, unclean.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Numbers 5
Commentary on Numbers 5 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 5
In this chapter we have,
Num 5:1-10
Here is,
Num 5:11-31
We have here the law concerning the solemn trial of a wife whose husband was jealous of her. Observe,