Numbers 5:18
And when the woman shall stand before the Lord, he shall uncover her head, and shall, put on her hands the sacrifice of remembrance, and the oblation of jealousy: and he himself shall hold the most bitter waters, whereon he hath heaped curses with execration.
Open Numbers 5:18 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Cumque steterit mulier in conspectu Domini, discooperiet caput ejus, et ponet super manus illius sacrificium recordationis, et oblationem zelotypiæ : ipse autem tenebit aquas amarissimas, in quibus cum execratione maledicta congessit.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- καὶ στήσει τὴν γυναῖκα ὁ ἱερεὺς ἔναντι Κυρίου, καὶ ἀποκαλύψει τὴν κεφαλὴν τῆς γυναικός, καὶ δώσει ἐπὶ τὰς χεῖρας αὐτῆς τὴν θυσίαν τοῦ μνημοσύνου, τὴν θυσίαν τῆς ζηλοτυπίας· ἐν δὲ τῇ χειρὶ τοῦ ἱερέως ἔσται τὸ ὕδωρ τοῦ ἐλεγμοῦ τοῦ ἐπικαταρωμένου τούτου.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- וְהֶעֱמִ֨יד הַכֹּהֵ֥ן אֶֽת הָאִשָּׁה֮ לִפְנֵ֣י יְהוָה֒ וּפָרַע֙ אֶת רֹ֣אשׁ הָֽאִשָּׁ֔ה וְנָתַ֣ן עַל כַּפֶּ֗יהָ אֵ֚ת מִנְחַ֣ת הַזִּכָּר֔וֹן מִנְחַ֥ת קְנָאֹ֖ת הִ֑וא וּבְיַ֤ד הַכֹּהֵן֙ יִהְי֔וּ מֵ֥י הַמָּרִ֖ים הַמְאָֽרֲרִֽים
Haydock's commentary
On verses 17 to 18
Holy water, destined for sacred uses, which is called most bitter, ver. 18, (Menochius) and cursed, (ver. 22,) on account of the imprecations used to detect the guilty. (Worthington)
Earth, to shew the woman, that if she had been unfaithful, she deserved to be trodden upon as dung, Ecclesiasticus ix. 10.
Head, that she may remember all is naked before the Lord. (Menochius)
Hebrew may signify, "he shall cut the hair of her head," (see Leviticus x. 6.; Calmet) or take off her veil. (Josephus, [Antiquities?] iii. 10.) (Haydock)
Remembrance, by which God was requested to manifest the truth, either by punishing or by rewarding the woman, ver. 15, 28. (Menochius)
Bitter, either on account of the wormwood, or because of their effects on the guilty. (Calmet)
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
St Ephrem the Syrian Ephraim Syrus: Three Homilies, On Our Lord
6. But Israel crucified our Lord, on the plea that verily He was seducing us from the One God. But they themselves used constantly to wander away from the One God through their many idols. While then they imagine they crucify Him Who seduces them from the One God, they are found to be led away by Him from all idols to the One God; to the end that because they did not voluntarily learn of Him that He is God, they might by compulsion learn of Him that He is God; when the good which had accrued to them through Him should accuse them concerning the evil which their hands had done. Thus even though the tongue of the oppressors denied, yet the help with which they were helped convicted them. For grace loaded them beyond their power, so that they should be ashamed, while laden with Thy blessings, to deny Thy person. …