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Septuagint: Numbers: Numbers Chapter 5

Book of AmosGreek Old TestamentSeptuagint

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This is a passage of biblical legislation in ancient Greek, specifically Numbers chapter 5 from the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible), belonging to the Pentateuchal legal tradition. The text covers three distinct laws: the expulsion of the ritually impure (those with skin disease, bodily discharges, or corpse-contamination) from the Israelite camp to preserve its holiness; a law on confession and restitution for wrongs, requiring repayment of the principal plus a twenty-percent surcharge; and the extended "law of jealousy" (the sotah ritual), which occupies most of the passage. The sotah procedure is the text's most striking and distinctive content: when a husband suspects his wife of adultery but has no witnesses, he brings her to the priest, who administers a ritual ordeal — "bitter water" made from holy water mixed with tabernacle dust and the ink-washed curses written in a scroll. If the woman is guilty, the water is said to cause her abdomen to swell and her thigh to waste away; if innocent, she suffers no harm and will conceive children. The passage is notable for encoding a trial-by-ordeal within a priestly, monotheistic framework, and for its stark asymmetry: the husband faces no equivalent ordeal, and the closing verse explicitly absolves him of any sin while placing full culpability on the wife. This text is essential reading for understanding ancient Israelite purity law, gender norms, and the intersection of priestly authority with domestic dispute resolution.

Septuagint: Numbers: Numbers Chapter 5

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