What Does Numbers 5:15 Mean in the King James?
Then shall the man bring his wife unto the priest, and he shall bring her offering for her, the tenth part of an ephah of barley meal; he shall pour no oil upon it, nor put frankincense thereon; for it is an offering of jealousy, an offering of memorial, bringing iniquity to remembrance.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The barley is not a verdict; it is a memorial that carries jealousy and its unresolved charge into the open.
THE MEANING
A husband’s jealousy places his wife under an accusation that is not yet resolved. The barley offering, with no oil or frankincense, gives that accusation a material form and names its purpose: to bring crookedness into remembrance.
THE ROOT
זִכָּרוֹן
zikkārôn
GROWS FROM
זכר
z-k-r
Remember; call to mind.
“memorial / bringing to remembrance” in this verse is zikkārôn. The verse uses two forms from the same seed: זִכָּרוֹן (zikkārôn, “memorial”) and מַזְכֶּרֶת (mazkēret, “bringing to remembrance”). The offering is explicitly a mechanism of recall, carrying the accusation into the open rather than treating it as already settled.
ALSO GROWS
zāḵar: Remember; recall.
זָכַר
The phrase “bringing to remembrance” draws on this same root of calling something to mind.
ʾazkārāh: Memorial portion of a grain offering.
אַזְכָּרָה
This related offering term shows that remembrance is built into the grain offering’s ritual language.
קְנָאֹת
qenaʾōt
GROWS FROM
קנא
q-n-ʾ
Be zealous or jealous.
The root קנא (q-n-ʾ, “be zealous or jealous”) names the force driving the offering, not evidence that the charge is true. Its range includes zeal as well as jealousy, while the accusation in this verse remains unresolved.
ALSO GROWS
qinʾāh: Jealousy; zeal.
קִנְאָה
This noun carries the same root range, showing the intensity named in the offering.
qannāʾ: Jealous; zealous.
קַנָּא
This adjective makes the root’s quality explicit without deciding whether the suspicion is justified.
THE PATTERN
A memorial makes what is hidden present before God, whether it is a charge, an act of devotion, or a reminder of sin.
And he shall bring it to Aaron’s sons the priests: and he shall take thereout his handful of the flour thereof, and of the oil thereof, with all the frankincense thereof; and the priest shall burn the memorial of it upon the altar, to be an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD:And when he looked on him, he was afraid, and said, What is it, Lord? And he said unto him, Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God.But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year.THE THREAD
And he shall bring it to Aaron’s sons the priests: and he shall take thereout his handful of the flour thereof, and of the oil thereof, with all the frankincense thereof; and the priest shall burn the memorial of it upon the altar, to be an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD:Numbers calls this a זִכָּרוֹן (zikkārôn, “memorial”) and says it מַזְכֶּרֶת (mazkēret, “brings to remembrance”), both forms from זכר (z-k-r, “remember”). Leviticus 2:2 uses אַזְכָּרָה (ʾazkārāh, “memorial portion”) for the grain offering’s burned portion; the shared root makes remembrance concrete, while Numbers directs it toward crookedness.
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