What Does Numbers 5:23 Mean in the King James?
And the priest shall write these curses in a book, and he shall blot them out with the bitter water:
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 curse does not merely vanish: its written form is wiped into water whose name keeps bitterness present.
THE MEANING
When a curse is made visible, the verse shows it being wiped into bitter water. The writing leaves the book, yet bitterness remains in the scene, and this line does not disclose what the water will do.
THE ROOT
וּמָחָה
ūmāḥāh
GROWS FROM
מחה
māḥāh
To wipe away or erase.
“blot” in this verse is ūmāḥāh. The writing is not simply spoken and forgotten: it is wiped from the book into the water. This root can also describe wiping life from the earth, so its range holds both erasing a record and obliterating what is there.
ALSO GROWS
vayyimmaḥ: And he wiped out.
וַיִּמַח
In Genesis 7:23 the same root describes life being wiped from the earth, showing the force the verb can carry.
meḥēh: Blot out!
מְחֵה
In Deuteronomy 9:14 the same root is used for erasing a people’s name, linking wiping to removal from a record.
הַמָּרִים
hammarim
GROWS FROM
מרר
m-r-r
To be bitter; bitterness.
“bitter” in this verse is hammarim. The water is marked by the same word family that names bitterness in food and taste. The writing is erased into a medium whose bitterness remains explicit, so removal and bitterness occupy the verse together.
ALSO GROWS
mar: Bitter.
מָר
This singular form names the quality carried by the waters in the verse.
merorim: Bitter herbs.
מְרֹרִים
The same word family names the bitter herbs in Exodus 12:8, carrying bitterness from the water into something tasted and eaten.
THE PATTERN
An accusation written against a person is portrayed as something that can be wiped from the record.
To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came unto him, after he had gone in to Bath-sheba. Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;THE THREAD
To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came unto him, after he had gone in to Bath-sheba. Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.Psalm 51:1 uses the same Hebrew root מחה (māḥāh), meaning to wipe away or erase, for transgressions. Here that root wipes curse-writing into bitter water; there it names the removal of what stands against the speaker.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us