What Does Numbers 5:18 Mean?
And the priest stands the woman before the LORD, and unbinds the woman's head, and sets the offering of remembrance in her palms, which is the offering of jealousy; and the priest has in his hand the bitter water that brings the curse.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And the priest shall set the woman before the LORD, and uncover the woman’s head, and put the offering of memorial in her hands, which is the jealousy offering: and the priest shall have in his hand the bitter water that causeth the curse:THE KEY
The Hebrew makes “bitter” and “that bring the curse” ring together, similar in sound, distinct in root, binding the ordeal’s taste to its threat.
THE MEANING
The woman’s head is exposed, the memorial offering is placed in her hands, and the priest holds bitter water that brings a curse: jealousy becomes a public, bodily ordeal. The verse speaks now wherever suspicion becomes an accusation and the accused person bears the risk of its judgment.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that jealousy stays a private feeling: here it becomes a public charge, and the woman bears the danger.
THE ROOT
הַמָּרִים
hammarim
GROWS FROM
מרר
To be bitter or to embitter.
In מֵי הַמָּרִים הַמְאָרֲרִים (mê hammārîm haməʾārərîm), “the bitter waters that bring a curse,” hammarim sounds against hame’arerim. They are not the same root, but the echo binds bitterness to the curse named in the verse.
ALSO GROWS
mar: Bitter.
מַר
This is the same bitter quality named in the waters of the ordeal.
merorim: Bitter herbs (Exodus 12:8).
מְרֹרִים
The same root describes bitterness carried in food; here it marks the water itself.
הַמְאָרֲרִים
hame’arerim
GROWS FROM
ארר
To curse or bring under a curse.
“brings the curse” in this verse is hame’arerim. The form describes waters that bring a curse. Its sound echoes hammarim, “the bitter waters,” while remaining a distinct root; the verse holds bitterness and cursing together without making them identical.
ALSO GROWS
arur: Cursed.
אָרוּר
The same root names the state the water threatens to bring about.
a’or: I will curse (Genesis 12:3).
אָאֹר
Here the root names the act of cursing, matching the active force of “that causeth the curse.”
מִנְחַת קְנָאֹת
minḥat qena’ot
GROWS FROM
קנא
To be zealous or intensely jealous; to burn with ardor.
“jealousy offering” in this verse is minḥat qena’ot. Qena’ot makes jealousy part of the offering’s name, not merely a passing mood. The same root can name fierce zeal elsewhere, so the word carries a force that reaches beyond an inward feeling.
ALSO GROWS
qanna: Jealous or zealous (Exodus 34:14).
קַנָּא
The same root describes the LORD as jealous, showing its range beyond this human accusation.
qin’ah: Jealousy or zeal (Song of Songs 8:6).
קִנְאָה
This form names the same ardor that the verse gives a tangible place in the offering.
THE PATTERN
Scripture depicts zeal and jealousy as burning forces whose consequences depend on what they claim.
For you shall not bow down to another god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.For the LORD your God is a fire that eats, a jealous God.For I bear witness that they have a burning for God, but not according to full knowing.THE THREAD
Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm; for love is strong as death; jealousy is hard as Sheol; its sparks are sparks of fire, a flame of the LORD.Numbers names the offering with qena’ot; Song of Songs uses qin’ah for jealousy and pictures its coals as fire. The shared root makes the offering’s name carry that same heat, giving jealousy a tangible and dangerous form.
This reading is from Selah Verse.
You can read any verse this way in the app, keep it as a card, and send it on.
A Bible app where you send verses from your keyboard and in Messages, and every verse has a Deep Dive.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us