Numbers 5:30

Summary

Numbers 5:30 describes the second possible scenario introducing the ritual of the suspected wife: a man experiences a "spirit of jealousy" toward his wife without proof of infidelity, and as a result he brings her before Yehovah so that the priest may carry out the entire procedure just described.

Key words

• Ru.ach ("a spirit of", H7307G) — feminine singular noun in construct with kin'ah, forming "a spirit of jealousy"; the construct chain treats jealousy as an animating force that "passes over" the man rather than an emotion he simply feels.
• ta.'a.Vor ("it will pass", H5674A) — qal imperfect, third-person feminine (agreeing with ruach), expressing a possible/future event: the spirit "passes over" him, framing the jealousy as something that comes upon him rather than something he initiates.
• ki.Ne' ("he will be jealous of", H7065) — piel (intensive stem) sequential perfect, continuing the narrative chain begun with the imperfect verb; the piel stem intensifies the simple notion of jealousy into an active, sustained state of suspicion.
• he.'e.Mid ("he will make stand", H5975G) — hiphil (causative) sequential perfect; the husband causes the woman to stand, marking him as the agent who initiates the formal procedure before Yehovah.
• to.Rah ("law", H8451) — feminine singular noun modified by kol ("all", H3605) and the demonstrative Zot ("this", H2063), forming "all this law/instruction," referring back to the entire procedure detailed earlier in the chapter.

What the text says

The verse opens with 'o ("or", H0176A), linking it to a prior clause (v. 29) as an alternative case. The grammar builds a chain of four sequential perfect verbs (ki.Ne', he.'e.Mid, 'A.sah) following the initial imperfect ta.'a.Vor, a common Biblical Hebrew construction where an initial imperfect sets a hypothetical condition and the following sequential perfects narrate the resulting actions in order: the spirit passes over him → he becomes jealous → he brings the woman → the priest acts. This chain structure means the man's suspicion, not evidence, triggers the entire process.

The construct phrase ru.ach kin'ah ("spirit of jealousy") personifies the emotion as an external force acting "upon" ('a.Lav, H5921A) the husband, distinguishing this case from ordinary suspicion — the Hebrew presents it as something that overtakes him. The hiphil verb he.'e.Mid marks him as causing the woman to "stand," a formal legal posture, "before the face of" (li.f.Nei, H6440G) Yehovah, before the priest applies kol-hatorah hazzot — "all of this law/procedure" — indicating the totality of the instructions given in the preceding verses.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders he'emid et-ha'ishah ("he will make the woman stand") with στήσει τὴν γυναῖκα αὐτοῦ ("he will make his wife stand"), adding the possessive "his" where the Hebrew simply has "the woman" (ha.'i.Shah, H0802G) without a suffix. The Vulgate condenses the sequential Hebrew verb chain into a single clause, "adduxerit eam in conspectu Domini" ("he shall have brought her before the Lord"), collapsing the distinct hiphil and piel actions into one motion. The Vulgate also renders kol-hatorah hazzot ("all this law") as "juxta omnia quae scripta sunt" ("according to all that is written"), shifting from "law/instruction" to "what is written."