Exclusive analysis finds the rate of maternal deaths in Texas increased 56% from 2019 to 2022, compared with just 11% nationwide during the same time period.
[11] And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, [12] “Speak to the people of Israel, If any man’s wife goes astray and breaks faith with him, [13] if a man lies with her sexually, and it is hidden from the eyes of her husband, and she is undetected though she has defiled herself, and there is no witness against her, since she was not taken in the act, [14] and if the spirit of jealousy comes over him and he is jealous of his wife who has defiled herself, or if the spirit of jealousy comes over him and he is jealous of his wife, though she has not defiled herself, [15] then the man shall bring his wife to the priest and bring the offering required of her, a tenth of an ephah of barley flour. He shall pour no oil on it and put no frankincense on it, for it is a grain offering of jealousy, a grain offering of remembrance, bringing iniquity to remembrance. [16] “And the priest shall bring her near and set her before the Lord. [17] And the priest shall take holy water in an earthenware vessel and take some of the dust that is on the floor of the tabernacle and put it into the water. [18] And the priest shall set the woman before the Lord and unbind the hair of the woman’s head and place in her hands the grain offering of remembrance, which is the grain offering of jealousy. And in his hand the priest shall have the water of bitterness that brings the curse. [19] Then the priest shall make her take an oath, saying, ‘If no man has lain with you, and if you have not turned aside to uncleanness while you were under your husband’s authority, be free from this water of bitterness that brings the curse. [20] But if you have gone astray, though you are under your husband’s authority, and if you have defiled yourself, and some man other than your husband has lain with you, [21] then’ (let the priest make the woman take the oath of the curse, and say to the woman) ‘the Lord make you a curse and an oath among your people, when the Lord makes your thigh fall away and your body swell. [22] May this water that brings the curse pass into your bowels and make your womb swell and your thigh fall away.’ And the woman shall say, ‘Amen, Amen.’ [23] “Then the priest shall write these curses in a book and wash them off into the water of bitterness. [24] And he shall make the woman drink the water of bitterness that brings the curse, and the water that brings the curse shall enter into her and cause bitter pain. [25] And the priest shall take the grain offering of jealousy out of the woman’s hand and shall wave the grain offering before the Lord and bring it to the altar. [26] And the priest shall take a handful of the grain offering, as its memorial portion, and burn it on the altar, and afterward shall make the woman drink the water. [27] And when he has made her drink the water, then, if she has defiled herself and has broken faith with her husband, the water that brings the curse shall enter into her and cause bitter pain, and her womb shall swell, and her thigh shall fall away, and the woman shall become a curse among her people. [28] But if the woman has not defiled herself and is clean, then she shall be free and shall conceive children. [29] “This is the law in cases of jealousy, when a wife, though under her husband’s authority, goes astray and defiles herself, [30] or when the spirit of jealousy comes over a man and he is jealous of his wife. Then he shall set the woman before the Lord, and the priest shall carry out for her all this law. [31] The man shall be free from iniquity, but the woman shall bear her iniquity.”
There’s absolutely no mention of abortion here- in fact, verse 28 makes it clear that she “shall be free to conceive”, so it shows that she wasn’t even pregnant to begin with. It’s clearly talking about a woman becoming infertile if she cheats on her husband, and nothing to do with an abortion or terminating a pregnancy. I don’t know what conclusions you jumped to in order to even think this was about abortion
Also - parents murdering their kids - you realised that God explicitly stopped Abraham from murdering Isaac? It was about if he’d remain faithful to God even after his prayer is answered. God did NOT want Isaac to die, thus he provided a sacrificial ram.
With Jesus - Jesus wasn’t merely a human kid - Jesus is God himself. Jesus is the same God who created the earth and everything in it. Jesus is the same God that we betrayed. Yet He died for us. What Abraham sacrificed was merely a ram, while God sacrificed Himself for us. Because God is perfectly merciful. He made the perfect sacrifice for what WE did. He lived the life we should have lived and died the death that we deserved. You cannot see this story and sum it up in “god supports us killing our kids”
What a bad translation, almost like it was deliberately translated badly. “Thigh fall away,” lmfao what nonsense. Btw in the quoted text below, when they say “impure,” “impurity,” they mean pregnancy.
‘If a man’s wife goes astray and is unfaithful to him 13 so that another man has sexual relations with her, and this is hidden from her husband and her impurity is undetected (since there is no witness against her and she has not been caught in the act), 14 and if feelings of jealousy come over her husband and he suspects his wife and she is impure—or if he is jealous and suspects her even though she is not impure— 15 then he is to take his wife to the priest.
Then the priest shall put the woman under oath and say to her, “If no other man has had sexual relations with you and you have not gone astray and become impure while married to your husband, may this bitter water that brings a curse not harm you. 20 But if you have gone astray while married to your husband and you have made yourself impure by having sexual relations with a man other than your husband”— 21 here the priest is to put the woman under this curse—“may the Lord cause you to become a curse[b] among your people when he makes your womb miscarry and your abdomen swell.
22 May this water that brings a curse enter your body so that your abdomen swells or your womb miscarries.”
“‘Then the woman is to say, “Amen. So be it.”
If she has made herself impure and been unfaithful to her husband, this will be the result: When she is made to drink the water that brings a curse and causes bitter suffering, it will enter her, her abdomen will swell and her womb will miscarry, and she will become a curse. 28 If, however, the woman has not made herself impure, but is clean, she will be cleared of guilt and will be able to have children.
For the last 2 points - so you admit killing your own kid for God is seen as a virtue in the Bible, so much so that the 2 most important sons, Abraham and Jesus, both go through an event involving a parent killing them. And then there’s literally dozens of events in tbe Bible of God killing kids. God loves child murder.
Did you just say the ESV was a bad translation and just cite the… NIV???
Either you are really stupid or you HAVE to be a troll. If it’s the former, the NIV is notoriously a bad translation, with it’s main aim being to simplify the text with the translator’s own interpretation. The benefit is that it’s easier to read, but that’s it. The NIV is the only translation which uses the term miscarry. Even the NRSV, a secular translation, says
Let the priest make the woman take the oath of the curse and say to the woman—“the Lord make you an execration and an oath among your people, when the Lord makes your uterus drop, your womb discharge;
“thigh” is a euphemism for womb. That’s well known. So “womb” is a valid translation even though literally it says “thigh”. But it’s still clearly talking about a non pregnant woman becoming infertile. And the fact that the only thing you can use to justify your point is the NIV translation of it which shows you have no point at all
Still nothing here implying the miscarriage, and this is the Westminster Leningrad Codex. Is the Hebrew a bad translation, too? 🤣
For your last “rebuttal”, you forgot again that Jesus is God - He sacrificed Himself for all of humanity. Abraham was following God and didn’t sacrifice his son. The point was his loyalty- not the child sacrifice. Nothing’s virtuous about it.
Why are they talking about a woman’s womb at all unless they think she is pregnant? What does the womb “discharge?” Where does it say she is NOT pregnant? Why is pregnancy NOT a concern if she was laying with another man as the passage discusses?
I think this translation is valid. That you have to explain that “thigh falling,” means “womb discharge,” shows that your translation is a bad one. And a womb discharge is clearly another way of saying miscarriage.
Women have wombs when they’re not pregnant? Ever heard of a period? Heavy periods? People would have been seen unclean in that society as well if they had constant periods and would have been infertile.
A period being induced when a woman is pregnant is another name for a miscarriage. Thank you for proving my point. If they are inducing a period with the bitter water, that’s to cause a miscarriage.
The passage isn’t about periods. There are indeed biblical passages about menstruation, but this isn’t one. This passage is about a woman sleeping with a man who isn’t their partner. So again, what are they making the womb “discharge” after this suspected infidelity?
I’m sorry but… what?
Numbers 5:11-31 ESV
There’s absolutely no mention of abortion here- in fact, verse 28 makes it clear that she “shall be free to conceive”, so it shows that she wasn’t even pregnant to begin with. It’s clearly talking about a woman becoming infertile if she cheats on her husband, and nothing to do with an abortion or terminating a pregnancy. I don’t know what conclusions you jumped to in order to even think this was about abortion
Also - parents murdering their kids - you realised that God explicitly stopped Abraham from murdering Isaac? It was about if he’d remain faithful to God even after his prayer is answered. God did NOT want Isaac to die, thus he provided a sacrificial ram.
With Jesus - Jesus wasn’t merely a human kid - Jesus is God himself. Jesus is the same God who created the earth and everything in it. Jesus is the same God that we betrayed. Yet He died for us. What Abraham sacrificed was merely a ram, while God sacrificed Himself for us. Because God is perfectly merciful. He made the perfect sacrifice for what WE did. He lived the life we should have lived and died the death that we deserved. You cannot see this story and sum it up in “god supports us killing our kids”
What a bad translation, almost like it was deliberately translated badly. “Thigh fall away,” lmfao what nonsense. Btw in the quoted text below, when they say “impure,” “impurity,” they mean pregnancy.
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Numbers 5%3A11-31&version=NIV
For the last 2 points - so you admit killing your own kid for God is seen as a virtue in the Bible, so much so that the 2 most important sons, Abraham and Jesus, both go through an event involving a parent killing them. And then there’s literally dozens of events in tbe Bible of God killing kids. God loves child murder.
I’m sorry… Am I reading this correctly?
Did you just say the ESV was a bad translation and just cite the… NIV???
Either you are really stupid or you HAVE to be a troll. If it’s the former, the NIV is notoriously a bad translation, with it’s main aim being to simplify the text with the translator’s own interpretation. The benefit is that it’s easier to read, but that’s it. The NIV is the only translation which uses the term miscarry. Even the NRSV, a secular translation, says
“thigh” is a euphemism for womb. That’s well known. So “womb” is a valid translation even though literally it says “thigh”. But it’s still clearly talking about a non pregnant woman becoming infertile. And the fact that the only thing you can use to justify your point is the NIV translation of it which shows you have no point at all
Still nothing here implying the miscarriage, and this is the Westminster Leningrad Codex. Is the Hebrew a bad translation, too? 🤣
For your last “rebuttal”, you forgot again that Jesus is God - He sacrificed Himself for all of humanity. Abraham was following God and didn’t sacrifice his son. The point was his loyalty- not the child sacrifice. Nothing’s virtuous about it.
Why are they talking about a woman’s womb at all unless they think she is pregnant? What does the womb “discharge?” Where does it say she is NOT pregnant? Why is pregnancy NOT a concern if she was laying with another man as the passage discusses?
I think this translation is valid. That you have to explain that “thigh falling,” means “womb discharge,” shows that your translation is a bad one. And a womb discharge is clearly another way of saying miscarriage.
Women have wombs when they’re not pregnant? Ever heard of a period? Heavy periods? People would have been seen unclean in that society as well if they had constant periods and would have been infertile.
A period being induced when a woman is pregnant is another name for a miscarriage. Thank you for proving my point. If they are inducing a period with the bitter water, that’s to cause a miscarriage.
The passage isn’t about periods. There are indeed biblical passages about menstruation, but this isn’t one. This passage is about a woman sleeping with a man who isn’t their partner. So again, what are they making the womb “discharge” after this suspected infidelity?
But the passage doesn’t say she’s pregnant. You don’t always get pregnant after the first time you sleep with someone 🤦
Interlinear verse, if that helps
https://scholarsgateway.com/parse/נֹפֶלֶת
No mention of miscarriage.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heavy_menstrual_bleeding
A medical condition which matches this, also appears in Mark 5:25–34