The Church Fathers on this verse

Numbers 5:13Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Shall have slept with another man, and her husband cannot discover it, but the adultery is secret, and cannot be proved by witnesses, because she was not found in the adultery:

Douay-Rheims

וְשָׁכַ֨ב אִ֣ישׁ אֹתָהּ֮ שִׁכְבַת־זֶרַע֒ וְנֶעְלַם֙ מֵעֵינֵ֣י אִישָׁ֔הּ וְנִסְתְּרָ֖ה וְהִ֣יא נִטְמָ֑אָה וְעֵד֙ אֵ֣ין בָּ֔הּ וְהִ֖וא לֹ֥א נִתְפָּֽשָׂה׃

Hebrew (Masoretic text)

The Church Fathers on this verse

One Church Father comments on this verse

John Chrysostom

4th centuryChurch Father

The implications of these words are as follows: if a wife engages in infidelity and her husband has doubts about her faithfulness, or even if she has not betrayed him but he suspects she might have, and there are no witnesses or signs of pregnancy to reveal the truth...

Cross references

Passages read together with this verse.