Numbers 5:20

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Numbers 5:20 tn The pronoun is emphatic—“but you, if you have gone astray.”
2. Numbers 5:20 tn Heb “A man other than your husband has given his sh^ekhovet.” The noun שְׁכֹבֶת (sh^ekhovet) is related to the noun “bed,” and to the verb “to lie down [to bed]” which is used as a euphemism for sexual relations. The exact meaning of this rare noun is uncertain, but the expression in this verse is considered to be an explicit reference to sexual relations (HALOT 1488 s.v. שְׁכֹבֶת).
3. Numbers 5:20 tn This is an example of the rhetorical device known as aposiopesis, or “sudden silence.” The sentence is broken off due to the intensity or emphasis of the moment. The reader is left to conclude what the sentence would have said.