Numbers 5:18-27

Living Bible

¹⁸ He shall unbind her hair and place the suspicion offering in her hands to determine whether or not her husband’s suspicions are justified. The priest shall stand before her holding the jar of bitter water that brings a curse. ¹⁹ He shall require her to swear that she is innocent, and then he shall say to her, ‘If no man has slept with you except your husband, be free from the effects of this bitter water that causes the curse. ²⁰ But if you have committed adultery, ^21-22 then Jehovah shall make you a curse among your people, for he will make your thigh rot away and your body swell.’ And the woman shall be required to say, ‘Yes, let it be so.’ ²³ Then the priest shall write these curses in a book and wash them off into the bitter water. ²⁴ (When he requires the woman to drink the water, it becomes bitter within her if she is guilty.^[a])

²⁵ “Then the priest shall take the suspicion offering from the woman’s hand and wave it before Jehovah, and carry it to the altar. ²⁶ He shall take a handful, representing all of it, and burn the handful upon the altar, and then require the woman to drink the water. ²⁷ If she has been defiled, having committed adultery against her husband, the water will become bitter within her, and her body will swell and her thigh will rot, and she shall be a curse among her people.