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20 This is the way of an adulteress:
    she eats and wipes her mouth
    and says, “I have done no wrong.”(A)

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13 She seizes him and kisses him,
    and with impudent face she says to him:
14 “I had to offer sacrifices,
    and today I have paid my vows;(A)
15 so now I have come out to meet you,
    to seek you eagerly, and I have found you!
16 I have decked my couch with coverings,
    colored spreads of Egyptian linen;(B)
17 I have perfumed my bed with myrrh,
    aloes, and cinnamon.
18 Come, let us take our fill of love until morning;
    let us delight ourselves with love.
19 For my husband is not at home;
    he has gone on a long journey.
20 He took a bag of money with him;
    he will not come home until full moon.”

21 With much seductive speech she persuades him;
    with her smooth talk she compels him.(C)
22 Right away he follows her
    and goes like an ox to the slaughter
or bounds like a stag toward the trap[a]
23     until an arrow pierces its entrails.
He is like a bird rushing into a snare,
    not knowing that it will cost him his life.(D)

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Footnotes

  1. 7.22 Cn Compare Gk: Meaning of Heb uncertain

She does not keep straight to the path of life;
    her ways wander, and she does not know it.

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Concerning an Unfaithful Wife

11 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 12 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: If any man’s wife goes astray and is unfaithful to him,(A) 13 if a man has had intercourse with her but it is hidden from her husband, so that she is undetected though she has defiled herself, and there is no witness against her since she was not caught in the act;(B) 14 if a spirit of jealousy comes on him and he is jealous of his wife who has defiled herself, or if a spirit of jealousy comes on 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 he shall bring the offering required for her, one-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.(C)

16 “Then the priest shall bring her near and set her before the Lord; 17 the priest shall take holy water in an earthen vessel and take some of the dust that is on the floor of the tabernacle and put it into the water. 18 The priest shall set the woman before the Lord, dishevel the woman’s hair, and place in her hands the grain offering of remembrance, which is the grain offering of jealousy. In his own hand the priest shall have the water of bitterness that brings the curse.(D) 19 Then the priest shall make her take an oath, saying, ‘If no man has lain with you, if you have not turned aside to uncleanness while under your husband’s authority, be immune to this water of bitterness that brings the curse. 20 But if you have gone astray while under your husband’s authority, if you have defiled yourself and some man other than your husband has had intercourse with you,’ 21 —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;[a](E) 22 now may this water that brings the curse enter your bowels and make your womb discharge, your uterus drop!’[b] And the woman shall say, ‘Amen. Amen.’(F)

23 “Then the priest shall put these curses in writing and wash them off into the water of bitterness. 24 He shall make the woman drink the water of bitterness that brings the curse, and the water that brings the curse shall enter her and cause bitter pain. 25 The priest shall take the grain offering of jealousy out of the woman’s hand and shall elevate the grain offering before the Lord and bring it to the altar,(G) 26 and the priest shall take a handful of the grain offering as its memorial portion and turn it into smoke on the altar and afterward shall make the woman drink the water. 27 When he has made her drink the water, then, if she has defiled herself and has been unfaithful to her husband, the water that brings the curse shall enter into her and cause bitter pain, and her womb shall discharge, her uterus drop,[c] and the woman shall become an execration among her people.(H) 28 But if the woman has not defiled herself and is clean, then she shall be immune and be able to conceive children.

29 “This is the law in cases of jealousy, when a wife, while under her husband’s authority, goes astray and defiles herself,(I) 30 or when a spirit of jealousy comes on a man and he is jealous of his wife, then he shall set the woman before the Lord, and the priest shall apply this entire law to her.

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Footnotes

  1. 5.21 Heb makes your thigh fall and your belly distend
  2. 5.22 Heb make the belly distend and the thigh fall
  3. 5.27 Heb make her belly distend and her thigh fall