Numbers 5:21

21 " 'At that point the priest must put the woman under the curse of the oath. He must say, "May the LORD cause your people to call a curse down on you. May he cause them to speak against you. May they do it when the LORD makes your body unable to have children.

Numbers 5:21 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 5:21

Then the priest shall charge the woman with an oath of
cursing
An oath which has a curse annexed to it, if taken falsely, which was to be pronounced upon the woman if guilty:

and the priest shall say unto the woman;
pronouncing the imprecation or curse upon her, she having taken the oath, should she be guilty of the crime suspected of, and she had swore concerning:

the Lord make thee a curse, and an oath among the people;
accursed according to the oath taken; or let this be the form of an oath and imprecation used by the people, saying, if I have done so and so, let me be accursed as such a woman, or let not that happen to me, as did to such a woman, so Jarchi:

when the Lord doth make thy thigh to rot, and thy belly to swell;
upon drinking the bitter waters; but though these things followed upon that, yet not as the natural cause of them, for they are ascribed to the Lord, and to a supernatural and miraculous power of his, which went along with the drinking of them.

Numbers 5:21 In-Context

19 " 'Then the priest must have the woman take an oath. He must say to her, "Suppose no other man has had sex with you. And suppose you haven't gone down the wrong path. You have kept yourself pure while you are married to your husband. Then may the bitter water that brings a curse not harm you.

20 But suppose you have gone down the wrong path while you are married to your husband. You have made yourself 'unclean.' You have had sex with a man who isn't your husband."

21 " 'At that point the priest must put the woman under the curse of the oath. He must say, "May the LORD cause your people to call a curse down on you. May he cause them to speak against you. May they do it when the LORD makes your body unable to have children.

22 May this water that brings a curse enter your body. May it make your body unable to have children." " 'Then the woman must say, "Amen. Let it happen."

23 " 'The priest must write the curses on a scroll. He must wash them off in the bitter water.