Numbers 5:23

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

Numbers 5:23 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 5:23

And the priest shall write these curses in a book
The above curses imprecated on herself by an oath; the words and the letters of them were written at length, in a scroll of parchment; and, as some say also, her name, but not her double amen to them ^F25: and he shall blot [them] out with the bitter water:
wash them out with it, and into it, or scrape them off of the parchment into it.

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FOOTNOTES:

F25 Misnah, ut supra, (Sotah, c. 2) sect. 3.

Numbers 5:23 In-Context

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.

24 It is the water he will have the woman drink. It is bitter water that brings a curse. It will enter her body. And it will cause her to suffer bitterly.

25 " 'The priest must take from her hands the grain offering for being jealous. He must lift it up and wave it in front of the Lord. He must bring it to the altar.