Numbers 5:21

21 and the priest shall have the woman swear under the oath of the curse—‘then may the LORD make you an attested curse among your people by making your thigh shrivel and your belly swell.

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 And he is to put the woman under oath and say to her, ‘If no other man has slept with you and you have not gone astray and become defiled while under your husband’s authority, may you be immune to this bitter water that brings a curse.

20 But if you have gone astray while under your husband’s authority and have defiled yourself and lain carnally with a man other than your husband’—

21 and the priest shall have the woman swear under the oath of the curse—‘then may the LORD make you an attested curse among your people by making your thigh shrivel and your belly swell.

22 May this water that brings a curse enter your stomach and cause your belly to swell and your thigh to shrivel.’ Then the woman is to say, ‘Amen, Amen.’

23 And the priest shall write these curses on a scroll and wash them off into the bitter water.