Numbers 5:23

23 The cohen is to write these curses on a scroll, wash them off into the water of embitterment

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 then the cohen is to make the woman swear with an oath that includes a curse; the cohen will say to the woman, ". . .may ADONAI make you an object of cursing and condemnation among your people by making your private parts shrivel and your abdomen swell up!

22 May this water that causes the curse go into your inner parts and make your abdomen swell and your private parts shrivel up!"- and the woman is to respond, "Amen! Amen!"

23 The cohen is to write these curses on a scroll, wash them off into the water of embitterment

24 and make the woman drink the water of embitterment and cursing - the water of cursing will enter her and become bitter.

25 Then the cohen is to remove the grain offering for jealousy from the woman's hand, wave the grain offering before ADONAI and bring it to the altar.