Numbers 5:23

23 "The Kohen shall write these curses in a book, and he shall blot them out into the water of bitterness.

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.


FOOTNOTES:

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

Numbers 5:23 In-Context

21 then the Kohen shall cause the woman to swear with the oath of cursing, and the Kohen shall tell the woman, 'The LORD make you a curse and an oath among your people, when the LORD allows your thigh to fall away, and your body to swell;
22 and this water that brings a curse will go into your bowels, and make your body swell, and your thigh fall away.' The woman shall say, 'Amein, Amein.'
23 "The Kohen shall write these curses in a book, and he shall blot them out into the water of bitterness.
24 He shall make the woman drink the water of bitterness that causes the curse; and the water that causes the curse shall enter into her and become bitter.
25 The Kohen shall take the meal offering of jealousy out of the woman's hand, and shall wave the meal offering before the LORD, and bring it to the altar.
The Hebrew Names Version is in the public domain.