Numbers 5:21

21 (the priest shall charge the woman with an oath of cursing) and the priest shall say unto the woman, Let the LORD make thee a curse and an oath among thy people when the LORD makes thy thigh to fail and thy belly to 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 the priest shall charge her by an oath and say unto the woman, If no man has lain with thee, and if thou hast not gone astray from thy husband to uncleanness, thou shalt be clean from this bitter water that brings the curse.

20 But if thou hast gone astray from thy husband and hast defiled thyself and some man has placed seed in thee other than thine husband,

21 (the priest shall charge the woman with an oath of cursing) and the priest shall say unto the woman, Let the LORD make thee a curse and an oath among thy people when the LORD makes thy thigh to fail and thy belly to swell,

22 and this water that causes the curse shall go into thy bowels and cause thy belly to swell and thy thigh to fail. And the woman shall say, Amen, amen.

23 And the priest shall write these curses in a book, and he shall blot them out with the bitter water;