Numbers 5:23

23 "'The priest should write these curses on a scroll, wash the words off into 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.


FOOTNOTES:

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

Numbers 5:23 In-Context

21 the priest will then put on her the curse that the oath will bring -- "the Lord will make the people curse and reject you. He will make your stomach get big, and he will make your body unable to give birth to another baby.
22 This water that brings a curse will go inside you and make your body unable to give birth to another baby." "'The woman must say, "I agree."
23 "'The priest should write these curses on a scroll, wash the words off into the bitter water,
24 and make the woman drink the bitter water that brings a curse. If she is guilty, the water will make her sick.
25 Then the priest will take the grain offering for jealousy from her. He will present it before the Lord and bring it to the altar.
Scripture taken from the New Century Version. Copyright © 1987, 1988, 1991 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.