Numbers 5:20

20 But if you have gone astray while under your husband's authority, if you have defiled yourself and some man other than your husband has had intercourse with you,"

Numbers 5:20 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 5:20

But if thou hast gone aside to another instead of thy
husband
Gone aside from the paths of modesty and chastity, and betook herself to another man's bed instead of her husband's:

and if thou be defiled,
by committing adultery:

and some man hath lain with thee beside thy husband;
these phrases are all synonymous, and a heap of words are made use of to express the sin, and that there might be no evasion of it, and that it might be clear what was intended, this being said on oath.

Numbers 5:20 In-Context

18 The priest shall set the woman before the Lord, dishevel the woman's hair, and place in her hands the grain offering of remembrance, which is the grain offering of jealousy. In his own hand the priest shall have the water of bitterness that brings the curse.
19 Then the priest shall make her take an oath, saying, "If no man has lain with you, if you have not turned aside to uncleanness while under your husband's authority, be immune to this water of bitterness that brings the curse.
20 But if you have gone astray while under your husband's authority, if you have defiled yourself and some man other than your husband has had intercourse with you,"
21 —let the priest make the woman take the oath of the curse and say to the woman—"the Lord make you an execration and an oath among your people, when the Lord makes your uterus drop, your womb discharge;
22 now may this water that brings the curse enter your bowels and make your womb discharge, your uterus drop!" And the woman shall say, "Amen. Amen."
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.