Bamidbar 5:22

22 And this mayim that causeth the curse shall go into thy inner parts, to make thy belly to swell, and thy thigh to waste away; And the isha shall say, Omen, Omen.

Bamidbar 5:22 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 5:22

And this water that causeth the curse
Upon the drinking of which the curse follows, if guilty:

shall go into thy bowels;
and there operate and produce the above effects, which are repeated again to inject terror:

to make [thy] belly to swell, and [thy] thigh to rot;
here ends the form of the oath, which begins ( Numbers 5:19 ) ;

and the woman shall say, amen, amen;
so be it; let it be as pronounced, if I am guilty; which, as Aben Ezra observes, is repeated for the sake of confirmation; though the Jewish writers commonly understand it as respecting various things, the oath and the curse, the thing charged with, and the persons suspected of F24.


FOOTNOTES:

F24 Misn. ib. sect. 5. Targum Jon. & Jerus. & Jarchi in loc.

Bamidbar 5:22 In-Context

20 But if thou hast turned astray to another instead of thy ish, and if thou be defiled, and some man have lain with thee other than thine ish;
21 Then the kohen shall put the isha under oath with the oath of the curse, and the kohen shall say unto the isha, Hashem make thee an alah (curse) and a shevu’ah (oath) among thy people, when Hashem doth make thy thigh to waste away, and thy belly to swell;
22 And this mayim that causeth the curse shall go into thy inner parts, to make thy belly to swell, and thy thigh to waste away; And the isha shall say, Omen, Omen.
23 And the kohen shall write these alot (curses) on a sefer, and he shall wash them into the mei hamarim;
24 And he shall cause the isha to drink the mei hamarim hame’ararim; and the mayim hame’ararim shall enter into her, and become bitter.
The Orthodox Jewish Bible fourth edition, OJB. Copyright 2002,2003,2008,2010, 2011 by Artists for Israel International. All rights reserved.