¹⁵In either case the man shall take his wife to the priest. He shall also take the required offering of one kilogramme of barley flour, but he shall not pour any olive oil on it or put any incense on it, because it is an offering from a suspicious husband, made to bring the truth to light.

¹⁶The priest shall bring the woman forward and make her stand in front of the altar. ¹⁷He shall pour some holy water into a clay bowl and take some of the earth that is on the floor of the Tent of the Lord’s presence and put it in the water to make it bitter. ¹⁸Then he shall loosen the woman’s hair and put the offering of flour in her hands. In his hands the priest shall hold the bowl containing the bitter water that brings a curse. ¹⁹Then the priest shall make the woman agree to this oath spoken by the priest: “If you have not committed adultery, you will not be harmed by the curse that this water brings. ²⁰But if you have committed adultery, ²¹may the Lord make your name a curse among your people. May he cause your genital organs to shrink and your stomach to swell up. ²²May this water enter your stomach and cause it to swell up and your genital organs to shrink.”

The woman shall respond, “I agree; may the Lord do so.”

²³Then the priest shall write this curse down and wash the writing off into the bowl of bitter water. ²⁴Before he makes the woman drink the water, which may then cause her bitter pain, ²⁵the priest shall take the offering of flour out of the woman’s hands, hold it out in dedication to the Lord, and present it on the altar. ²⁶Then he shall take a handful of it as a token offering and burn it on the altar. Finally, he shall make the woman drink the water. ²⁷If she has committed adultery, the water will cause bitter pain; her stomach will swell up and her genital organs will shrink. Her name will become a curse among her people. ²⁸But if she is innocent, she will not be harmed and will be able to bear children.

^29–30This is the law in cases where a man is jealous and becomes suspicious that his wife has committed adultery. The woman shall be made to stand in front of the altar, and the priest shall perform this ritual. ³¹The husband shall be free of guilt, but the woman, if guilty, must suffer the consequences.

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