^5:20But if you³⁸ have gone astray while under your husband’s authority, and if you have defiled yourself and some man other than your husband has had sexual relations with you.…”³⁹^5:21Then the priest will put the woman under the oath of the curse⁴⁰ and will say⁴¹ to her, “The Lord make you an attested curse⁴² among your people,⁴³ if the Lord makes⁴⁴ your thigh fall away⁴⁵ and your abdomen swell;⁴⁶^5:22and this water that causes the curse will go⁴⁷ into your stomach, and make your abdomen swell and your thigh rot.”⁴⁸ Then the woman must say, “Amen, amen.”⁴⁹

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Footnotes

38 The pronoun is emphatic—“but you, if you have gone astray.”
39 This is an example of the rhetorical device known as aposiopesis, or “sudden silence.” The sentence is broken off due to the intensity or emphasis of the moment. The reader is left to conclude what the sentence would have said.
40 For information on such curses, see M. R. Lehmann, “Biblical Oaths,” 81 (1969): 74–92; A. C. Thiselton, “The Supposed Power of Words in the Biblical Writings,” 25 (1974): 283–99; and F. C. Fensham, “Malediction and Benediction in Ancient Vassal Treaties and the Old Testament,” 74 (1962): 1–9.
41 Heb “the priest will say.”
42 This interpretation takes the two nouns as a hendiadys. The literal wording is “the Lord make you a curse and an oath among the people.” In what sense would she be an oath? The point of the whole passage is that the priest is making her take an oath to see if she has been sinful and will be cursed.
43 The outcome of this would be that she would be quoted by people in such forms of expression as an oath or a curse (see Jer 29:22).
44 The construction uses the infinitive construct with the preposition to form an adverbial clause: “in the giving of the Lord …,” meaning, “if and when the Lord makes such and such to happen.”
45 takes the expression “your thigh” as a euphemism for the genitals: “cause your genital organs to shrink.”
46 Most commentators take the expressions to be euphemisms of miscarriage or stillbirth, meaning that there would be no fruit from an illegitimate union. The idea of the abdomen swelling has been reinterpreted by to mean “fall away.” If this interpretation stands, then the idea is that the woman has become pregnant, and that has aroused the suspicion of the husband for some reason. R. K. Harrison (Numbers [], 111–13) discusses a variety of other explanations for diseases and conditions that might be described by these terms. He translates it with “miscarriage,” but leaves open what the description might actually be. Cf. “makes your uterus drop, your womb discharge.”
47 The verb is the perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive. It could be taken as a jussive following the words of the priest in the previous section, but it is more likely to be a simple future.
48 Heb “fall away.”
49 The word “amen” carries the idea of “so be it,” or “truly.” The woman who submits to this test is willing to have the test demonstrate the examination of God.

In other versions

ESVEnglish Standard Version

But if you have gone astray, though you are under your husband’s authority, and if you have defiled yourself, and some man other than your husband has lain with you, then’ (let the priest make the woman take the oath of the curse, and say to the woman) ‘the Lord make you a curse and an oath among your people, when the Lord makes your thigh fall away and your body swell. May this water that brings the curse pass into your bowels and make your womb swell and your thigh fall away.’ And the woman shall say, ‘Amen, Amen.’

NIVNew International Version (2011)

But if you have gone astray while married to your husband and you have made yourself impure by having sexual relations with a man other than your husband”—here the priest is to put the woman under this curse—“may the Lord cause you to become a curse among your people when he makes your womb miscarry and your abdomen swell. May this water that brings a curse enter your body so that your abdomen swells or your womb miscarries.”

“ ‘Then the woman is to say, “Amen. So be it.”

CSBChristian Standard Bible

But if you have gone astray while under your husband’s authority, if you have defiled yourself and a man other than your husband has slept with you’—at this point the priest will make the woman take the oath with the sworn curse, and he is to say to her—‘May the Lord make you into an object of your people’s cursing and swearing when he makes your womb shrivel and your belly swell. May this water that brings a curse enter your stomach, causing your belly to swell and your womb to shrivel.’

“And the woman will reply, ‘Amen, Amen.’

NLTNew Living Translation

But if you have gone astray by being unfaithful to your husband, and have defiled yourself by having sex with another man—’

“At this point the priest must put the woman under oath by saying, ‘May the people know that the Lord’s curse is upon you when he makes you infertile, causing your womb to shrivel and your abdomen to swell. Now may this water that brings the curse enter your body and cause your abdomen to swell and your womb to shrivel.’ And the woman will be required to say, ‘Yes, let it be so.’

LEBThe Lexham English Bible

But if you have had an affair under your husband, and if you are defiled and a man other than your husband had intercourse with you,” the priest will make the woman swear an oath of the sworn oath of the curse, the priest will say to the woman, “May Yahweh give you a curse and a sworn oath in the midst of your people with Yahweh making your hip fall away and your stomach swollen; and these waters that bring a curse will go into your intestines to cause your womb to swell and to make your hip fall away.” And the women will say, “Amen. Amen.”

KJV 1900King James Version

But if thou hast gone aside to another instead of thy husband, and if thou be defiled, and some man have lain with thee beside thine husband: Then the priest shall charge the woman with an oath of cursing, and the priest shall say unto the woman, The Lord make thee a curse and an oath among thy people, when the Lord doth make thy thigh to rot, and thy belly to swell; And this water that causeth the curse shall go into thy bowels, to make thy belly to swell, and thy thigh to rot: And the woman shall say, Amen, amen.

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