^5:19Then the priest will put the woman under oath and say to her, “If no other³⁶ man has had sexual relations with you, and if you have not gone astray and become defiled while under your husband’s authority, may you be free from this bitter water that brings a curse.³⁷^5:20But 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

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Footnotes

36 The word “other” is implied, since the woman would not be guilty of having sexual relations with her own husband.
37 Although there would be stress involved, a woman who was innocent would have nothing to hide, and would be confident. The wording of the priest’s oath is actually designed to enable the potion to keep her from harm and not produce the physical effects it was designed to do.
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.”

In other versions

ESVEnglish Standard Version

Then the priest shall make her take an oath, saying, ‘If no man has lain with you, and if you have not turned aside to uncleanness while you were under your husband’s authority, be free from this water of bitterness that brings the curse. 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.

NIVNew International Version (2011)

Then the priest shall put the woman under oath and say to her, “If no other man has had sexual relations with you and you have not gone astray and become impure while married to your husband, may this bitter water that brings a curse not harm you. 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.

CSBChristian Standard Bible

The priest will require the woman to take an oath and will say to her, ‘If no man has slept with you, if you have not gone astray and become defiled while under your husband’s authority, be unaffected by this bitter water that brings a curse. 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.

NLTNew Living Translation

The priest will then put the woman under oath and say to her, ‘If no other man has had sex with you, and you have not gone astray and defiled yourself while under your husband’s authority, may you be immune from the effects of this bitter water that brings on the curse. 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.

LEBThe Lexham English Bible

Then the priest will make her swear an oath, and he will say to the woman, “If a man has not slept with you, and if you have not had an impurity affair under your husband, go unpunished from the waters of bitterness that brings this curse. 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;

KJV 1900King James Version

And the priest shall charge her by an oath, and say unto the woman, If no man have lain with thee, and if thou hast not gone aside to uncleanness with another instead of thy husband, be thou free from this bitter water that causeth the curse: 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;

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