Numbers 5:21 — Meaning and Application

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: {with another...: or, being in the power of thy husband: Heb. under thy husband}

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; {rot: Heb. fall}

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.

And the priest shall write these curses in a book, and he shall blot {them} out with the bitter water: