Old Testament

New Testament

Numbers 5:20-28 Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)

20. 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’ —

21. at this point the priest must 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 thigh shrivel and your belly swell.

22. May this water that brings a curse enter your stomach, causing your belly to swell and your thigh to shrivel.’“And the woman must reply, ‘Amen, Amen.’

23. “Then the priest is to write these curses on a scroll and wash them off into the bitter water.

24. He will require the woman to drink the bitter water that brings a curse, and it will enter her and cause bitter suffering.

25. The priest is to take the grain offering of jealousy from the woman’s hand, wave the offering before the Lord, and bring it to the altar.

26. The priest is to take a handful of the grain offering as a memorial portion and burn it on the altar. Then he will require the woman to drink the water.

27. “When he makes her drink the water, if she has defiled herself and been unfaithful to her husband, the water that brings a curse will enter her and cause bitter suffering; her belly will swell, and her thigh will shrivel. She will become a curse among her people.

28. But if the woman has not defiled herself and is pure, she will be unaffected and will be able to conceive children.

Read complete chapter Numbers 5