Numbers 5:23 - Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown

Numbers 5:23

21 then the priest shall ^aput the woman under the oath of the curse, and he shall say to the woman—^b“the Lord make you a curse and an oath among your people, when the Lord makes your thigh¹ rot and your belly swell;

22 and may this water that causes the curse ^ago into your stomach, and make your belly swell and your thigh rot.” ‘^bThen the woman shall say, “Amen, so be it.”

23 ‘Then the priest shall write these curses in a book, and he shall scrape them off into the bitter water.

24 And he shall make the woman drink the bitter water that brings a curse, and the water that brings the curse shall enter her to become bitter.

25 ^aThen the priest shall take the grain offering of jealousy from the woman’s hand, shall ^bwave the offering before the Lord, and bring it to the altar;

26 and the priest shall take a handful of the offering, ^aas its memorial portion, burn it on the altar, and afterward make the woman drink the water.

Commentaries:

Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown

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Numbers 5:23-24

write these curses in a book—The imprecations, along with her name, were inscribed in some kind of record—on parchment, or more probably on a wooden tablet.

blot them out with the bitter water—If she were innocent, they could be easily erased, and were perfectly harmless; but if guilty, she would experience the fatal effects of the water she had drunk.

**Other Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown entries containing Numbers 5:23:**

Psalms 109:17-19

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