Ordeal for Suspected Adultery. ¹¹ The Lord said to Moses: ¹² Speak to the Israelites and tell them: If a man’s wife goes astray and becomes unfaithful to him ¹³ by virtue of a man having intercourse with her^(A) in secret from her husband and she is able to conceal the fact that she has defiled herself for lack of a witness who might have caught her in the act; ¹⁴ or if a man is overcome by a feeling of jealousy that makes him suspect his wife, and she has defiled herself; or if a man is overcome by a feeling of jealousy that makes him suspect his wife and she has not defiled herself— ¹⁵ then the man shall bring his wife to the priest as well as an offering on her behalf, a tenth of an ephah^[a] of barley meal. However, he shall not pour oil on it nor put frankincense over it, since it is a grain offering of jealousy, a grain offering of remembrance which recalls wrongdoing.

¹⁶ The priest shall first have the woman come forward and stand before the Lord. ¹⁷ In an earthen vessel he shall take holy water,^[b] as well as some dust from the floor of the tabernacle and put it in the water.^{(B) 18} Making the woman stand before the Lord, the priest shall uncover her head and place in her hands the grain offering of remembrance, that is, the grain offering of jealousy, while he himself shall hold the water of bitterness that brings a curse. ¹⁹ Then the priest shall adjure the woman, saying to her, “If no other man has had intercourse with you, and you have not gone astray by defiling yourself while under the authority of your husband, be immune to this water of bitterness that brings a curse. ²⁰ But if you have gone astray while under the authority of your husband, and if you have defiled yourself and a man other than your husband has had intercourse with you”— ²¹ so shall the priest adjure the woman with this imprecation—“may the Lord make you a curse and malediction^[c] among your people by causing your uterus to fall and your belly to swell! ²² May this water, then, that brings a curse, enter your bowels to make your belly swell and your uterus fall!”^(C) And the woman shall say, “Amen, amen!”^{[d] 23} The priest shall put these curses in writing and shall then wash them off into the water of bitterness, ²⁴ and he will have the woman drink the water of bitterness that brings a curse, so that the water that brings a curse may enter into her to her bitter hurt. ²⁵ But first the priest shall take the grain offering of jealousy from the woman’s hand, and having elevated the grain offering before the Lord, shall bring it to the altar, ²⁶ where he shall take a handful of the grain offering as a token offering and burn it on the altar.^(D) Only then shall he have the woman drink the water. ²⁷ Once he has had her drink the water, if she has defiled herself and been unfaithful to her husband, the water that brings a curse will enter into her to her bitter hurt, and her belly will swell and her uterus will fall, so that she will become a curse among her people. ²⁸ If, however, the woman has not defiled herself, but is still pure, she will be immune and will still be fertile.