Numbers 5:21 and the priest shall have the woman swear under the oath of the curse--'then may the LORD make you an attested curse among your people by making your thigh shrivel and your belly swell.

◄ Numbers 5:21 ►

New International Version
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.

New Living Translation
“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.

English Standard Version
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.

Berean Standard Bible
and the priest shall have the woman swear under the oath of the curse—‘then may the LORD make you an attested curse among your people by making your thigh shrivel and your belly swell.

King James Bible
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;

New King James Version
then the priest shall put the woman under the oath of the curse, and he shall say to the woman—“the LORD make you a curse and an oath among your people, when the LORD makes your thigh rot and your belly swell;

New American Standard Bible
(then the priest shall have the woman swear with the oath of the curse, and the priest shall say to the woman), “may the LORD make you a curse and an oath among your people by the LORD’S making your thigh shriveled and your belly swollen;

NASB 1995
(then the priest shall have the woman swear with the oath of the curse, and the priest shall say to the woman), “the LORD make you a curse and an oath among your people by the LORD’S making your thigh waste away and your abdomen swell;

NASB 1977
(then the priest shall have the woman swear with the oath of the curse, and the priest shall say to the woman), “the LORD make you a curse and an oath among your people by the LORD’S making your thigh waste away and your abdomen swell;

Legacy Standard Bible
(then the priest shall have the woman swear with the oath of the curse, and the priest shall say to the woman), “Yahweh make you a curse and an oath among your people by Yahweh making your thigh fall away and your abdomen swell;

Amplified Bible
(then the priest shall have the woman swear 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 waste away and your abdomen swell;

Christian Standard Bible
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.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
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.

American Standard Version
then the priest shall cause the woman to swear with the oath of cursing, and the priest shall say unto the woman, Jehovah make thee a curse and an oath among thy people, when Jehovah doth make thy thigh to fall away, and thy body to swell;

English Revised Version
then the priest shall cause the woman to swear with the 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 fall away, and thy belly to swell;

GOD'S WORD® Translation
may the LORD make you an example for your people to see what happens when the curse of this oath comes true: The LORD will make your uterus drop and your stomach swell.' "Then the priest will administer the oath and the curse by saying:

Good News Translation
may the LORD make your name a curse among your people. May he cause your genital organs to shrink and your stomach to swell up.

International Standard Version
then the priest is to have the woman commit to an oath by saying to the woman, 'May the LORD make you a curse and a curse among your people. When the LORD makes your thigh waste away and your abdomen swell

Majority Standard Bible
and the priest shall have the woman swear under the oath of the curse??then may the LORD make you an attested curse among your people by making your thigh shrivel and your belly swell.

NET Bible
Then the priest will put the woman under the oath of the curse and will say to the her, "The LORD make you an attested curse among your people, if the LORD makes your thigh fall away and your abdomen swell;

New Heart English Bible
then the priest shall cause the woman to swear with the oath of cursing, and the priest shall tell the woman, 'The LORD make you a curse and an oath among your people, when the LORD allows your thigh to fall away, and your body to swell;

Webster's Bible Translation
Then the priest shall charge the woman with an oath of cursing, and the priest shall say to the woman, The LORD make thee a curse and an oath among thy people, when the LORD doth make thy thigh to perish, and thy belly to swell;

World English Bible
then the priest shall cause the woman to swear with the oath of cursing, and the priest shall tell the woman, “May Yahweh make you a curse and an oath among your people, when Yahweh allows your thigh to fall away, and your body to swell;

Literal Translations

Literal Standard Version
then the priest has caused the woman to swear with an oath of execration, and the priest has said to the woman—YHWH gives you for an execration and for a curse in the midst of your people, in YHWH’s giving your thigh to fall and your belly to swell,

Young's Literal Translation
(then the priest hath caused the woman to swear with an oath of execration, and the priest hath said to the woman) -- Jehovah doth give thee for an execration, and for a curse, in the midst of thy people, in Jehovah's giving thy thigh to fall, and thy belly to swell,

Smith's Literal Translation
And the priest bound the woman by an oath in these curses, and the priest said to the woman, Jehovah will give thee for a curse, and for an oath in the midst of thy people, in Jehovah's giving thy thigh to fall, and thy belly to go forth.

Catholic Translations

Douay-Rheims Bible
These curses shall light upon thee: The Lord make thee a curse, and an example for all among his people: may he make thy thigh to rot, and may thy belly swell and burst asunder.

Catholic Public Domain Version
these curses shall be thrown upon you: May the Lord turn you into a curse and an example among all his people. May he cause your thigh to rot, and may your abdomen swell up and burst out.

New American Bible
so shall the priest adjure the woman with this imprecation—“may the LORD make you a curse and malediction among your people by causing your uterus to fall and your belly to swell!

New Revised Standard Version
—let the priest make the woman take the oath of the curse and say to the woman—“the LORD make you an execration and an oath among your people, when the LORD makes your uterus drop, your womb discharge;

Translations from Aramaic

Lamsa Bible
Then the priest shall adjure the woman with the oaths of cursing, and the priest shall say to the woman, The LORD make you a curse and an oath among your people, when the LORD makes your thigh to rot and your belly to swell;

Peshitta Holy Bible Translated
The Priest shall put the woman under oath in the oath of a curse and the Priest shall say to the Woman: "LORD JEHOVAH shall give you a curse and an oath within your people; LORD JEHOVAH shall rot your thigh; your belly shall swell up.

OT Translations

JPS Tanakh 1917
then the priest shall cause the woman to swear with the 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 fall away, and thy belly to swell;

Brenton Septuagint Translation
then the priest shall adjure the woman by the oaths of this curse, and the priest shall say to the woman, The Lord bring thee into a curse and under an oath in the midst of thy people, in that the Lord should cause thy thigh to rot and thy belly to swell;

Additional Translations ...

Audio Bible

Context

The Adultery Test
…20But if you have gone astray while under your husband’s authority and have defiled yourself and lain carnally with a man other than your husband’— 21and the priest shall have the woman swear under the oath of the curse — ‘then may the LORD make you an attested curse among your people by making your thigh shrivel and your belly swell. 22May this water that brings a curse enter your stomach and cause your belly to swell and your thigh to shrivel.’ Then the woman is to say, ‘Amen, Amen.’…

Berean Standard Bible · Download

Cross References

Deuteronomy 28:15-68
If, however, you do not obey the LORD your God by carefully following all His commandments and statutes I am giving you today, all these curses will come upon you and overtake you: / You will be cursed in the city and cursed in the country. / Your basket and kneading bowl will be cursed. ...

Leviticus 20:10
If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife—with the wife of his neighbor—both the adulterer and the adulteress must surely be put to death.

Proverbs 5:4-5
in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a double-edged sword. / Her feet go down to death; her steps lead straight to Sheol.

Jeremiah 29:18
I will pursue them with sword and famine and plague. I will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth—a curse, a desolation, and an object of scorn and reproach among all the nations to which I banish them.

Ezekiel 16:38-42
And I will sentence you to the punishment of women who commit adultery and those who shed blood; so I will bring upon you the wrath of your bloodshed and jealousy. / Then I will deliver you into the hands of your lovers, and they will level your mounds and tear down your lofty shrines. They will strip off your clothes, take your fine jewelry, and leave you naked and bare. / They will bring a mob against you, who will stone you and cut you to pieces with their swords. ...

1 Corinthians 6:9-10
Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who submit to or perform homosexual acts, / nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor verbal abusers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God.

Galatians 5:19-21
The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, and debauchery; / idolatry and sorcery; hatred, discord, jealousy, and rage; rivalries, divisions, factions, / and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Revelation 21:8
But to the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and sexually immoral and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their place will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur. This is the second death.”

Matthew 5:27-28
You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’ / But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

John 8:3-11
The scribes and Pharisees, however, brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before them / and said, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. / In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such a woman. So what do You say?” ...

1 Thessalonians 4:3-7
For it is God’s will that you should be holy: You must abstain from sexual immorality; / each of you must know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, / not in lustful passion like the Gentiles who do not know God; ...

Hebrews 13:4
Marriage should be honored by all and the marriage bed kept undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers.

Romans 1:24-27
Therefore God gave them over in the desires of their hearts to impurity for the dishonoring of their bodies with one another. / They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is forever worthy of praise! Amen. / For this reason God gave them over to dishonorable passions. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. ...

2 Peter 2:14
Their eyes are full of adultery; their desire for sin is never satisfied; they seduce the unstable. They are accursed children with hearts trained in greed.

Hosea 4:14
I will not punish your daughters when they prostitute themselves, nor your daughters-in-law when they commit adultery. For the men themselves go off with prostitutes and offer sacrifices with shrine prostitutes. So a people without understanding will come to ruin.

Treasury of Scripture

Then the priest shall charge the woman with an oath of cursing, and the priest shall say to the woman, The LORD make you a curse and an oath among your people, when the LORD does make your thigh to rot, and your belly to swell;

an oath

Joshua 6:26
And Joshua adjured them at that time, saying, Cursed be the man before the LORD, that riseth up and buildeth this city Jericho: he shall lay the foundation thereof in his firstborn, and in his youngest son shall he set up the gates of it.

1 Samuel 14:24
And the men of Israel were distressed that day: for Saul had adjured the people, saying, Cursed be the man that eateth any food until evening, that I may be avenged on mine enemies. So none of the people tasted any food.

Nehemiah 10:29
They clave to their brethren, their nobles, and entered into a curse, and into an oath, to walk in God's law, which was given by Moses the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of the LORD our Lord, and his judgments and his statutes;

The Lord make

Isaiah 65:15
And ye shall leave your name for a curse unto my chosen: for the Lord GOD shall slay thee, and call his servants by another name:

Jeremiah 29:22
And of them shall be taken up a curse by all the captivity of Judah which are in Babylon, saying, The LORD make thee like Zedekiah and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire;

rot.

2 Chronicles 21:15
And thou shalt have great sickness by disease of thy bowels, until thy bowels fall out by reason of the sickness day by day.

Proverbs 10:7
The memory of the just is blessed: but the name of the wicked shall rot.

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Numbers 5

1. The unclean are removed out of camp
5. Restitution is to be made in trespass
11. The trial of jealously

Berean Study Bible

then the priest shall have the woman swear
In ancient Israel, the role of the priest was pivotal in maintaining the spiritual and communal order. The Hebrew word for "priest" is "kohen," which signifies a mediator between God and the people. The act of swearing an oath was a solemn declaration, invoking divine witness to the truth of one's words. This reflects the seriousness with which God views truth and integrity, especially in matters of marital fidelity.

under the oath of the curse
The "oath of the curse" was a binding declaration with severe consequences for falsehood. In Hebrew, "alah" refers to a curse or an imprecation. This was not merely a legal formality but a spiritual act that placed the woman under divine scrutiny. It underscores the belief that God is the ultimate judge of truth and falsehood, and His justice is both feared and revered.

‘May the LORD make you an attested curse
The invocation of "the LORD" (YHWH) highlights the covenantal relationship between God and Israel. The phrase "attested curse" suggests a public acknowledgment of divine judgment. The Hebrew root "alah" again emphasizes the seriousness of invoking God's name in matters of truth. This reflects the community's reliance on God to uphold justice and purity within the camp.

among your people
The phrase "among your people" indicates the communal aspect of the law. In ancient Israel, individual actions had communal repercussions. The integrity of the family unit was vital for the health of the entire community. This reflects the biblical principle that sin is not just a personal matter but affects the broader community, emphasizing the need for communal holiness.

if He makes your thigh shrivel and your belly swell
The physical manifestations described—"thigh shrivel" and "belly swell"—are symbolic of divine judgment. In Hebrew culture, the thigh was often associated with strength and procreation, while the belly was linked to life and sustenance. The imagery here is stark, serving as a visible sign of God's judgment. It underscores the belief that God is intimately involved in the lives of His people, and His judgments are both just and visible.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 21. - Then the priest shall say unto the woman. These words are parenthetical, just as in Matthew 9:6. The latter part of the oath is called "an oath of cursing," because it contained the imprecations on the guilty. To rot. Hebrew, "to fall." Τὸν μηρόν σου διαπεπτωκότα,, Septuagint. To swell. The Hebrew zabeh is not of quite certain meaning, but probably this.

Parallel Commentaries ...

Hebrew

then the priest
הַכֹּהֵ֥ן (hak·kō·hên)
Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 3548: Priest

shall have the woman
הָֽאִשָּׁה֮ (hā·’iš·šāh)
Article | Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 802: Woman, wife, female

swear
וְהִשְׁבִּ֨יעַ (wə·hiš·bî·a‘)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Hifil - Conjunctive perfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 7650: To seven oneself, swear

under the oath
בִּשְׁבֻעַ֣ת (biš·ḇu·‘aṯ)
Preposition-b | Noun - feminine singular construct
Strong's 7621: Something sworn, an oath

of the curse—
הָאָלָה֒ (hā·’ā·lāh)
Article | Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 423: An imprecation

‘May the LORD
יְהוָ֥ה (Yah·weh)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 3068: LORD -- the proper name of the God of Israel

make
יִתֵּ֨ן (yit·tên)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 5414: To give, put, set

you
אוֹתָ֛ךְ (’ō·w·ṯāḵ)
Direct object marker | second person feminine singular
Strong's 853: Untranslatable mark of the accusative case

an attested
לְאָלָ֥ה (lə·’ā·lāh)
Preposition-l | Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 423: An imprecation

curse
וְלִשְׁבֻעָ֖ה (wə·liš·ḇu·‘āh)
Conjunctive waw, Preposition-l | Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 7621: Something sworn, an oath

among
בְּת֣וֹךְ (bə·ṯō·wḵ)
Preposition-b | Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 8432: A bisection, the centre

your people
עַמֵּ֑ךְ (‘am·mêḵ)
Noun - masculine singular construct | second person feminine singular
Strong's 5971: A people, a tribe, troops, attendants, a flock

if [He]
יְהוָ֤ה (Yah·weh)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 3068: LORD -- the proper name of the God of Israel

makes
בְּתֵ֨ת (bə·ṯêṯ)
Preposition-b | Verb - Qal - Infinitive construct
Strong's 5414: To give, put, set

your thigh
יְרֵכֵךְ֙ (yə·rê·ḵêḵ)
Noun - feminine singular construct | second person feminine singular
Strong's 3409: Thigh,loin, flank, side

shrivel
נֹפֶ֔לֶת (nō·p̄e·leṯ)
Verb - Qal - Participle - feminine singular
Strong's 5307: To fall, lie

and your belly
בִּטְנֵ֖ךְ (biṭ·nêḵ)
Noun - feminine singular construct | second person feminine singular
Strong's 990: The belly, the womb, the bosom, body of anything

swell.
צָבָֽה׃ (ṣā·ḇāh)
Adjective - feminine singular
Strong's 6638: To amass, grow turgid, to array an army against

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OT Law: Numbers 5:21 Then the priest shall cause the woman (Nu Num.)