Numbers 5:21

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.

Parallel Translations

Hebrew Names Version
then the Kohen shall cause the woman to swear with the oath of cursing, and the Kohen 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;

King James Version
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;

Lexham English Bible
the priest will make the woman swear an oath of the sworn oath of the curse, the priest will say to the woman, "May Yahweh give you a curse and a sworn oath in the midst of your people with Yahweh making your hip fall away and your stomach swollen;

New Century Version
the priest will then put on her the curse that the oath will bring—"the Lord will make the people curse and reject you. He will make your stomach get big, and he will make your body unable to give birth to another baby.

New English Translation
Then the priest will put the woman under the oath of the curse and will say to her, "The Lord make you an attested curse among your people, if the Lord makes 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;

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;

Geneva Bible (1587)
(Then the Priest shall charge the woman with an oth of cursing, and the Priest shal say vnto the woman) The Lorde make thee to be accursed, and detestable for the othe among thy people, and the Lord cause thy thigh to rot, and thy belly to 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;

Complete Jewish Bible
then the cohen is to make the woman swear with an oath that includes a curse; the cohen will say to the woman, ". . .may Adonai make you an object of cursing and condemnation among your people by making your private parts shrivel and your abdomen swell up!

Darby Translation
—then the priest shall adjure the woman 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 shrink, and thy belly to swell;

Easy-to-Read Version
If that is true, you will have much trouble when you drink this special water. You will not be able to have any children. And if you are pregnant now, your baby will die. And the Lord will cause your people to speak evil of you and curse you.' "Then the priest must tell the woman to make an oath. She must agree for the Lord to cause these things to happen to her if she lies.

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.

George Lamsa Translation
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;

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.

Literal Translation
then the priest shall cause the woman to swear with an oath of cursing, and the priest shall say to the woman: Jehovah shall make you a curse and an oath among your people, when Jehovah makes your thigh to fall away, and your belly to swell.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
then shall the prest coniure the wife with this curse, and shal saye vnto her: The LORDE sett the to a curse and a coniuracion amonge thy people, so that the LORDE make thy thye rotte, and thy wombe to berst.

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;

Bible in Basic English
Then the priest will put the oath of the curse on the woman, and say to her, May the Lord make you a curse and an oath among your people, sending on you wasting of the legs and disease of the stomach;

Bishop's Bible (1568)
(Then ye priest shal charge the woman with an othe of cursing, & the priest shall say vnto the woman) the Lorde make thee accursed and detestable for the othe among the people, when the Lord doth make thy thigh to rot, & thy belly swell.

JPS Old Testament (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;

King James Version (1611)
Then the Priest shall charge the woman with an othe of cursing, and the Priest shall say vnto the woman, The Lord make thee a curse, and an othe among thy people, when the Lord doth make thy thigh to rot, and thy belly to swell.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
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;

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;

Berean Standard Bible
then the priest shall have the woman swear under the oath of the curse-'May the LORD make you an attested curse among your people if He makes your thigh shrivel and your belly swell.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
thou schalt be suget to these cursyngys; the Lord yyue thee in to cursyng, and in to ensaumple of alle men in his puple; `the Lord make thin hipe to wexe rotun, and thi wombe swelle, and be brokun;

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,

Update Bible Version
then the priest shall cause the woman to swear with the oath of cursing, and the priest shall say to the woman, Yahweh will make you a curse and an oath among your people, when Yahweh makes 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, 'Yahweh make you a curse and an oath among your people, when Yahweh allows your thigh to fall away, and your body 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 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.

New Life Bible
then the religious leader will have the woman make a promise so she will be punished if she has sinned. He will say to the woman, "May the Lord make you a curse among your people. May the Lord make your leg waste away and your stomach grow bigger.

New Revised Standard
—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;

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
then shall the priest put the woman on oath with an oath of cursing, and the priest shall say unto the woman, Yahweh give thee up for a curse and for an oath in the midst of thy people, - in that Yahweh shall give up thy thigh to fall away, and thy womb to swell:

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.

Revised Standard Version
then' (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 thigh fall away and your body swell;

New American Standard Bible (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;

Contextual Overview

¹¹ The Lord commanded Moses ¹²to give the Israelites the following instructions. It may happen that a man becomes suspicious that his wife is unfaithful to him and has defiled herself by having intercourse with another man. But the husband may not be certain, for his wife may have kept it secret—there was no witness, and she was not caught in the act. Or it may happen that a husband becomes suspicious of his wife, even though she has not been unfaithful. ¹⁵ In either case the man shall take his wife to the priest. He shall also take the required offering of two pounds of barley flour, but he shall not pour any olive oil on it or put any incense on it, because it is an offering from a suspicious husband, made to bring the truth to light. ¹⁶ The priest shall bring the woman forward and have her stand in front of the altar. ¹⁷ He shall pour some holy water into a clay bowl and take some of the earth that is on the floor of the Tent of the Lord 's presence and put it in the water to make it bitter. ¹⁸ Then he shall loosen the woman's hair and put the offering of flour in her hands. In his hands the priest shall hold the bowl containing the bitter water that brings a curse. ¹⁹ Then the priest shall make the woman agree to this oath spoken by the priest: "If you have not committed adultery, you will not be harmed by the curse that this water brings. ²⁰ But if you have committed adultery, ²¹ 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. ²² May this water enter your stomach and cause it to swell up and your genital organs to shrink." The woman shall respond, "I agree; may the Lord do so."

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

an oath: Joshua 6:26, 1 Samuel 14:24, Nehemiah 10:29, Matthew 26:74

The Lord make: Isaiah 65:15, Jeremiah 29:22

rot: Heb. fall, 2 Chronicles 21:15, Proverbs 10:7

Reciprocal: Genesis 24:3 - swear

Cross-References

Luke 3:37
the son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of Mahalaleel, the son of Kenan,

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Then the priest shall charge the woman with an oath of cursing,.... An oath which has a curse annexed to it, if taken falsely, which was to be pronounced upon the woman if guilty:

and the priest shall say unto the woman; pronouncing the imprecation or curse upon her, she having taken the oath, should she be guilty of the crime suspected of, and she had swore concerning:

the Lord make thee a curse, and an oath among the people; accursed according to the oath taken; or let this be the form of an oath and imprecation used by the people, saying, if I have done so and so, let me be accursed as such a woman, or let not that happen to me, as did to such a woman, so Jarchi:

when the Lord doth make thy thigh to rot, and thy belly to swell; upon drinking the bitter waters; but though these things followed upon that, yet not as the natural cause of them, for they are ascribed to the Lord, and to a supernatural and miraculous power of his, which went along with the drinking of them.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The trial of jealousy. Since the crime of adultery is especially defiling and destructive of the very foundations of social order, the whole subject is dealt with at a length proportionate to its importance. The process prescribed has lately been strikingly illustrated from an Egyptian “romance,” which refers to the time of Rameses the Great, and may therefore well serve to illustrate the manners and customs of the Mosaic times. This mode of trial, like several other ordinances, was adopted by Moses from existing and probably very ancient and widely spread institutions.

Numbers 5:15

The offering was to be of the cheapest and coarsest kind, barley (compare 2 Kings 7:1, 2 Kings 7:16, 2 Kings 7:18), representing the abused condition of the suspected woman. It was, like the sin-offering Leviticus 5:11, to be made without oil and frankincense, the symbols of grace and acceptableness. The woman herself stood with head uncovered Numbers 5:18, in token of her shame.

Numbers 5:17

The dust that is in the floor of the tabernacle - To set forth the fact that the water was endued with extraordinary power by Him who dwelt in the tabernacle. Dust is an emblem of a state of condemnation Genesis 3:14; Micah 7:17.

Numbers 5:19

Gone aside ... - literally, “gone astray from” thy husband by uncleanness; compare Hosea 4:12.

Numbers 5:23

Blot them out with the bitter water - In order to transfer the curses to the water. The action was symbolic. Travelers speak of the natives of Africa as still habitually seeking to obtain the full force of a written charm by drinking the water into which they have washed it.

Numbers 5:24

Shall cause the woman to drink - Thus was symbolised both her full acceptance of the hypothetical curse (compare Ezekiel 3:1-3; Jeremiah 15:16; Revelation 10:9), and its actual operation upon her if she should be guilty (compare Psalms 109:18).

Numbers 5:26

The memorial thereof - See the marginal reference. “Memorial” here is not the same as “memorial” in Numbers 5:15.

Numbers 5:27

Of itself, the drink was not noxious; and could only produce the effects here described by a special interposition of God. We do not read of any instance in which this ordeal was resorted to: a fact which may be explained either (with the Jews) as a proof of its efficacy, since the guilty could not be brought to face its terrors at all, and avoided them by confession; or more probably by the license of divorce tolerated by the law of Moses. Since a husband could put away his wife at pleasure, a jealous man would naturally prefer to take this course with a suspected wife rather than to call public attention to his own shame by having recourse to the trial of jealousy. The trial by red water, which bears a general resemblance to that here prescribed by Moses, is still in use among the tribes of Western Africa.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Numbers 5:21. The Lord make thee a curse and an oath — Let thy name and punishment be remembered and mentioned as an example and terror to all others. Like that mentioned Jeremiah 29:22-23: "The Lord make thee like Zedekiah, and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire, because they have committed villany in Israel, and have committed adultery with their neighbours' wives." - Ainsworth.