Numbers 5:22

Num 5:22 And this water that causeth the curse shall go into thy bowels, to make [thy] belly to swell, and [thy] thigh to rot: And the woman shall say, Amen, amen.

Ver. 22. Amen, amen.] Twice; to show the fervency of her zeal, the innocency of her cause, the uprightness of her conscience, and the purity of her heart.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

That is, be it so, as thou wishest, as Ps. 41:23; Deut. 27:15.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

the woman shall say, Amen, Amen--The Israelites were accustomed, instead of formally repeating the words of an oath merely to say, "Amen," a "so be it" to the imprecations it contained. The reduplication of the word was designed as an evidence of the woman's innocence, and a willingness that God would do to her according to her desert.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 22. Thy belly to swell, and thy thigh to rot] What is meant by these expressions cannot be easily ascertained. לנפל ירך lanpel yarech signifies literally thy thigh to fall. As the thigh, feet, c., were used among the Hebrews delicately to express the parts which nature conceals, (see Ge 46:26), the expression here is probably to be understood in this sense and the falling down of the thigh here must mean something similar to the prolapsus uteri, or falling down of the womb, which might be a natural effect of the preternatural distension of the abdomen. In 1Co 11:29, St. Paul seems to allude to the case of the guilty woman drinking the bitter cursed waters that caused her destruction: He who eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation (κριμα, condemnation or judgment) to himself; and there is probably a reference to the same thing in Ps 109:18, and in Da 9:11.

And the woman shall say, Amen, amen.] This is the first place where this word occurs in the common form of a concluding wish in prayer. The root אמן aman signifies to be steady, true, permanent. And in prayer it signifies let it be so - make it steady - let it be ratified. Some have supposed that it is composed of the initial letters of אדני מלך נאמן Adonai Melech Neeman, My Lord the faithful King, but this derivation is both far-fetched and unnecessary.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

And this water that causeth the curse,.... Upon the drinking of which the curse follows, if guilty:

shall go into thy bowels; and there operate and produce the above effects, which are repeated again to inject terror:

to make thy belly to swell, and thy thigh to rot; here ends the form of the oath, which begins Num 5:19,

and the woman shall say, amen, amen; so be it; let it be as pronounced, if I am guilty; which, as Aben Ezra observes, is repeated for the sake of confirmation; though the Jewish writers commonly understand it as respecting various things, the oath and the curse, the thing charged with, and the persons suspected of (x).

(x) Misn. ib. sect. 5. Targum Jon. & Jerus. & Jarchi in loc.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Amen. Our Saviour often uses this form, to confirm what he says, verily, truly. The woman gives her assent to what had been proposed, "so be it." (Calmet)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

i.e. So let it be if I be guilty. The word is doubled by her as an evidence of her innocency, and ardent desire that God would deal with her according to her desert.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

22. Amen, amen — True, true. Thus the guilty one appropriates the penalty to herself, and proclaims the righteousness of her sentence. Thus in the judgment day will the Divine rectitude shine out so brightly that the left-hand assembly will involuntarily say Amen, amen, to the curse which will abide through the duration of the soul. This is the first time that this word amen is used in the Bible. “It involves the ideas of swearing, acceptance, and truthfulness.”

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Into thy bowels. Cf. Psa_109:18. Eiv than sou , Septuagint. It has been thought that these symptoms belonged to some known disease, such as dropsy (Josephus, "Ant.," 3:11, 6), or ovarian dropsy. But it is clear that the whole matter was outside the range of the known and of the natural. An innocent woman may suffer from dropsy, or any form of it; but this was a wholly peculiar infliction by direct visitation of God. The principle which underlay the infliction was, however, clear: di wn gaa dia toutwn h timwria the organs of sin are the seat of the plague. Amen, amen. Doubled here, as in the Gospel of John. The woman was to accept (if she dared) the awful ordeal and appeal to God by this response; if she dared not, she pronounced herself guilty.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Amen, amen - That is, so let it be if I be guilty. The word is doubled by her as an evidence of her innocency, and ardent desire that God would deal with her according to her desert.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

לצבות בטן is the same as לְהַצְבּוֹת בטן (the verb being the Hiphil infinitive). This is the usage of the Patach: that the “lamed” has it as its vowel instead of the ה having it (viz., that it is a contraction of לה). Similar is (Exodus 13:21) לַרְאתכם הדרך and (Deuteronomy 1:33) לַנְחֹתָם בדרך אשר הלכו בה (which are equivalent to לְהַרְאֹתְכֶם and לְהַנְחֹתָם). And so, too, in this verse, לַנְפִּל ירך, which is the same as לְהַנְפִּיל ירך. The meaning is: that the waters cause the belly to swell, and cause the thigh to fall.

לצבות בטן ולנפל ירך [AND THIS WATER THAT CAUSETH THE CURSE SHALL GO INTO THY BOWELS] TO MAKE THE BELLY TO SWELL AND THE THIGH TO WASTE — i.e. the belly and the thigh of the adulterer (Note that Scripture does not state here, as in the preceding verse, “thy thigh”, “thy belly”). Or perhaps this is not so, but it means those of the adulteress? But when it states, (v. 21) “[when the Lord doth make] thy thigh to waste and thy belly to swell”, you see, that those of the adulteress are mentioned already (Sotah 28a; cf. Sifrei Bamidbar 15:1).

אמן אמן [AND THE WOMAN SHALL SAY] AMEN, AMEN — The utterance of the word אמן by a person implies the acceptance of an oath which has been recited by another with reference to him. — The two words אמן (which may mean “It is so”, or, “May it be so”) respectively signify, “Amen” with reference to the curse invoked, and “Amen” with reference to the oath recited. Accordingly she declares: “Amen” (“may it be so” i. e., may the אלה “the curse” befall me) if I have received defilement from this man, and “Amen” if I have received defilement from any other man; “Amen” (“It is so” — the terms of the oath are true) that I have not gone astray either when I was betrothed to my husband or since I have been married to him; (or in the case of a woman who has married her deceased husband’s brother; cf. Deuteronomy 25:7, it implies), “either when I was awaiting marriage with my brother-in-law or after I was married to him” (Sotah 18a).

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.