Numbers 5:21
Context5:21 Then the priest will put the woman under the oath of the curse 1 and will say 2 to the her, “The Lord make you an attested curse 3 among your people, 4 if the Lord makes 5 your thigh fall away 6 and your abdomen swell; 7
Numbers 5:27
Context5:27 When he has made her drink the water, then, if she has defiled herself and behaved unfaithfully toward her husband, the water that brings a curse will enter her to produce bitterness – her abdomen will swell, her thigh will fall away, and the woman will become a curse among her people.
Numbers 6:20
Context6:20 then the priest must wave them as a wave offering 8 before the Lord; it is a holy portion for the priest, together with the breast of the wave offering and the thigh of the raised offering. 9 After this the Nazirite may drink 10 wine.’
1 sn For information on such curses, see M. R. Lehmann, “Biblical Oaths,” ZAW 81 (1969): 74-92; A. C. Thiselton, “The Supposed Power of Words in the Biblical Writings,” JTS 25 (1974): 283-99; and F. C. Fensham, “Malediction and Benediction in Ancient Vassal Treaties and the Old Testament,” ZAW 74 (1962): 1-9.
2 tn Heb “the priest will say.”
3 tn This interpretation takes the two nouns as a hendiadys. The literal wording is “the
4 sn The outcome of this would be that she would be quoted by people in such forms of expression as an oath or a curse (see Jer 29:22).
5 tn The construction uses the infinitive construct with the preposition to form an adverbial clause: “in the giving of the
6 tn TEV takes the expression “your thigh” as a euphemism for the genitals: “cause your genital organs to shrink.”
7 sn Most commentators take the expressions to be euphemisms of miscarriage or stillbirth, meaning that there would be no fruit from an illegitimate union. The idea of the abdomen swelling has been reinterpreted by NEB to mean “fall away.” If this interpretation stands, then the idea is that the woman has become pregnant, and that has aroused the suspicion of the husband for some reason. R. K. Harrison (Numbers [WEC], 111-13) discusses a variety of other explanations for diseases and conditions that might be described by these terms. He translates it with “miscarriage,” but leaves open what the description might actually be. Cf. NRSV “makes your uterus drop, your womb discharge.”
8 sn The ritual of lifting the hands filled with the offering and waving them in the presence of the
9 sn The “wave offering” may be interpreted as a “special gift” to be transferred to the
10 tn The imperfect tense here would then have the nuance of permission. It is not an instruction at this point; rather, the prohibition has been lifted and the person is free to drink wine.