Numbers 5:16

"And the priest shall bring her near and set her before Jehovah: and the priest shall take holy water in an earthen vessel; and of the dust that is on the floor of the tabernacle the priest shall take, and put it into the water. And the priest shall set the woman before Jehovah, and let the hair of the woman's head go loose, and put the meal-offering of memorial in her hands, which is the meal offering of jealousy: and the priest shall have in his hand the water of bitterness that causeth the curse. And the priest shall cause her to swear, and shall say unto the woman, If no man hath lain with thee, and if thou have not gone aside to uncleanness, being under thy husband, be thou free from this water of bitterness that causeth the curse: but if thou have gone aside, being under thy husband, and if thou be defiled, and some man have lain with thee besides thy husband: 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; and this water that causeth the curse shall go into thy bowels, and make thy body to swell, and thy thigh to fall away. And the woman shall say, Amen, Amen."

"Holy water ..." (Numbers 5:17). This is significant as the only use of this expression in the whole Bible.[16] The most likely source of this was the holy laver which would have afforded an abundant water supply for the whole tabernacle. The notion that "it came from some holy spring" comes from the intention of making this whole chapter as pagan as possible. It is significant that the Septuagint (LXX) has "pure running water" here.

"Dust from the floor of the tabernacle ..." (Numbers 5:17). This was a symbol of "vileness and misery."[17] It will be recalled that the curse upon the serpent was that he should eat dust (Genesis 3:14). However, such dust in itself was perfectly harmless.

"Let the woman's hair go loose ..." (Numbers 5:18). "As a person under suspicion, she was thus deprived of her dignity."[18]

Notice that different designations are used for the same item throughout the narrative. The water is called holy from its source, "water of bitterness," after the curse that accompanied the drinking of it, and that the meal-offering is called the offering of jealousy after the occasion of it, and the offering of memorial after its bringing sin to remembrance.

"Being under thy husband ..." (Numbers 5:20,29). Orlinsky notes that this should be translated, "If you have gone astray while married to your husband."[19]

"Amen, Amen ..." (Numbers 5:22). This solemn imprecation upon herself the woman was required to make in the stylized form of the oath, which she was not required to repeat, but merely to give assent by the double "Amen." The significance of this is the extreme antiquity of this form of oath, which is the same as that of the mid-second millennium B.C., during which ages, "A Hittite soldier's oath also required this affirmation."[20]