The law of the wife suspected of adultery
Cyril: …and what is in each person will be clearly known, this is sketched out for us again through another law. For it is written in Numbers: ‘And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them: If any man’s wife goes astray and wholly disregards him, and a man lies with her carnally, and it is hidden from the eyes of her husband, and she conceals it, and she is defiled, and there was no witness against her, and she was not caught in the act; and a spirit of jealousy comes upon him, and he is jealous of his wife, and she has been defiled; or a spirit of jealousy comes upon him, and he is jealous of his wife, and she has not been defiled: then the man shall bring his wife to the priest, and shall bring the offering for her, a tenth of an ephah of barley meal. He shall not pour oil on it, nor put frankincense on it, for it is a sacrifice of jealousy, a sacrifice of remembrance, which brings sin to remembrance. And the priest shall bring her near and set her before the Lord. And the priest shall take pure living water in an earthen vessel, and some of the earth that is on the floor of the tent of witness, and the priest shall take it and cast it into the water. And the priest shall set the woman before the Lord, and uncover the woman’s head, and put into her hands the sacrifice of remembrance, the sacrifice of jealousy; and in the priest’s hand shall be the water of conviction that brings this curse. And the priest shall put her under oath and say to the woman: If no man has lain with you, if you have not gone astray to be defiled while under your own husband, be free from this water of conviction that brings the curse. But if you have gone astray while under a husband, if you have been defiled, and some man other than your husband has lain with you… then the priest shall put the woman under the oaths of this curse, and the priest shall say to the woman: May the Lord make you a curse and an oath among your people, when the Lord makes your thigh fall away and your belly swell. And this water that brings the curse shall enter your belly, to make your womb swell and your thigh fall away. And the woman shall say: So be it, so be it. And the priest shall write these curses in a book and wash them off into the water of conviction that brings the curse, and he shall make the woman drink the water of conviction that brings the curse. And the water of conviction that brings the curse shall enter into her. And the priest shall take the sacrifice of jealousy from the woman’s hand, and lay the sacrifice before the Lord, and bring it to the altar. And the priest shall take a handful from the sacrifice as its memorial portion and offer it up on the altar, and after this he shall make the woman drink the water. And it shall be, if she has been defiled and has escaped her husband’s notice, that the water of conviction that brings the curse shall enter into her, and her belly shall swell, and her thigh shall fall away, and the woman shall be a curse among her people. But if she has not been defiled… (Numbers 5:11–28)
Greek
γνωσθήσεται δὲ τὰ ἐν ἑκάστῳ σαφῶς, καὶ δι' ἑτέρου πάλιν ἡμῖν διετύπου νόμου. Γέγραπται γὰρ ἐν τοῖς Ἀριθμοῖς· «Καὶ ἐλάλησε Κύριος πρὸς Μωσῆν, λέγων· Λάλησον τοῖς υἱοῖς Ἰσραὴλ, καὶ ἐρεῖς πρὸς αὐτούς· Ἀνδρὸς ἐὰν παραβῇ ἡ γυνὴ αὐτοῦ, καὶ ὑπεριδοῦσα παρίδῃ αὐτὸν, καὶ κοιμηθῇ τις μετ' αὐτῆς κοίτην σπέρματος, καὶ λάθῃ ἐξ ὀφθαλμῶν τοῦ ἀνδρὸς αὐτῆς, καὶ κρύψῃ, αὐτὴ δὲ ᾖ μεμιασμένη, καὶ μάρτυς μὴ ἦν μετ' αὐτῆς, καὶ αὐτὴ μὴ ᾖ συνειλημμένη, καὶ ἐπέλθῃ αὐτῷ πνεῦμα ζηλώσεως, καὶ ζηλώσῃ τὴν γυναῖκα αὐτοῦ, αὐτὴ δὲ μεμίανται, ἢ ἐπέλθῃ αὐτῷ πνεῦμα ζηλώσεως, καὶ ζηλώσῃ τὴν γυναῖκα αὐτοῦ, αὐτὴ δὲ μὴ ᾖ μεμιασμένη· καὶ ἄξει ὁ ἄνθρωπος τὴν γυναῖκα αὐτοῦ πρὸς τὸν ἱερέα, καὶ προσοίσει τὸ δῶρον περὶ αὐτῆς, τὸ δέκατον τοῦ οἰφὶ ἄλευρον κρίθινον, οὐκ ἐπιχεῖ ἐπ' αὐτὸ ἔλαιον, οὐδὲ ἐπιθήσει ἐπ' αὐτὸ λίβανον· ἔστι γὰρ θυσία ζηλοτυπίας, θυσία μνημοσύνου, ἀναμιμνήσκουσα ἁμαρτίαν. Καὶ προσάξει αὐτὴν ὁ ἱερεὺς, καὶ στήσει αὐτὴν ἔναντι Κυρίου, καὶ λήψεται ὁ ἱερεὺς ὕδωρ καθαρὸν ζῶν ἐν ἀγγείῳ ὀστρακίνῳ, καὶ τῆς γῆς τῆς οὔσης ἐπὶ τοῦ ἐδάφους τῆς σκηνῆς τοῦ μαρτυρίου· καὶ λαβὼν ὁ ἱερεὺς ἐμβαλεῖ εἰς τὸ ὕδωρ, καὶ στήσει ὁ ἱερεὺς τὴν γυναῖκα ἔναντι Κυρίου, καὶ ἀποκαλύψει τὴν κεφαλὴν τῆς γυναικὸς, καὶ δώσει ἐπὶ τὰς χεῖρας αὐτῆς τὴν θυσίαν τοῦ μνημοσύνου, τὴν θυσίαν τῆς ζηλοτυπίας· ἐν δὲ τῇ χειρὶ τοῦ ἱερέως ἔσται τὸ ὕδωρ τοῦ ἐλεγμοῦ τοῦ ἐπικαταρωμένου τούτου· καὶ ὁρκιεῖ αὐτὴν ὁ ἱερεὺς, καὶ ἐρεῖ τῇ γυναικί· Εἰ μὴ κεκοίμηταί τις μετὰ σοῦ, εἰ μὴ παραβέβηκας μιανθῆναι ὑπὸ τὸν ἄνδρα τὸν σεαυτῆς, ἀθώα ἴσθι ἀπὸ τοῦ ὕδατος τοῦ ἐλεγμοῦ τοῦ ἐπικαταρωμένου τούτου. Εἰ δὲ σὺ παραβέβηκας ὕπανδρος οὖσα, εἰ μεμίανσαι, καὶ ἔδωκέ τις τὴν κοίτην αὐτοῦ ἐν σοὶ, πλὴν τοῦ ἀνδρός σου· καὶ ὁρκιεῖ ὁ ἱερεὺς τὴν γυναῖκα ἐν τοῖς ὅρκοις τῆς ἀρᾶς ταύτης, καὶ ἐρεῖ ὁ ἱερεὺς τῇ γυναικί· Δῴη σε Κύριος ἐν ἀρᾷ καὶ ἐνόρκιον ἐν μέσῳ τοῦ λαοῦ σου, ἐν τῷ δοῦναι Κύριον τὸν μηρόν σου διαπεπτωκότα, καὶ τὴν κοιλίαν σου πεπρησμένην. Καὶ εἰσελεύσεται τὸ ὕδωρ τὸ ἐπικαταρώμενον τοῦτο εἰς τὴν κοιλίαν σου, πρῆσαι γαστέρα, καὶ διαπεσεῖν μηρόν σου. Καὶ ἐρεῖ ἡ γυνή· Γένοιτο, γένοιτο. Καὶ γράψει ὁ ἱερεὺς τὰς ἀρὰς ταύτας εἰς βιβλίον, καὶ ἐξαλείψει εἰς τὸ ὕδωρ τοῦ ἐλεγμοῦ τοῦ ἐπικαταρωμένου, καὶ ποτιεῖ τὴν γυναῖκα τὸ ὕδωρ τοῦ ἐλεγμοῦ τοῦ ἐπικαταρωμένου. Καὶ εἰσελεύσεται εἰς αὐτὴν τὸ ὕδωρ τὸ ἐπικαταρώμενον τοῦ ἐλεγμοῦ· καὶ λήψεται ὁ ἱερεὺς ἐκ χειρὸς τῆς γυναικὸς τὴν θυσίαν τῆς ζηλοτυπίας, καὶ ἐπιθήσει τὴν θυσίαν ἔναντι Κυρίου, καὶ προσοίσει αὐτὴν πρὸς τὸ θυσιαστήριον. Καὶ δράξεται ὁ ἱερεὺς ἀπὸ τῆς θυσίας τὸ μνημόσυνον αὐτῆς, καὶ ἀνοίσεται αὐτὸ ἐπὶ τὸ θυσιαστήριον, καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα, ποτιεῖ τὴν γυναῖκα τὸ ὕδωρ. Καὶ ἔσται, ἐὰν ᾖ μεμιασμένη καὶ λήθῃ λάθῃ τὸν ἄνδρα αὐτῆς, καὶ εἰσελεύσεται εἰς αὐτὴν τὸ ὕδωρ τοῦ ἐλεγμοῦ τὸ ἐπικαταρώμενον, καὶ πρησθήσεται τὴν κοιλίαν, καὶ διαπεσεῖται ὁ μηρὸς αὐτῆς, καὶ ἔσται ἡ γυνὴ εἰς ἀρὰν τῷ λαῷ αὐτῆς. Ἐὰν δὲ μὴ μιανθῇ