וטעם והשביע. שתענה האשה אמן אמן: [SHALL CAUSE HER TO SWEAR.] Its meaning is that the woman shall answer, Amen, Amen.
אם לא שכב איש אתך. הטעם איש אחר בחזקה: IF NO MAN HAVE LAIN WITH THEE. Its meaning is, if another man has not forced himself upon you.53If no man have lain with thee cannot be taken literally because we are dealing with a married women. Hence I.E.’s comment.
ואם לא שטית. ברצונך ודקדוק שטית טומאה כמו לא תבנה אתהן גזית: AND IF THOU HAST NOT GONE ASIDE. Willingly. Satit means you have gone aside and committed an unclean act.54In other words, satit is short for satit tume’ah. It is similar to thou shalt not build it of hewn stones (Ex. 20:25).55Ex. 20:25 literally reads, you shall not build them uncut stones. I.E. believes that this is short for: you shall not build a hewn structure out of them. See I.E. on Ex. 20:25 and the notes thereto (Vol. 2, p. 443-4).
הנקי. תהיה נקייה כמו ומות בהר ויתכן להיות והשביע הראשון בשם והשני באלה כאשר הוא מפורש: BE THOU FREE. The meaning of hinnaki is, be thou free.56Hinnaki is an imperative. It literally means free yourself. However, it cannot mean that here, for it is not in the power of the woman to free herself. Hence hinnaki must be taken as an imperfect rather than as an imperative, even though it has the form of the latter. It is similar to and die in the mount (Deut. 32:50).57U-mot (and die), an imperative, must be interpreted as if written ve-tamut (and you will die), for the time of one’s natural death is not in one’s hands. See I.E. on Gen. 1:22 and the notes thereto (Vol. 1, p. 42). It is possible that the first time Scripture says, and the priest shall cause her to swear58That is, in our verse. means, and the priest shall cause her to swear by invoking God’s name. The second time this phrase is used59That is, in verse 21. it means, as Scripture notes,60In verse 21. via the curses.