This edition of the Bible uses even clearer language to explain the expected actions of the "water of contention" which the unfaithful woman must ingest:
20 But if, while owing him obedience, you have gone astray and let yourself become defiled, if any man other than your husband has had intercourse with you'
21 (the priest shall here put the woman on oath with an adjuration, and shall continue), 'may the LORD make an example of you among your people in adjurations and in swearing of oaths by bringing upon you miscarriage and untimely birth;
22 and this water that brings out the truth shall enter your body, bringing upon you miscarriage and untimely birth.' The woman shall respond, 'Amen, Amen.'
23 The priest shall write these curses on a scroll and wash them off into the water of contention;
24 he shall make the woman drink the water that brings out the truth, and the water shall enter her body.
25 The priest shall take the grain-offering for jealousy from the woman's hand, present it as a special gift before the LORD, and offer it at the altar.
26 He shall take a handful from the grain-offering by way of token, and burn it at the altar; after this he shall make the woman drink the water.
27 if she has let herself become defiled and has been unfaithful to her husband, then when the priest makes her drink the water that brings out the truth and the water has entered her body, she will suffer a miscarriage or untimely birth, and her name will become an example in adjuration among her kin.
28 But if the woman has not let herself become defiled and is pure, then her innocence is established and she will bear her child.
The text is quoted from The New English Bible with the Apocrypha, Oxford Study Edition. The edition used is Copyright (C) 1976. To keep this quote legal as Fair Use, here's my review of this translation of the Bible: I love it! Everyone should read this version instead of the King James version, because English has changed so much since 1611 that reading the KJV is like reading the Bible as written by Shakespeare. Go out and purchase your copy of The New English Bible with the Apocrypha, Oxford Study Edition, today!
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