(13) You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

Let us not die, then, for this fearsome fire will consume us; if we hear the voice of the LORD our God any longer, we shall die.

If a man commits adultery with a married woman, committing adultery with another man’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall be put to death.

The LORD spoke to Moses, saying: 12 Speak to the Israelite people and say to them: If any man’s wife has gone astray and broken faith with him 13 in that a man has had carnal relations with her unbeknown to her husband, and she keeps secret the fact that she has defiled herself without being forced, and there is no witness against her— 14 but a fit of jealousy comes over him and he is wrought up about the wife who has defiled herself; or if a fit of jealousy comes over one and he is wrought up about his wife although she has not defiled herself— 15 the man shall bring his wife to the priest. And he shall bring as an offering for her one-tenth of an ephah of barley flour. No oil shall be poured upon it and no frankincense shall be laid on it, for it is a meal offering of jealousy, a meal offering of remembrance which recalls wrongdoing. 16 The priest shall bring her forward and have her stand before the LORD. 17 The priest shall take sacral water in an earthen vessel and, taking some of the earth that is on the floor of the Tabernacle, the priest shall put it into the water. 18 After he has made the woman stand before the LORD, the priest shall bare the woman’s head and place upon her hands the meal offering of remembrance, which is a meal offering of jealousy. And in the priest’s hands shall be the water of bitterness that induces the spell. 19 The priest shall adjure the woman, saying to her, “If no man has lain with you, if you have not gone astray in defilement while married to your husband, be immune to harm from this water of bitterness that induces the spell. 20 But if you have gone astray while married to your husband and have defiled yourself, if a man other than your husband has had carnal relations with you”— 21 here the priest shall administer the curse of adjuration to the woman, as the priest goes on to say to the woman—“may the LORD make you a curse and an imprecation among your people, as the LORD causes your thigh to sag and your belly to distend; 22 may this water that induces the spell enter your body, causing the belly to distend and the thigh to sag.” And the woman shall say, “Amen, amen!” 23 The priest shall put these curses down in writing and rub it off into the water of bitterness. 24 He is to make the woman drink the water of bitterness that induces the spell, so that the spell-inducing water may enter into her to bring on bitterness. 25 Then the priest shall take from the woman’s hand the meal offering of jealousy, elevate the meal offering before the LORD, and present it on the altar. 26 The priest shall scoop out of the meal offering a token part of it and turn it into smoke on the altar. Last, he shall make the woman drink the water. 27 Once he has made her drink the water—if she has defiled herself by breaking faith with her husband, the spell-inducing water shall enter into her to bring on bitterness, so that her belly shall distend and her thigh shall sag; and the woman shall become a curse among her people. 28 But if the woman has not defiled herself and is pure, she shall be unharmed and able to retain seed. 29 This is the ritual in cases of jealousy, when a woman goes astray while married to her husband and defiles herself, 30 or when a fit of jealousy comes over a man and he is wrought up over his wife: the woman shall be made to stand before the LORD and the priest shall carry out all this ritual with her. 31 The man shall be clear of guilt; but that woman shall suffer for her guilt.

Do not commit adultery. The term נִאוּף applies only with another’s wife, as it is said: “[A man who will commit adultery with a married woman — who will commit adultery with a fellow Jew’s wife], the adulterer and adulteress shall be put to death.” It is also said: “The woman who commits adultery while in her husband’s domain, who takes strangers.”

The sages say: For three transgressions punishment is inflicted upon a man in this world, moreover he forfeits his claim to a future state, namely: idolatry, adultery, and bloodshed; but an evil tongue surpasses all these. Again the sages says: He who calumniates, is as if he denied the radical religious principle, as we read: Who have said, With our tongue will we prevail, our lips are our own, WHO IS LORD OVER US? (Ps. 12. 4). Moreover the sages say: An evil tongue destroys three persons: namely, him who utters it; him who listens to it; and him against whom it is uttered; but he who listens to it, is even more guilty than he who utters it.

I will inflict upon you the punishment of women who commit adultery and murder, and I will direct bloody and impassioned fury against you.