Numbers 5:27
And when he hath made her to drink the water, then it shall come to pass, that, if she be defiled, and have done trespass against her husband, that the water that causeth the curse shall enter into her, and become bitter, and her belly shall swell, and her thigh shall rot: and the woman shall be a curse among her people.
Numbers 5:27 belongs to the test appointed for a wife accused of unfaithfulness to her husband. The ordeal was intended to uncover hidden sin when a husband was suspicious but had no direct evidence. If she was guilty, the water that causes the curse would enter her and become bitter, making her belly swell and her thigh rot in a condition leading to swift and dreadful death, but if she was innocent it would cause her no harm. The offering and the water in this ritual served to discover sin rather than to atone for it. The curse it describes shows God's abhorrence of sin and warns of sin's destructive end.