“The priest shall write these curses [ve’et haalot ha’eleh] in a scroll, and erase it in the water of bitterness” (Numbers 5:23). “[The priest] shall write [these] curses” – as they are written, as, if he wrote them out of order, it is not valid. When he comes to write the scroll, from what place does he begin? From, “If a man has not lain with you.… But you, if you strayed.… The priest shall administer [to the woman] the oath.… [This] water [that causes curse] will enter” (Numbers 5:19–22), but he would not write: “And the woman shall say: Amen, amen” (Numbers 5:22); this is the statement of Rabbi Yosei.
What is his source? “Alot” – actual curses; “ve’et” – to include commands and acceptances; “haalot” – to include curses that emerge from blessings, e.g., “be absolved of [this] water of bitterness…,” as from a positive you infer a negative;159If a man has not lain with you, you will be absolved, but if he has, you will not be absolved. “ha’eleh” – to the exclusion of the curses in the book of Deuteronomy.
Rabbi Yoḥanan and Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish: One says: He administers the oath and then writes, and one says: He writes and then administers the oath. The one who says: He administers the oath and then writes; it is as it appears in the verses: “[The priest] shall administer an oath” (Numbers 5:19),