“And if the woman was not defiled, and she is pure, she will be absolved and will conceive offspring” (Numbers 5:28). “And if the woman was not defiled, and she is pure” – Rabbi Yishmael says: Who defiled her that the verse purifies her, as it says: “And she is pure”? Rather, the verse tells: Since slander spread in her regard, she is forbidden to her husband. “And she is pure” – pure to the husband, pure to the [alleged] paramour,163If the husband divorces her or dies. pure for terumot.
Rabbi Yehuda says in the name of Rabbi Elazar: Do we not know that if the woman was not defiled that she is pure? Why does the verse state: “And she is pure”? Rather, ultimately, the Holy One blessed be He will repay her in exchange for her disgrace: If she would give birth in pain, she will give birth with ease; if she would give birth to ugly children, she will give birth to white children. Some say: “And she is pure” – the fetus is pure.164There is no longer any uncertainty about his lineage.
“She will be absolved and will conceive offspring” – to the exclusion of a sexually underdeveloped woman and one who is unfit to give birth.