The Sotah Ritual at the Nicanor Gate in Midrash Tanchuma

"And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to the children of Israel and say to them: If any man's wife goes astray" (Numbers 5:11–12). Let our master teach us: One who wished to accuse his wife of unfaithfulness, how did he warn her? Thus our masters taught: One who accuses his wife would bring her to the Great Court that is in Jerusalem, and they would intimidate her in the manner that they intimidate witnesses in capital cases. And afterward they would bring her up to the Eastern Gate, to the Gate of Nicanor, where they purify the lepers and give the suspected adulteresses to drink. A priest would bring an earthenware bowl and put into it half a log of water from the laver. He would enter the Sanctuary and turn to his right; and there was a place there one cubit by one cubit, and a marble tablet was there with a ring fixed in it. He would lift it and take dust from beneath it and put it upon the water, as it is said: "And of the dust that is on the floor of the Tabernacle the priest shall take, and put it into the water" (Numbers 5:17). And he would write the scroll: "And if no man has lain with you…" (Numbers 5:19). From here our masters taught that in capital cases one opens at the outset with acquittal. And he writes further: "But if you have gone astray…, may the LORD make you a curse…" (Numbers 5:20–21). And likewise Solomon said: "If a man sins against his neighbor and an oath is laid upon him to make him swear, and the oath comes before Your altar in this house, then hear in heaven and act and judge Your servants, condemning the wicked to bring his way upon his own head, and justifying the righteous to give him according to his righteousness" (1 Kings 8:31–32). The verse speaks of the section of the suspected adulteress, as it is said: "And he shall write these curses" (Numbers 5:23) — "then hear in heaven and act and judge Your servants, condemning the wicked to bring his way upon his own head" (1 Kings 8:32); "and her belly shall swell and her thigh shall fall away" (Numbers 5:27) — "justifying the righteous to give him according to his righteousness" (1 Kings 8:32); "but if the woman has not been defiled and she is pure, then she shall be cleared and shall conceive seed" (Numbers 5:28). And if she was defiled, she would not manage to drink before her face turns green, her eyes bulge, and she becomes full of veins. And the priest says: Take her out! Take her out! — so that she does not defile the Temple court. Just as the water tests the woman, so the water tests the man, as it is said: "and they shall enter," "and they shall enter" (Numbers 5:22 and 5:24). Just as she is forbidden to the husband, so she is forbidden to the paramour, as it is said: "and she has been defiled," "and she has been defiled." But if she drank and was found pure: if she had been barren, she is remembered (with offspring); if she was accustomed to bear ugly children, she bears beautiful ones; dark ones, she bears fair ones; short ones, she bears tall ones; females, she bears males — as it is said: "but if the woman has not been defiled and she is pure, then she shall be cleared and shall conceive seed" (Numbers 5:28). The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moses: Write the section of the suspected adulteress, so that she may know which Name the priest blots out on her account, and what her death is, and how it is made public. From where? From what was read in the matter: "If any man's wife goes astray" (Numbers 5:12).