היה מביא – the husband.

את מנחתה – as it is written (Numbers 5:15): “[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].”

בכפיפה מצרית – a basket made from palm bark [from] the soft that grew around the palm tree.

כדי ליגעה – that she should confess [her sin of adultery] and not blot out the Name [of God] on the [bitter] waters. And according to the one who says that at the beginning, they would cause her to drink [the bitter waters], and afterwards bring her meal offering, even though the Name [of God] was blotted out, from when she hired, in order that she would confess and not die a disgraced–disfigured death, and even though the scroll was blotted out, if she said, “I am ritually impure,” she does not drink [the waters of bitterness].

תחלתן וסופן בכלי שרת – not in actual vessels dedicated to Temple service–sacred vessels is spoken of for a person does not bring his meal-offering from the midst of his home in sacred vessels but rather in women’s work baskets of silver or of gold which are appropriate for use as sacred vessels.

וזו בכפיפה מצרית – And this is in a basket made of palm-twigs for it is not appropriate to make from it sacred vessels for it is similar to (Malachi 1:8): “Just offer it to your governor.”

כל המנחות טעונות שמן ולבונה – In the Gemara (Tractate Sotah 14b), the objection is raised: But this is the meal offering of sin-offering, as it is written about it (Leviticus 5:11): “he shall not add oil to it or lay frankincense on it, [for it is a sin offering].” But, that which we teach [in this Mishnah]: "כל המנחות באות חטים" –”All meal offerings derive from wheat,” is difficult, for this meal offering of the Omer comes from barley. And the Gemara (Talmud Sotah 14b) resolves the difficulty – one should not teach anything singly but rather, wrapped up–combined and it is taught and this is what it said: all of the meal offerings require oil and frankincense–"כל המנחות טעונות שמן ולבונה", but those that don’t require oil and frankincense come from wheat and the sin meal-offering comes from sifted fine flour, even though it does not require oil and frankincense, it comes from wheat and sifted fine flour.

And it comes from grits–unsifted flour, and this does not require oil or frankincense and comes from barley and is derived from flour.

גרש – it is sifted and winnowed in thirteen sieves like a kind of fine sifted flour with wheat.

קמח – everything is combined like it is grinded.

היה מביא – the Kohen.

פיילי – a cup in the Greek language (see Talmud Sotah 15b).

מן הכיור – as it is written (Numbers 5:17): “[The priest shall take] sacral water [in an earthenware vessel],” but there is nothing sacred other than that which was sanctified in a utensil.

כשם שממעט – Rabbi Yehuda, in the writing of the scroll (see Tractate Sotah, Chapter 2, Mishnah 3), further on in our Mishnah, so he lessens here [the amount of] the water, but the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Yehuda.

מקום היה שם – amidst the rest of the floor of the Temple.

וטבעת קבועה בה – to grab hold of the its ring and to lift it from the rest of the floor which was all of marble flagstone.

כדי שיראה – he has to place in it a measure that will be seen and recognized on the face of the water.

ונתן אל המים – since it is not written: “and place it in the water,” but rather (Numbers 5:17): “[the priest shall put it] into the water,” implying that it should not be absorbed into it.

מאם לא שכב איש אותך וגו' – the clean–pure; which are the curses that come on account of blessings that imply that surely if a man laid, you would not be clean.

ואינו כותב והשביע הכהן וגו' – for this is not other than a commandment upon the Kohen to have her take an oath.

ולא היה כותב ואמרה האשה אמן אמן – it is nothing other than a receipt that the woman accepts upon herself the oaths and we derive it as it is written (Numbers 5:23): “[The priest shall put] these curses down in writing and rub it into the water of bitterness],” "האלות"–the curses – to include curses that come on account of the blessings. [The word] "האלה"–these – to exclude [the instructions] and the affirmations (see Talmud Sotah 17a – by the woman saying “Amen”).

ר' יוסי אומר אינו מפסיק – from when he starts: (Numbers 5:19): “If no man has lain with you” until (Numbers 5:24): “Amen, amen.” And he writes the instructions of (Numbers 5:21): “Here the priest shall administer the curse of adjuration to the woman” and the affirmations (Numbers 5:22): “And the woman shall say, ‘Amen, amen,’” for he expounds the word "את" (verse 19) to include instructions and affirmations.

רבי יהודה אומר כל עצמו אינו כותב – meaning to say that he was careful so as not to write other than "אלות"–oaths, and not curses that come on account of the blessings and not instructions nor affirmations, for he expounds [the word] "האלות"–the oaths – and not curses that come on account of these blessings to exclude instructions and affirmations.

לוח – of wood.

נייר – of grasses–herbs that they pound–crush them and make them like a kind of leather.

דפתרא – a hide which is not worked completely through which is prepared with salt and flour but not with gall-nut [juice].

בספר – on parchment.

קומוס – resin of the tree which is melted in water.

קנקנתום – IRMINT and in the foreign language “vitriol.”

ולא בכל דבר שהוא רושם – and it is absorbed in the parchment and one cannot erase it for gum and vitriol make a lasting impression.

אמן שלא שטיתי ארוסה ונשואה – through the rule permitting the court to insert in an oath an affirmation to which the person concerned could not have been compelled directly, he places the burden upon her unchastity while betrothed and even though he did not have regarding him warnings of jealousy (given to the suspected wife) and a married woman’s retirement with a man under suspicious circumstances. And from here, this insertion of an oath to which a person could not have been compelled to take directly is from the Torah.

שומרת יבם וכנוסה – if she was his sister-in-law (i.e., the widow of his brother who died without issue) and he brought her into a levirate marriage and he was jealous of her and she retired with a man under suspicious circumstances, he inserts a claim of ritual impurity which she could not have been compelled to take directly that she had become defiled while she was awaiting levirate marriage . And our Mishnah is according to Rabbi Akiva who said that a woman awaiting levirate marriage is unchastity–lewdness, but it is not the Halakha but rather a woman awaiting levirate marriage who ran about as a prostitute is permitted to the levir. Therefore, he does not make this condition upon her if she was unchaste as a woman awaiting levirate marriage.

אמן שלא נטמאתי וכו' – My explanation is made for the “Amen” on the imprecation, “Amen” on the oath, as we taught above (in this Mishnah). And this is what it said: “Amen” that I did not become ritually impure – that is the “Amen” on the oath that the Kohen imposed upon her: “I impose upon you the oath that you did not become ritually impure.

ואם נטמאתי יבואו בי – and if I become I became defiled, it should come upon me,” meaning the acceptance of the imprecation that the Kohen related to her and if you were ritually defiled, all of these curses will come upon you.

אמן שלא אטמא – that if you become ritually impure afterwards, the water will contest her, but the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Meir.

ולא משנתגרשה – for if she ran about as a prostitute–was unchaste after she was divorced, and he retracted [from his decision to divorce her] and restored her [as his wife] and he was jealous of her, and she retired with a man under suspicious circumstances, the [bitter] waters do not examine her on prostitution that is after divorce, for the divorced woman who engaged in prostitution is permitted to return to her husband, for the All-Merciful (i.e., God) suspended [the prohibition] on Kiddushin–betrothal, [not] on intercourse, as it is written (Deuteronomy 24:2): “She leaves his household and becomes the wife of another man.” Therefore, when she was betrothe to another man, even though she had not had sexual intimacy, she is prohibited to return to her husband, but if she had sexual intercourse without Kiddushin–betrothal, she is permitted to return to her husband.