[(Numb. 5:12:) IF ANYONE HAS HIS WIFE GO ASTRAY.] (Sot. 3:4–5:) IF SHE HAS MERIT, IT SUSPENDS THE EFFECT OF THE BITTER WATER A YEAR OR TWO. …. ¹¹ R. SIMEON SAYS: MERIT DOES NOT [SUSPEND] THE EFFECT OF THE [BITTER] WATER, FOR IF YOU SAY SO … , YOU WILL BE FOUND {POSTPONING THE EFFECT} [MAKING THE EFFECT INEFFECTIVE] FOR ALL WOMEN WHO DRINK IT AND SPREADING SLANDER ABOUT UNDEFILED WOMEN WHO HAVE DRUNK IT, SLANDER WHICH SAYS: THEY WERE REALLY DEFILED, BUT THE MERIT HAS SUSPENDED THE EFFECT OF THE WATER FOR THEM. R. MEIR SAYS¹² THE MERIT SUSPENDS THE EFFECT OF THE BITTER WATER FOREVER. IF SHE WAS DEFILED, HOWEVER, SHE WILL NEVER AGAIN BEAR CHILDREN AND PROSPER BUT DEGENERATE MORE AND MORE. IN THE END SHE WILL HAVE DIED THE SAME DEATH.

footnotes: ¹¹ The whole section comes from the Mishnah, but again there are several variants from the standard text. ¹² The traditional Mishnah text reads “Rabbi says.”