The ordeal of the bitter water was a trial by ordeal administered to the wife whose husband suspected her of adultery but who had no witnesses to make a formal case. The ordeal is expanded in the Talmud, in the seventh tractate of Nashim. According to Rabbinic Judaism, a sotah ( / סוטה) is a woman suspected of adultery who undergoes the ordeal of bitter water or ordeal of jealousy as described and prescribed in the Priestly Code, in the Book of Numbers, the fourth book of the Hebrew Bible. The term sotah itself is not found in the Hebrew Bible but is Mishnaic Hebrew based on the verse "if she has strayed" (verb: שטה satah) in Numbers 5:12. According to Tikva Frymer-Kensky, the ritual is not actually an "ordeal" which provides a verdict on the woman's guilt for use by human judges, but rather takes the form of a "purgatory oath, in which the individual swearing the oath puts himself under divine jurisdiction, expecting to be punished by God if the oath-taker is guilty". This ritual is not to be confused with , in which a man accuses his newlywed bride of pre-marital sex. Hebrew Bible The account of the ordeal of bitter water is given in the Book of Numbers: The ordeal When a man suspects his wife of having sex with another man but has no witnesses, the woman is brought to a kohen (priest), or before God. The woman is required by the biblical passage to have loosened hair during the ritual (). This is often taken to be a symbol of the woman's supposed shame, but according to Josephus, it was merely the standard behaviour for anyone accused of any crime, when they appeared before the Sanhedrin. The husband was required to make a sacrifice to God as part of the ritual, probably due to a general principle that no one should seek answers from God without giving something in return. This offering is placed in the wife's hands, and is literally described as her offering for her. Scholars think that it is the man's offering, in relation to the ordeal of his wife, and that her holding of it is merely symbolic of this. The offering specified is one tenth of an ephah of barley meal, unaccompanied by oil or frankincense; this is the cheaper type of flour, unlike the flour specified for all