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19 And he enlightened our eyes from our Mishnah where it is taught: WHEN WITNESSES CAME [AND TESTIFIED] THAT SHE HAD MISCONDUCTED HERSELF. When did the witnesses come? If we say that they came before she drank the water, she is an adulteress;<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' As the result of their evidence; [consequently she is forbidden to partake of the heave-offering, v. Yeb. 44b]. ');"><sup>19</sup></span> consequently they could only have come after she had drunk the water. This is quite right if you say that the water does not prove her,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' If there are witnesses of her misconduct who have not testified. ');"><sup>20</sup></span> then all is clear; but if you say that [in such a circumstance] the water does prove her, the water may demonstrate retrospectively that the witnesses were false!<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Because, if she came through successfully, her reputation is cleared. [Why then should she be prohibited to partake of the heave-offering for all time?] ');"><sup>21</sup></span> — R. Joseph said to him, Still I maintain that the water does prove her, and answer that some merit she possesses causes the water to suspend its effect.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' This point is discussed immediately. If this view is accepted, the water does not affect her although the witnesses are true. ');"><sup>22</sup></span> In what do [R. Joseph and R. Shesheth] differ? — In the matter of her becoming ill, according to the teaching of Rabbi. For we learn: Rabbi says: Merit [in the woman] causes the water of bitterness to suspend its effect, and she never bears a child or thrives, but she gradually grows ill and finally dies through that death.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Through her belly swelling and her thigh falling (Num. V, 27). The passage is cited from infra 22b. ');"><sup>23</sup></span> R. Shesheth is of the opinion that both in the view of Rabbi and of the Rabbis she grows ill;<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' And the Sages only disagree with him on the question whether she dies. In any case, if she does not grow ill, it cannot be attributed to her merit but to the fact that there are witnesses who have not given evidence. ');"><sup>24</sup></span> and R. Joseph is of the opinion that in the view of Rabbi she grows ill but in the view of the Rabbis she does not.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' So that on either view, if the water has no effect, it is due to her merit. ');"><sup>25</sup></span> R. Shimi b. Ashi raised an objection: R. Simeon says: Merit does not cause the water of bitterness to suspend its effect; and if you say that merit does cause the water of bitterness to suspend its effect, you discredit the water in the case of all the women who drink it and defame the pure woman who drank it, since people will say: They were unclean, only their merit caused the water to suspend its effect upon them.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Also quoted from infra 22b. ');"><sup>26</sup></span> But if it is so,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Viz., that the existence of absent witnesses causes the water not to take effect. ');"><sup>27</sup></span> then through [the teaching], 'Where the witnesses against her are in a far-distant land', you likewise defame the pure women who drank and people will say: They were unclean, only the witnesses against them are in a far-distant land! — [The reply to R. Shimi is:] You quote R. Simeon; but as R. Simeon holds that merit does not cause the water to suspend its effect, he similarly holds that the existence of witnesses does not cause it to suspend its effect. Rab raised an objection: The following have their meal-offerings destroyed:<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' V. Num. V, 15 for this offering. In the cases mentioned, it is not burnt upon the altar or redeemed by payment in money of its value, but destroyed by fire. ');"><sup>28</sup></span>