For the source text click/tap here: Yevamot 58
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Normally (unlike modern secular courts) the Torah never requires witnesses to take an oath – the court either accepts the witness as being reliable, or questions his reliability.
Occasionally, it requires the defendant in a case to swear that the version of events he/she presents is true.
One situation is the case of sotah – a woman whose husband suspects her of being unfaithful, which is described in detail in Bamidbar 5:11-31 – if there are witnesses, then the woman would be tried as an unfaithful wife.
If however, there are no witnesses then the procedure described in the Torah is carried out, culminating with the shevu’ah – the oath – recited by the kohen and accepted by the woman with her statement of “amen, amen” (Bamidbar 5:22).
We explore the formulaic phrase “amen amen” listed only 5 times in the chumash, and how it developed through the late antique period into Jewish and Christian liturgy.