Study Sotah folio 2A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Mishnah: With regard to one who issues a warning to his wife not to seclude herself with a particular man, so that if she does not heed his warning she will assume the status of a woman suspected by her husband of having been unfaithful [sota], R' Eliezer says: He issues a warning to her based on,
The Mishnah asks: How does he issue a warning to her in an effective manner? If he says to her in the presence of two witnesses: Do not speak with the man called so-and-so, and she nevertheless spoke with him, she is still permitted to her home, i.e., she is permitted to have sex with her husband,
However, if after he told her not to speak with so-and-so, she entered into a secluded place and remained with that man long enough to become defiled, i.e., sufficient time to have sex, she is forbidden to her home from that moment until she undergoes the sota rite. And likewise, if she was the wif
Talmud: The Talmud questions the placement of this tractate within the mishnaic order of Nashim. Now, the tanna arose from tractate Nazir, which is the tractate preceding Sota in the order of the Mishnah. What did he teach in Nazir that required that he teach tractate Sota immediately afterward,
The Talmud answers: This was done in accordance with the statement of R' Yehuda HaNasi with regard to the sequence of passages in the Torah, as it is taught in a baraita that R' Yehuda HaNasi says: Why is the portion of a nazirite (Numbers, chapter 6) placed adjacent to the portion of a sota (Number