R’ Shimon says: Merit does not hold [the punishment of] the bitter waters in abeyance. For if you say that merit does hold [the punishment] of the curse-causing waters in abeyance, you diminish [the aura of] the waters in [the minds of] all the women who [must] drink, and you defame all the undefiled [women] who have drunk, because it will be said that they were defiled but merit held their punishment in abeyance. Rabbi says: Merit holds [the punishment of] the curse-causing waters in abeyance, but she does not bear children or continue to thrive, but wastes away by degrees; [and] in the end she dies that death.