Deuteronomy 22
Expanded Bible
22 If you see your ·fellow Israelite’s [relative’s; brother’s] ox or sheep wandering away, don’t ignore it. Take it back to ·its owner [your relative/brother; Ex. 23:4–5]. 2 If ·the owner [your relative/brother] does not live close to you, or if you do not know who the owner is, take the animal home with you. Keep it until ·the owner [your relative/brother] comes looking for it; then give it back. 3 Do the same thing if you find a donkey or ·coat [cloak; garment] or anything someone lost. Don’t just ignore it.
4 If you see your ·fellow Israelite’s [relative’s; brother’s] donkey or ox fallen on the road, don’t ignore it. Help the owner get it up.
5 A woman must not wear men’s ·clothes [apparel; items], and a man must not wear women’s clothes. The Lord your God ·hates [detests] anyone who does that.
6 If you find a bird’s nest by the road, either in a tree or on the ground, and the mother bird is sitting on the young birds or eggs, do not take the mother bird with the young birds. 7 You may take the young birds, but you must let the mother bird go free. Then things will go well for you, and you will live a long time.
8 When you build a new house, build a ·low wall around the edge of [a fence/parapet on] the roof [C the flat roofs of Israelite houses were used for living space] so you will not ·be guilty [have bloodguilt] if someone falls off the roof [C to avoid negligent homicide].
9 Don’t plant two different kinds of seeds in your vineyard. Otherwise, ·both crops will be ruined [L the fullness will be forfeit, both the seed that has been sown as well as the produce of the vineyard; C to avoid unnatural combinations, perhaps as a reminder that Israelites were to be separate from Gentiles, see also vv. 10–11].
10 Don’t plow with an ox and a donkey tied together.
11 Don’t wear clothes made of wool and linen woven together.
12 Tie several pieces of thread together; then put these tassels on the four corners of your coat [C perhaps to weigh down the garment to avoid exposure].
Marriage Laws
13 If a man marries a girl and has sexual relations with her but then decides he ·does not like [L hates] her, 14 he might ·talk badly about her [charge her with wanton behavior] and give her a bad name. He might say, “I married this woman, but when I ·had sexual relations with [approached] her, I did not find that she was a virgin.” 15 Then the girl’s ·parents [L father and mother] must bring ·proof [evidence] that she was a virgin to the elders at the city gate. 16 The girl’s father will say to the elders, “I gave my daughter to this man to be his wife, but now he ·does not want [L hates] her. 17 This man has ·told lies about my daughter [charged my daughter with wanton behavior]. He has said, ‘I did not find your daughter to be a virgin,’ but here is the ·proof [evidence] that my daughter was a virgin.” Then her parents are to show the sheet [C blood-stained, showing she had been a virgin] to the elders of the city, 18 and the elders must take the man and ·punish [discipline] him. 19 They must make him pay about ·two and one-half pounds [L one hundred shekels] of silver to the girl’s father, because the man has given an Israelite virgin a bad name. The girl will continue to be the man’s wife, and he may not divorce her as long as he lives.
20 But if ·the things the husband said about his wife are [L this word/charge is] true, and there is no ·proof [evidence] that she was a virgin, 21 the girl must be brought to the door of her father’s house. Then the men of the town must put her to death by ·throwing stones at [stoning] her. She has done a ·disgraceful [shameful] thing in Israel by ·having sexual relations before she was married [L acting like a prostitute in the house of her father]. You must ·get rid of [banish; purge] the evil among you.
22 If a man is found ·having sexual relations [L lying] with another man’s wife, both the woman and the man who ·had sexual relations [L lay] with her must die. ·Get rid of [Banish; Purge] this evil from Israel.
23 If a man meets a virgin in a city and ·has sexual relations [L lies] with her, but she is engaged to another man, 24 you must take both of them to the city gate and ·put them to death by throwing stones at [stone] them. Kill the girl, because she was in a city and did not scream for help. And kill the man for having sexual relations with ·another man’s wife [the wife of his neighbor/friend]. You must ·get rid of [banish; purge] the evil among you.
25 But if a man meets an engaged girl out in the ·country [field] and ·forces her to have sexual relations with him [L seizes her and lies with her], only the man who ·had sexual relations [L lay] with her must be put to death. 26 Don’t do anything to the girl, because she has not done a sin worthy of death. This is like the person who ·attacks [rises up] and murders a neighbor; 27 the man found the engaged girl in the ·country [field] and she ·screamed [yelled for help], but no one was there to ·save [rescue] her.
28 If a man meets a virgin who is not engaged to be married and ·forces her to have sexual relations with him [L grabs her and lies with her] and ·people find out about it [L is discovered], 29 the man who ·had sexual relations [L lay] with her must pay the girl’s father about ·one and one-fourth pounds [L fifty shekels] of silver. He must also marry the girl, because he has ·dishonored [humiliated; raped] her, and he may never divorce her for as long as he lives [Ex. 22:16–17].
30 A man must not marry his father’s wife; he must not ·dishonor his father in this way [L uncover his father’s skirt; Lev. 18:7–8; 20:11].
Deuteronomy 22
Amplified Bible
Various Laws
22 “You shall not see your countryman’s ox or his sheep straying away or being stolen, and [a]ignore [your duty to help] them; you shall certainly take them back to him.(A) 2 If your countryman is not nearby or you do not know him, you shall bring the animal to your house, and it shall stay with you until he searches for it; then you shall return it to him. 3 You shall do this with his donkey or with his garment or with anything that your countryman has lost and you have found. You are not allowed to ignore [your duty to help] them. 4 You shall not see your countryman’s donkey or his ox fall down along the road, and ignore [your duty to help] them; you shall certainly help him lift it up.
5 “A woman shall not wear a man’s clothing, nor shall a man put on a woman’s clothing; for whoever does these things is utterly repulsive to the Lord your God.
6 “If you happen to come upon a bird’s nest along the road, in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs, and the mother [bird] is sitting on the young or on the eggs, you shall not take the mother with the young. 7 You shall certainly let the mother go, but you may take the young for yourself, so that it may be well with you and that you may prolong your days.
8 “When you build a new house, you shall make a railing (parapet) around your [flat] roof, so that you do not bring the guilt of [innocent] blood on your house if someone falls from it.
9 “You shall not sow your vineyard with two kinds of seed, or everything produced by the seed which you have sown and the yield of the vineyard will become defiled [and banned for use].
10 “You shall not plow with an ox [a clean animal] and a donkey [an unclean animal] [b]together.(B)
11 “You shall not wear a fabric made of wool and linen blended together [a fabric pagans believed to be magical].(C)
12 “You shall make tassels for yourself on the four corners of your outer garment with which you cover yourself.(D)
Laws on Morality
13 “If any man takes a wife and goes in to her and then scorns and hates her, 14 and charges her [without cause] with shameful behavior and [c]publicly defames her, and says, ‘I took this woman, but when I approached her, I did not find in her evidence of virginity,’ 15 then the young woman’s father and her mother shall get and bring out the evidence of her virginity to the elders of the city at the gate [where court is held]. 16 The father of the young woman shall say to the elders, ‘I gave my daughter to this man as a wife, but he hates her and has turned against her; 17 and behold, he has made baseless charges against her, saying, “I did not find in your daughter the evidence of her virginity.” But this is the evidence of my daughter’s virginity.’ And they shall spread out the [d]garment before the elders of the city. 18 Then the elders of that city shall take the man and reprimand him, 19 and they shall fine him a hundred shekels of silver and give it to the father of the young woman, because he [e]publicly defamed a virgin of Israel. And she shall remain his wife; he is not allowed to divorce her as long as he lives.
20 “But if this charge is true that the evidence of virginity was not found in the young woman, 21 then they shall bring her out to the doorway of her father’s house, and the men of her city shall stone her to death because she has committed a deliberate sin in Israel by playing the prostitute in her father’s house. So you shall remove the evil from among you.
22 “If a man is [f]intimate with a woman who is another man’s wife, they shall both be put to death, the man who lay with the woman, and the woman. So you shall remove the evil from Israel.
23 “If a young woman who is a virgin is engaged (legally betrothed) to a man, and another man finds her in the city and is intimate with her, 24 then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city and stone them to death—the young woman because she did not cry out for help [though she was] in the city, and the man because he has violated his neighbor’s [promised] wife. So you shall remove the evil from among you.
25 “However, if the man finds the girl who is engaged (legally betrothed) in the [open] field, and seizes her and is intimate with her [by force], then only the man who lies with her shall be put to death. 26 But you shall do nothing to the young woman; she has committed no sin worthy of death, for this is the same as when a man attacks his neighbor and murders [g]him. 27 When he found her in the [open] field, the engaged girl [may have] cried out for help, but there was no one to [hear and] save her.
28 “If a man finds a girl who is a virgin, who is not engaged, and seizes her and is intimate with her and they are discovered, 29 then the man who was intimate with her shall give fifty shekels of silver to the girl’s father, and she shall become his wife because he has violated her; he can [h]never divorce her.
30 “[i]A man shall not take his father’s [former] wife, so that he will not [j]expose his father’s wife.
Footnotes
- Deuteronomy 22:1 Lit hide yourself from them, and so throughout the chapter.
- Deuteronomy 22:10 As a practical matter, the two different species would not work well together, particularly pulling a plow, wagon, etc.
- Deuteronomy 22:14 Lit brings upon her an evil name.
- Deuteronomy 22:17 I.e. a blood-stained bed sheet or item of clothing from the wedding night.
- Deuteronomy 22:19 Lit brought an evil name upon.
- Deuteronomy 22:22 Lit found lying, and so throughout.
- Deuteronomy 22:26 Lit his soul.
- Deuteronomy 22:29 Lit all his days.
- Deuteronomy 22:30 In Hebrew this is 23:1, changing the versification throughout the following chapter.
- Deuteronomy 22:30 Lit uncover his father’s skirt.
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