Deuteronomy 22:13-30
New American Standard Bible
Laws on Morality
13 “(A)If any man takes a wife and goes in to her and then [a]turns against her, 14 and he charges her with shameful behavior and [b]publicly defames her, and says, ‘I took this woman, but when I came near her, I did not find her to have evidence of virginity,’ 15 then the girl’s father and her mother shall take and bring out the evidence of the girl’s virginity to the elders of the city at the gate. 16 And the girl’s father shall say to the elders, ‘I gave my daughter to this man as a wife, but he [c]turned against her; 17 and behold, he has charged her with shameful behavior, saying, “I did not find your daughter to have evidence of virginity.” But [d]this is the evidence of my daughter’s virginity.’ And they shall spread out the garment before the elders of the city. 18 Then (B)the elders of that city shall take the man and rebuke him, 19 and they shall fine him a hundred shekels of silver and give it to the girl’s father, because he [e]publicly defamed a virgin of Israel. And she shall remain his wife; he is not allowed to [f]divorce her all his days.
20 “But if this [g](C)charge is true, and they did not find the girl to have evidence of virginity, 21 then they shall bring the girl out to the doorway of her father’s house, and the men of her city shall stone her [h]to death, because she has (D)committed a disgraceful sin in Israel by playing the prostitute in her father’s house; so (E)you shall eliminate the evil from among you.
22 “(F)If a man is found sleeping with a married woman, then both of them shall die, the man who slept with the woman, and the woman; so you shall eliminate the evil from Israel.
23 “(G)If there is a girl who is a virgin [i]betrothed to a man, and another man finds her in the city and sleeps with her, 24 then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city and you shall stone them [j]to death: the girl, because she did not cry out for help though she was in the city, and the man, because he has violated his neighbor’s wife. So you shall eliminate the evil from among you.
25 “But if the man finds the girl who is betrothed in the field, and the man seizes her and [k]rapes her, then only the man who [l]raped her shall die. 26 And you are not to do anything to the girl; there is no sin in the girl worthy of death, for just as a man rises against his neighbor and murders him, [m]so is this case. 27 When he found her in the field, the betrothed girl [n]cried out, but there was no one to save her.
28 “(H)If a man finds a girl who is a virgin, who is not betrothed, and he seizes her and has sexual relations with her, and they are discovered, 29 then the man who had sexual relations with her shall give the girl’s father fifty shekels of silver, and she shall become his wife, because he has violated her; he is not allowed to divorce her all his days.
30 “[o](I)A man shall not take [p]his father’s wife in marriage, so that he does not [q]uncover his father’s garment.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Deuteronomy 22:13 Lit hates her
- Deuteronomy 22:14 Lit brings out an evil reputation against her
- Deuteronomy 22:16 Lit hated her
- Deuteronomy 22:17 Lit these are
- Deuteronomy 22:19 Lit brought out an evil reputation against a virgin
- Deuteronomy 22:19 Lit send her away
- Deuteronomy 22:20 Lit matter
- Deuteronomy 22:21 Lit with stones so that she dies
- Deuteronomy 22:23 A betrothed couple was considered legally married, but did not yet live together
- Deuteronomy 22:24 Lit with stones so that they die
- Deuteronomy 22:25 Lit lies down with
- Deuteronomy 22:25 Lit lies down with
- Deuteronomy 22:26 I.e., she is only a victim
- Deuteronomy 22:27 I.e., presumably did so
- Deuteronomy 22:30 Ch 23:1 in Heb
- Deuteronomy 22:30 I.e., a stepmother, not his birth mother
- Deuteronomy 22:30 Idiom for violating his father’s marriage
Deuteronomy 22:13-30
Common English Bible
Virgin bride
13 Suppose a man gets married and consummates the marriage but subsequently despises his wife. 14 He then spreads false claims about her to the point that she has a bad reputation, because he said such things as, “I married this woman, but when I went to have sex with her, I couldn’t find any proof that she was a virgin.”
15 At that point, the young woman’s father and mother will bring proof of her virginity to the city’s elders at the city gate. 16 The young woman’s father will say to the elders: “I gave my daughter to this man to be his wife, but he doesn’t like her anymore. 17 That’s why he has spread false claims about her, saying, ‘I couldn’t find any proof that your daughter was a virgin.’ But look! Here’s proof of my daughter’s virginity.” At that point they will spread out the blanket in front of the city’s elders. 18 The city’s elders must then take that husband and punish him. 19 They will fine him one hundred silver shekels, giving that to the young woman’s father, because that husband gave one of Israel’s virgin daughters a bad reputation. Moreover, she must remain his wife; he is never allowed to divorce her.
20 However, if the claim is true and proof of the young woman’s virginity can’t be produced, 21 then the city’s elders will bring the young woman to the door of her father’s house. The citizens of that city must stone her until she dies because she acted so sinfully in Israel by having extramarital sex while still in her father’s house.
Remove[a] such evil from your community!
Inappropriate sexual behavior
22 If a man is found having sex with a woman who is married to someone else, both of them must die—the man who was having sex with the woman and the woman herself.
Remove such evil from Israel!
23 If a young woman who is a virgin is engaged to one man and another man meets up with her in a town and has sex with her, 24 you must bring both of them to the city gates there and stone them until they die—the young woman because she didn’t call for help in the city, and the man because of the fact that he humiliated his neighbor’s wife.
Remove such evil from your community!
25 But if the man met up with the engaged woman in a field, grabbing her and having sex with her there, only the man will die. 26 Don’t do anything whatsoever to the young woman. She hasn’t committed any capital crime—rather, this situation is exactly like the one where someone attacks his neighbor and kills him.[b] 27 Since the man met up with her in a field, the engaged woman may well have called out for help, but there was no one to rescue her.
28 If a man meets up with a young woman who is a virgin and not engaged, grabs her and has sex with her, and they are caught in the act, 29 the man who had sex with her must give fifty silver shekels to the young woman’s father. She will also become his wife because he has humiliated her. He is never allowed to divorce her.
30 [c] A man cannot marry his father’s former wife so that his father’s private matters are not exposed.[d]
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Deuteronomy 22:21 Or burn; so also 22:22, 24
- Deuteronomy 22:26 See 19:11.
- Deuteronomy 22:30 23:1 in Heb
- Deuteronomy 22:30 Or so that he doesn’t uncover his father’s skirt
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible