Deuteronomy 22:13-30
New English Translation
Purity in the Marriage Relationship
13 Suppose a man marries a woman, sleeps with her,[a] and then rejects[b] her, 14 accusing her of impropriety[c] and defaming her reputation[d] by saying, “I married this woman but when I approached her for marital relations[e] I discovered she was not a virgin!” 15 Then the father and mother of the young woman must produce the evidence of virginity[f] for the elders of the city at the gate. 16 The young woman’s father must say to the elders, “I gave my daughter to this man and he has rejected[g] her. 17 Moreover, he has raised accusations of impropriety by saying, ‘I discovered your daughter was not a virgin,’ but this is the evidence of my daughter’s virginity!” The cloth must then be spread out[h] before the city’s elders. 18 The elders of that city must then seize the man and punish[i] him. 19 They will fine him 100 shekels of silver and give them to the young woman’s father, for the man who made the accusation[j] ruined the reputation[k] of an Israelite virgin. She will then become his wife, and he may never divorce her as long as he lives.
20 But if the accusation is true and the young woman was not a virgin, 21 the men of her city must bring the young woman to the door of her father’s house and stone her to death, for she has done a disgraceful thing[l] in Israel by behaving like a prostitute while living in her father’s house. In this way you will purge[m] the evil from among you.
22 If a man is discovered in bed with[n] a married woman,[o] both the man lying in bed with the woman and the woman herself must die; in this way you will purge[p] the evil from Israel.
23 If a virgin is engaged to a man and another man meets[q] her in the city and goes to bed with[r] her, 24 you must bring the two of them to the gate of that city and stone them to death, the young woman because she did not cry out though in the city and the man because he violated[s] his neighbor’s fiancée;[t] in this way you will purge[u] evil from among you. 25 But if the man came across[v] the engaged woman in the field and overpowered her and raped[w] her, then only the rapist[x] must die. 26 You must not do anything to the young woman—she has done nothing deserving of death. This case is the same as when someone attacks another person[y] and murders him, 27 for the man[z] met her in the field and the engaged woman cried out, but there was no one to rescue her.
28 Suppose a man comes across a virgin who is not engaged and takes hold of her[aa] and sleeps with[ab] her and they are discovered. 29 The man who has slept with her must pay her father fifty shekels of silver and she must become his wife. Because he has humiliated her, he may never divorce her as long as he lives.
30 (23:1)[ac] A man may not marry[ad] his father’s former[ae] wife and in this way dishonor his father.[af]
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Deuteronomy 22:13 tn Heb “goes to her,” a Hebrew euphemistic idiom for sexual relations. See note at Deut 21:13.
- Deuteronomy 22:13 tn Heb “hate.” See note on the word “other” in Deut 21:15. Cf. NAB “comes to dislike”; NASB “turns against”; TEV “decides he doesn’t want.”
- Deuteronomy 22:14 tn Heb “deeds of things”; NRSV “makes up charges against her”; NIV “slanders her.”
- Deuteronomy 22:14 tn Heb “brings against her a bad name”; NIV “gives her a bad name.”
- Deuteronomy 22:14 tn The expression קָרַב אֶל (qarav ʾel) means “draw near to” or “approach,” but is also used as a euphemism for the intended purpose of sexual relations.
- Deuteronomy 22:15 sn In light of v. 17 this would evidently be blood-stained sheets indicative of the first instance of intercourse. See E. H. Merrill, Deuteronomy (NAC), 302-3.
- Deuteronomy 22:16 tn Heb “hated.” See note on the word “other” in Deut 21:15.
- Deuteronomy 22:17 tn Heb “they will spread the garment.”
- Deuteronomy 22:18 tn Heb “discipline.”
- Deuteronomy 22:19 tn Heb “for he”; the referent (the man who made the accusation) has been specified in the translation to avoid confusion with the young woman’s father, the last-mentioned male.
- Deuteronomy 22:19 tn Heb “brought forth a bad name.”
- Deuteronomy 22:21 tn The Hebrew term נְבָלָה (nevalah) means more than just something stupid. It refers to a moral lapse so serious as to jeopardize the whole covenant community (cf. Gen 34:7; Judg 19:23; 20:6, 10; Jer 29:23). See C. Pan, NIDOTTE 3:11-13. Cf. NAB “she committed a crime against Israel.”
- Deuteronomy 22:21 tn Heb “burn.” See note on Deut 21:21.
- Deuteronomy 22:22 tn Heb “lying down with.” The verb שָׁכַב (shakhav) “to lie down” can be a euphemism for going to bed for sexual relations.
- Deuteronomy 22:22 tn Heb “a woman married to a husband.”
- Deuteronomy 22:22 tn Heb “burn.” See note on the phrase “purge out” in Deut 21:21.
- Deuteronomy 22:23 tn Heb “finds.”
- Deuteronomy 22:23 tn Heb “lies down with,” a euphemism for going to bed for sexual relations.
- Deuteronomy 22:24 tn Heb “humbled.”
- Deuteronomy 22:24 tn Heb “wife.”
- Deuteronomy 22:24 tn Heb “burn.” See note on the phrase “purge out” in Deut 21:21.
- Deuteronomy 22:25 tn Heb “found,” also in vv. 27, 28.
- Deuteronomy 22:25 tn Heb “lay with” here refers to a forced sexual relationship, as the accompanying verb “seized” (חָזַק, khazaq) makes clear.
- Deuteronomy 22:25 tn Heb “the man who lay with her, only him.”
- Deuteronomy 22:26 tn Heb “his neighbor.”
- Deuteronomy 22:27 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the man who attacked the woman) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
- Deuteronomy 22:28 tn The verb תָּפַשׂ (taphas) means “to sieze, grab.” In all other examples this action is done against another person’s will, as in being captured, arrested, attacked, or grabbed with insistence (e.g. 1 Sam 23:26; 1 Kgs 13:4; 18:40; 2 Kgs 14:13; 25:6; Isa 3:6; Jer 26:8; 34:3; 37:13; 52:9; Ps 71:11; 2 Chr 25:23.) So it may be that the man is forcing himself on her, which is what leads the NIV to translate the next verb as “rape,” although it is a neutral euphemism for sexual relations. However, this is the only case where the object of תָּפַשׂ is a woman and the verb also also refers to holding or handling objects such as musical instruments, weapons, or scrolls. So it possible that it has a specialized, but otherwise unattested nuance regarding sexual or romantic relations, as is true of other expressions. Several contextual clues point away from rape and toward a consensual relationship. (1) The verb which seems to express force is different from the verb of force in the rape case in v. 25. (2) The context distinguishes consequences based on whether the girl cried out, an expression of protest and a basis for distinguishing consent or force. But this case law does not mention her outcry which would have clarified a forcible act. While part of what is unique in this case is that the girl is not engaged, it is reasonable to expect the issue of consent to continue to apply. (3) The penalty is less than that of a man who slanders his new wife and certainly less than the sentence for rape. (4) The expression “and they are discovered” at the end of v. 28 uses the same wording as the expression in v. 22 which involves a consensual act. (5) Although from a separate context, the account of the rape of Dinah seems to express the Pentateuch’s negative attitude toward forcible rape, not in advocating for Simeon and Levi’s actions, but in the condemnation included in the line Gen 34:7 “because he has done a disgraceful thing in Israel.” This is very like the indictment in v. 21 against the consenting woman, “because she has done a disgraceful thing in Israel.” (6) The penalty of not being allowed to divorce her sounds like v. 19, where the man is punished for disgracing his wife unfairly. His attempted divorce fails and he must provide for her thereafter (the probable point of not being allowed to divorce her.) Here too, if his holding her is not forced, but instead he has seduced her, he is not allowed to claim that his new wife is not pure (since he is the culprit) and so he must take responsibility for her, cannot divorce her, and must provide for her as a husband thereafter.
- Deuteronomy 22:28 tn Heb “lies with.”
- Deuteronomy 22:30 sn Beginning with 22:30, the verse numbers through 23:25 in the English Bible differ from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 22:30 ET = 23:1 HT, 23:1 ET = 23:2 HT, 23:2 ET = 23:3 HT, etc., through 23:25 ET = 23:26 HT. With 24:1 the verse numbers in the ET and HT are again the same.
- Deuteronomy 22:30 tn Heb “take.” In context this refers to marriage, as in the older English expression “take a wife.”
- Deuteronomy 22:30 sn This presupposes either the death of the father or their divorce since it would be impossible for one to marry his stepmother while his father was still married to her.
- Deuteronomy 22:30 tn Heb “uncover his father’s skirt” (so ASV, NASB). This appears to be a circumlocution for describing the dishonor that would come to a father by having his own son share his wife’s sexuality (cf. NAB, NIV “dishonor his father’s bed”).
Deuteronomy 22:13-30
New Living Translation
Regulations for Sexual Purity
13 “Suppose a man marries a woman, but after sleeping with her, he turns against her 14 and publicly accuses her of shameful conduct, saying, ‘When I married this woman, I discovered she was not a virgin.’ 15 Then the woman’s father and mother must bring the proof of her virginity to the elders as they hold court at the town gate. 16 Her father must say to them, ‘I gave my daughter to this man to be his wife, and now he has turned against her. 17 He has accused her of shameful conduct, saying, “I discovered that your daughter was not a virgin.” But here is the proof of my daughter’s virginity.’ Then they must spread her bed sheet before the elders. 18 The elders must then take the man and punish him. 19 They must also fine him 100 pieces of silver,[a] which he must pay to the woman’s father because he publicly accused a virgin of Israel of shameful conduct. The woman will then remain the man’s wife, and he may never divorce her.
20 “But suppose the man’s accusations are true, and he can show that she was not a virgin. 21 The woman must be taken to the door of her father’s home, and there the men of the town must stone her to death, for she has committed a disgraceful crime in Israel by being promiscuous while living in her parents’ home. In this way, you will purge this evil from among you.
22 “If a man is discovered committing adultery, both he and the woman must die. In this way, you will purge Israel of such evil.
23 “Suppose a man meets a young woman, a virgin who is engaged to be married, and he has sexual intercourse with her. If this happens within a town, 24 you must take both of them to the gates of that town and stone them to death. The woman is guilty because she did not scream for help. The man must die because he violated another man’s wife. In this way, you will purge this evil from among you.
25 “But if the man meets the engaged woman out in the country, and he rapes her, then only the man must die. 26 Do nothing to the young woman; she has committed no crime worthy of death. She is as innocent as a murder victim. 27 Since the man raped her out in the country, it must be assumed that she screamed, but there was no one to rescue her.
28 “Suppose a man has intercourse with a young woman who is a virgin but is not engaged to be married. If they are discovered, 29 he must pay her father fifty pieces of silver.[b] Then he must marry the young woman because he violated her, and he may never divorce her as long as he lives.
30 [c]“A man must not marry his father’s former wife, for this would violate his father.
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