Deuteronomy 22

1 Thou shalt not see thy brother’s ox or his sheep go astray and hide thyself from them; thou shalt in any case bring them again unto thy brother.

2 And even if thy brother is not kin unto thee, or if thou know him not, then thou shalt bring it unto thine own house, and it shall be with thee until thy brother seeks after it, and thou shalt restore it to him again.

3 In like manner shalt thou do with his ass, and so shalt thou do with his clothing; and with any lost thing of thy brother’s, which he has lost, and thou hast found, shalt thou do likewise; thou may not draw back from this.

4 Thou shalt not see thy brother’s ass or his ox fallen down by the way and hide thyself from them; thou shalt surely help him to lift them up again.

5 The woman shall not wear that which pertains unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman’s garment; for all that do so are abomination unto the LORD thy God.

6 If a bird’s nest is encountered before thee in the way in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs, and the mother sitting upon the young or upon the eggs, thou shalt not take the mother with the young.

7 But thou shalt let the mother go and take the young for thyself, that it may be well with thee and that thou may prolong thy days.

8 When thou shall build a new house, then thou shalt make a parapet for thy roof that thou not bring blood upon thine house if anyone should fall from there.

9 Thou shalt not sow thy vineyard with mixture lest the fullness of thy seed which thou hast sown and the fruit of thy vineyard be defiled.

10 Thou shalt not plow with an ox and an ass together.

11 Thou shalt not wear a garment of mixture, as of woolen and linen together.

12 Thou shalt make thee fringes upon the four quarters of thy covering with which thou dost cover thyself.

13 When any man takes a wife and after having gone in unto her, hates her

14 and gives occasions of speech against her and brings up an evil name upon her and says, I took this woman, and when I came to her, I found her not a virgin,

15 then shall the father of the damsel and her mother take and bring forth the tokens of the damsel’s virginity unto the elders of the city in the gate.

16 And the damsel’s father shall say unto the elders, I gave my daughter unto this man to wife, and he hates her;

17 and, behold, he has given occasions of speech against her, saying, I found not thy daughter a virgin; and yet these are the tokens of my daughter’s virginity. And they shall spread the cloth before the elders of the city.

18 Then the elders of that city shall take that man and chastise him;

19 and they shall fine him one hundred shekels of silver and give them unto the father of the damsel because he has brought up an evil name upon a virgin of Israel; and she shall be his wife; he may not put her away all his days.

20 But if this thing is true and the tokens of virginity are not found for the damsel,

21 then they shall bring out the damsel to the door of her father’s house, and the men of her city shall stone her with stones, and she shall die because she has wrought folly in Israel, to fornicate in her father’s house; so shalt thou put evil away from among you.

22 If a man is found lying with a woman married to a husband, then they shall both of them die, both the man that lay with the woman and the woman; so shalt thou put away evil from Israel.

23 When a damsel that is a virgin is betrothed unto a husband and a man finds her in the city and lies with her,

24 then ye shall bring them both out unto the gate of that city, and ye shall stone them with stones, and they shall die; the damsel because she did not cry out, being in the city, and the man because he has humbled his neighbour’s wife; so thou shalt put away evil from among you.

25 But if the man found a betrothed damsel in the field and the man forced her and lay with her; then only the man that lay with her shall die;

26 but unto the damsel thou shalt do nothing; there is in the damsel no sin worthy of death; for as when a man rises against his neighbour and murders him, even so is this matter.

27 For he found her in the field and the betrothed damsel cried out, and there was no one to save her.

28 When a man finds a damsel that is a virgin who is not betrothed and lays hold on her and lies with her, and they are found,

29 then the man that lay with her shall give unto the damsel’s father fifty shekels of silver and she shall be his wife; because he has humbled her, he may not put her away all his days.

30 A man shall not take his father’s wife, nor uncover his father’s skirt.

Deuteronomy 22 Commentary

Chapter 22

Of humanity towards brethren. (1-4) Various precepts. (5-12) Against impurity. (13-30)

Verses 1-4 If we duly regard the golden rule of "doing to others as we would they should do unto us," many particular precepts might be omitted. We can have no property in any thing that we find. Religion teaches us to be neighbourly, and to be ready to do all good offices to all men. We know not how soon we may have occasion for help.

Verses 5-12 God's providence extends itself to the smallest affairs, and his precepts do so, that even in them we may be in the fear of the Lord, as we are under his eye and care. Yet the tendency of these laws, which seem little, is such, that being found among the things of God's law, they are to be accounted great things. If we would prove ourselves to be God's people, we must have respect to his will and to his glory, and not to the vain fashions of the world. Even in putting on our garments, as in eating or in drinking, all must be done with a serious regard to preserve our own and others' purity in heart and actions. Our eye should be single, our heart simple, and our behaviour all of a piece.

Verses 13-30 These and the like regulations might be needful then, and yet it is not necessary that we should curiously examine respecting them. The laws relate to the seventh commandment, laying a restraint upon fleshly lusts which war against the soul.

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO DEUTERONOMY 22

In this chapter are various laws, concerning care of a neighbour's cattle gone astray or in distress, and of anything lost by him, De 22:1-4, forbidding one sex to wear the apparel, of another, De 22:5 and the taking away of the dam with the young found in a bird's nest, De 22:6,7, ordering battlements to be made in a new house, De 22:8, prohibiting mixtures in sowing, ploughing, and in garments, De 22:9-11, requiring fringes on the four quarters of a garment, De 22:12, fining a man that slanders his wife, upon producing the tokens of her virginity, De 22:13-19 but if these cannot be produced, then orders are given that she be put to death, De 22:20-21, then follow other laws, punishing with death the adulterer and adulteress, and one that hath ravished a betrothed damsel, De 22:22-27, amercing a person that lies with a virgin not betrothed and she consenting, and obliging him to marry her, and not suffering him to divorce her, De 22:28-29 and another against a man's lying with his father's wife, De 22:30.