Deuteronomy 21:12-22

12 then you shall bring her home to your house, and she shall 1shave her head and trim her nails.
13 "She shall also remove the clothes of her captivity and shall remain in your house, and 2mourn her father and mother a full month; and after that you may go in to her and be her husband and she shall be your wife.
14 "It shall be, if you are not pleased with her, then you shall let her go wherever she wishes; but you shall certainly not sell her for money, you shall not mistreat her, because * you have 3humbled her.
15 "If a man has two wives, the one loved and 4the other unloved, and both the loved and the unloved have borne him sons, if the firstborn son belongs to the unloved,
16 then it shall be in the day he wills what he has to his sons, he cannot * make the son of the loved the firstborn before * the son of the unloved, who is the firstborn.
17 "But he shall acknowledge the firstborn, the son of the unloved, by giving him a double portion of all that he has, for he is the 5beginning of his strength; 6to him belongs the right of the firstborn.
18 "If any man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will 7not obey * his father or his mother, and when they chastise him, he will not even listen to them,
19 then his father and mother shall seize him, and bring him out to the elders of his city at the gateway of his hometown.
20 "They shall say to the elders of his city, 'This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey * us, he is a glutton and a drunkard.'
21 "8Then all the men of his city shall stone him to death; so 9you shall remove the evil from your midst, and 10all Israel will hear of it and fear.
22 "If a man has committed a sin 11worthy of death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree,

Deuteronomy 21:12-22 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO DEUTERONOMY 21

This chapter treats of the beheading of the heifer, for the expiation of unknown murder, and the rules to be observed in it, De 21:1-9 of a beautiful captive woman an Israelite is desirous of having for his wife, and what methods he must take to accomplish it, De 21:10-14, of giving the double portion to the firstborn, which he must not be deprived of in favour of the son of a beloved wife, De 21:15-17 and of the stubborn and rebellious son, who remaining so must be put to death, De 21:18-21 and of burying a person hanged on a tree the same day he is executed, De 21:22,23.

Cross References 11

  • 1. Leviticus 14:8, 9; Numbers 6:9
  • 2. Psalms 45:10
  • 3. Genesis 34:2
  • 4. Genesis 29:33
  • 5. Genesis 49:3
  • 6. Genesis 25:31
  • 7. Exodus 20:12; Leviticus 19:3; Proverbs 1:8; Ephesians 6:1-3
  • 8. Leviticus 20:2, 27; Leviticus 24:14-23; Numbers 15:25, 36
  • 9. Deuteronomy 19:19
  • 10. Deuteronomy 13:11
  • 11. Deuteronomy 22:26; Matthew 26:66; Mark 14:64; Acts 23:29

Footnotes 12

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