Deuteronomy 22:18-24

18 "So 1the elders of that city shall take the man and chastise him,
19 and they shall fine him a hundred shekels of silver and give it to the girl's father, because he publicly defamed * a virgin of Israel. And she shall remain his wife; he cannot * divorce her all his days.
20 "But if this 2charge is true, that the girl was not found a virgin,
21 then they shall bring out the girl to the doorway of her father's house, and the men of her city shall stone her to death because she has 3committed an act of folly in Israel by playing the harlot in her father's house; thus 4you shall purge the evil from among you.
22 "5If a man is found lying with a married * woman, then both * of them shall die, the man who lay with the woman, and the woman; thus you shall purge the evil from Israel.
23 "6If there is a girl who is a virgin engaged to a man, and another man finds her in the city and lies with her,
24 then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city and you shall stone them to death; the girl, because * * she did not cry out in the city, and the man, because * * he has violated his neighbor's wife. Thus you shall purge the evil from among you.

Deuteronomy 22:18-24 Meaning and Commentary

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.

Cross References 6

  • 1. Exodus 18:21; Deuteronomy 1:9-18
  • 2. Deuteronomy 17:4
  • 3. Genesis 34:7; Leviticus 19:29; Leviticus 21:9; Deuteronomy 23:17, 18; Judges 20:5-10; 2 Samuel 13:12, 13
  • 4. Deuteronomy 13:5; Deuteronomy 17:7; Deuteronomy 19:19
  • 5. Leviticus 20:10; Ezekiel 16:38; Matthew 5:27, 28; John 8:5; 1 Corinthians 6:9; Hebrews 13:4
  • 6. Leviticus 19:20-22; Matthew 1:18, 19

Footnotes 5

  • [a]. Lit "caused an evil name to go out against a virgin"
  • [b]. Lit "send her away"
  • [c]. Lit "matter"
  • [d]. Lit "with stones so that she dies"
  • [e]. Lit "with stones so that they die"
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