Deuteronomy 22:1-12

Various Laws

1 "You 1shall not see your brother's ox or his sheep going astray and ignore them. You shall take them back to your brother.
2 And if he does not live near you and you do not know who he is, you shall bring it home to your house, and it shall stay with you until your brother seeks it. Then you shall restore it to him.
3 And you shall do the same with his donkey or with his garment, or with any lost thing of your brother's, which he loses and you find; you may not ignore it.
4 2You shall not see your brother's donkey or his ox fallen down by the way and ignore them. You shall help him to lift them up again.
5 "A woman shall not wear a man's garment, nor shall a man put on a woman's cloak, 3for whoever does these things is an abomination to the LORD your God.
6 "If you come across a bird's nest in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs and the mother sitting on the young or on the eggs, 4you shall not take the mother with the young.
7 You shall let the mother go, but the young you may take for yourself, 5that it may go well with you, and that you may live long.
8 "When you build a new house, you shall make a parapet for your roof, that you may not bring the guilt of blood upon your house, if anyone should fall from it.
9 6"You shall not sow your vineyard with two kinds of seed, lest the whole yield be forfeited,[a] the crop that you have sown and the yield of the vineyard.
10 You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together.
11 You shall not wear cloth of wool and linen mixed together.
12 7"You shall make yourself tassels on the four corners of the garment with which you cover yourself.

Deuteronomy 22:1-12 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 7

  • 1. Exodus 23:4
  • 2. Exodus 23:5
  • 3. [Deuteronomy 18:12; Deuteronomy 25:16]
  • 4. Leviticus 22:28
  • 5. See Deuteronomy 4:40
  • 6. Leviticus 19:19
  • 7. Numbers 15:38; [Matthew 23:5]

Footnotes 1

The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.