Deuteronomy 22:20

20 But if the thing is true, that the tokens of virginity were not found in the young woman,

Deuteronomy 22:20 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 22:20

But if this thing be true
Which the husband of the damsel laid to her charge, that she was no virgin when married to him, and she had committed whoredom, of which there was plain proof:

and the tokens of virginity be not found for the damsel;
by her parents, or those who had the care of her; or no sufficient reason could be assigned for the want of them, through any family defect, or any disorder of her own; which, as Maimonides ^F26 says, the judges were to inquire into.

---

FOOTNOTES:

F26 Hilchot Ishot, c. 11. sect. 12.

Deuteronomy 22:20 In-Context

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

19 and they shall fine him a hundred shekels of silver, and give them to the father of the young woman, because he has brought 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 the thing is true, that the tokens of virginity were not found in the young woman,

21 then they shall bring out the young woman to the door of her father's house, and the men of her city shall stone her to death with stones, because she has wrought folly in Israel by playing the harlot in her father's house; so you shall purge the evil from the midst of you.

22 "If a man is found lying with the wife of another man, both of them shall die, the man who lay with the woman, and the woman; so you shall purge the evil from Israel.