Deuteronomy 22:29

29 then hath the man who is lying with her given to the father of the damsel fifty silverlings, and to him she is for a wife; because that he hath humbled her, he is not able to send her away all his days.

Deuteronomy 22:29 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 22:29

Then the man that lay with her shall give unto the damsel's
father fifty shekels of silver,
&.] For the abuse of his daughter; and besides this was obliged to give her her dowry also, as Philo ^F4 says, which is commonly said to be fifty more:

and she shall be his wife;
if her father and she agreed to it; and in such a case the man was not at his liberty to refuse, be she what she would, agreeable or not, handsome or ugly; he must, as the Jews express it, drink out of his pot, or marry her, if she is lame, or blind, or full of ulcers ^F5:

because he hath humbled her he may not put her away all his days:
to all the other parts of his punishment, paying a fine of fifty shekels to the damsel's father, a dowry of the same sum to her, obligation to marry her whether he likes her or not, this is added, that he is not allowed to divorce her as long as he lives; which was permitted to other men, and this was wisely ordered to preserve chastity.

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FOOTNOTES:

F4 De Special. Leg. p. 787.
F5 Misn. Cetubot, c. 3. sect. 5.

Deuteronomy 22:29 In-Context

27 for in a field he found her, she hath cried -- the damsel who is betrothed -- and she hath no saviour.

28 `When a man findeth a damsel, a virgin who is not betrothed, and hath caught her, and lain with her, and they have been found,

29 then hath the man who is lying with her given to the father of the damsel fifty silverlings, and to him she is for a wife; because that he hath humbled her, he is not able to send her away all his days.

30 `A man doth not take his father's wife, nor uncover his father's skirt.