Deuteronomy 22:23

23 If a damsel, a virgin, be betrothed to some one, and a man find her in the city, and lie with her,

Deuteronomy 22:23 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 22:23

If a damsel that is a virgin be betrothed unto an husband,
&c.] But not married, not as yet brought home to her husband's house, and the marriage consummated; for the Jews distinguish between being betrothed or espoused, and married; and generally there was some time between the one and the other. And a wife was obtained in this way by three things; by money, which was the most usual; and by writing, which was to be done before witnesses, and with her consent; and by copulation, which, though valid, was not so much approved of ^F1. There is a whole treatise in the Misnah, called Kiddushin, or Espousals, which largely treats of this matter:

and a man find her in the city, and lie with her;
with her consent, as might be presumed by her not crying out, when, had she, she might have been heard, being in a city; and her being there also makes against her, since, being betrothed to a man, she ought to have abode in her father's house till her husband fetched her home, and not to have gadded abroad in the city, where she was exposed to temptation.

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FOOTNOTES:

F1 Misn. Kiddushin, c. 1. sect. 1.

Deuteronomy 22:23 In-Context

21 then they shall bring out the damsel unto the entrance of her father's house, and the men of her city shall stone her with stones that she die: because she hath wrought infamy in Israel, committing fornication in her father's house; and thou shalt put evil away from thy midst.

22 If a man be found lying with a man's wife, they shall both of them die, the man that lay with the woman, and the woman; and thou shalt put away evil from Israel.

23 If a damsel, a virgin, be betrothed to some one, and a man find her in the city, and lie with her,

24 then ye shall bring them both out unto the gate of that city, and stone them with stones that they die; the damsel, because she cried not, [being] in the city, and the man, because he hath humbled his neighbour's wife; and thou shalt put evil away from thy midst.

25 But if a man find a betrothed damsel in the field, and the man force her, and lie with her, then the man only that lay with her shall die;