Deuteronomy 22:26

26 nothing is to be done to the woman, because she has not committed a sin worthy of death. This case is the same as when one man attacks another man and murders him.

Deuteronomy 22:26 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 22:26

But unto the damsel thou shalt do nothing
Neither fine her, nor beat her, and much less punish her with death:

there is in the damsel no sin worthy of death;
because what was done to her was done without her will and consent, and was what she was forced to submit unto; but the Targum of Jonathan adds, that the man to whom she was betrothed might dismiss her from himself by a bill of divorce:

for as when a man riseth against his neighbour, and slayeth him, even
so is this matter;
as when a man comes unawares upon another, and lays hold on him, and kills him, being stronger than he, and none to help; so is the case of a woman laid hold on by a man in a field, and ravished by him, where no help could be had; and depriving a woman of her chastity is like taking away a man's life; from this passage Maimonides ^F3 concludes, that impurities, incests, and adulteries, are equal to murder, to capital cases relating to life and death.

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FOOTNOTES:

F3 Hilchot Yesode Hattorah, c. 5. sect. 10.

Deuteronomy 22:26 In-Context

24 You are to take them outside the town and stone them to death. She is to die because she did not cry out for help, although she was in a town, where she could have been heard. And the man is to die because he had intercourse with someone who was engaged. In this way you will get rid of this evil.

25 "Suppose a man out in the countryside rapes a young woman who is engaged to someone else. Then only the man is to be put to death;

26 nothing is to be done to the woman, because she has not committed a sin worthy of death. This case is the same as when one man attacks another man and murders him.

27 The man raped the engaged woman in the countryside, and although she cried for help, there was no one to help her.

28 "Suppose a man is caught raping a young woman who is not engaged.