Deutéronome 22:15

15 alors le père et la mère de la jeune femme prendront les signes de sa virginité et les produiront devant les anciens de la ville, à la porte.

Deutéronome 22:15 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 22:15

Then shall the father and the mother of the damsel take
Power from the court, according to the Targum of Jonathan; having leave and licence granted them to do what follows, these were to, and would, concern themselves in such an affair, partly for the credit and reputation of their child, and partly for their own honour, who were in danger, as Jarchi observes, of coming into contempt for their ill education of her:

and bring forth the tokens of the damsel's virginity;
the sheet she lay in when she first bedded with her husband, in her parents' possession, and kept by them as a witness of her purity, should there ever be any occasion for it: and which were to be brought

unto the elders of the city in the gate;
which sat in the gate of the city to try causes: the Targum of Jonathan calls it the gate of the sanhedrim, or court of judicature; and, according to Maimonides ^F17, this court was the court of twenty three judges; for this was a capital crime accused of, a cause relating to life and death, which could not be heard and tried in a lesser court.

---

FOOTNOTES:

F17 Hilchot Naarah Betulah, c. 3. sect. 3.

Deutéronome 22:15 In-Context

13 Si un homme, qui a pris une femme et est allé vers elle, éprouve ensuite de l'aversion pour sa personne,

14 s'il lui impute des choses criminelles et porte atteinte à sa réputation, en disant: J'ai pris cette femme, je me suis approché d'elle, et je ne l'ai pas trouvée vierge, -

15 alors le père et la mère de la jeune femme prendront les signes de sa virginité et les produiront devant les anciens de la ville, à la porte.

16 Le père de la jeune femme dira aux anciens: J'ai donné ma fille pour femme à cet homme, et il l'a prise en aversion;

17 il lui impute des choses criminelles, en disant: Je n'ai pas trouvé ta fille vierge. Or voici les signes de virginité de ma fille. Et ils déploieront son vêtement devant les anciens de la ville.