Deuteronomy 22:18

18 and the leaders must take the man and punish him.

Deuteronomy 22:18 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 22:18

And the elders of that city shall take the man, and chastise
him.
] Not with words, but blows. Jarchi interprets it of beating, and so does the Talmud ^F24; and both the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan render it,

``shall beat him;''

that is, with the beating or scourging of forty stripes, save one.

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FOOTNOTES:

F24 T. Bab. Cetubot, fol. 46. 1.

Deuteronomy 22:18 In-Context

16 The girl's father will say to the leaders, "I gave my daughter to this man to be his wife, but now he does not want her.

17 This man has told lies about my daughter. He has said, 'I did not find your daughter to be a virgin,' but here is the proof that my daughter was a virgin." Then her parents are to show the sheet to the city leaders,

18 and the leaders must take the man and punish him.

19 They must make him pay about two and one-half pounds of silver to the girl's father, because the man has given an Israelite virgin a bad name. The girl will continue to be the man's wife, and he may not divorce her as long as he lives.

20 But if the things the husband said about his wife are true, and there is no proof that she was a virgin,