Deuteronomy 22:5-15

5 A woman must not wear men's clothes, and a man must not wear women's clothes. The Lord your God hates anyone who does that.

6 If you find a bird's nest by the road, either in a tree or on the ground, and the mother bird is sitting on the young birds or eggs, do not take the mother bird with the young birds.

7 You may take the young birds, but you must let the mother bird go free. Then things will go well for you, and you will live a long time.

8 When you build a new house, build a low wall around the edge of the roofn so you will not be guilty if someone falls off the roof.

9 Don't plant two different kinds of seeds in your vineyard. Otherwise, both crops will be ruined.

10 Don't plow with an ox and a donkey tied together.

11 Don't wear clothes made of wool and linen woven together.

12 Tie several pieces of thread together; then put these tassels on the four corners of your coat.

13 If a man marries a girl and has sexual relations with her but then decides he does not like her,

14 he might talk badly about her and give her a bad name. He might say, "I married this woman, but when I had sexual relations with her, I did not find that she was a virgin."

15 Then the girl's parents must bring proof that she was a virgin to the older leaders at the city gate.

Deuteronomy 22:5-15 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO DEUTERONOMY 22

In this chapter are various laws, concerning care of a neighbour's cattle gone astray or in distress, and of anything lost by him, De 22:1-4, forbidding one sex to wear the apparel, of another, De 22:5 and the taking away of the dam with the young found in a bird's nest, De 22:6,7, ordering battlements to be made in a new house, De 22:8, prohibiting mixtures in sowing, ploughing, and in garments, De 22:9-11, requiring fringes on the four quarters of a garment, De 22:12, fining a man that slanders his wife, upon producing the tokens of her virginity, De 22:13-19 but if these cannot be produced, then orders are given that she be put to death, De 22:20-21, then follow other laws, punishing with death the adulterer and adulteress, and one that hath ravished a betrothed damsel, De 22:22-27, amercing a person that lies with a virgin not betrothed and she consenting, and obliging him to marry her, and not suffering him to divorce her, De 22:28-29 and another against a man's lying with his father's wife, De 22:30.