Deuteronomy 22:18

18 The elders will punish the man.

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 woman's father will speak to the elders. He'll say, "I gave my daughter to this man to be his wife. But he doesn't like her.

17 So now he has told lies about her. He has said, 'I discovered that your daughter wasn't a virgin.' But here's the proof that my daughter was a virgin." Then her parents will show the elders of the town the cloth that has her blood on it.

18 The elders will punish the man.

19 They'll make him weigh out two and a half pounds of silver. They'll give it to the woman's father. That's because the man has said an Israelite virgin is a bad woman. She will continue to be his wife. He must not divorce her as long as he lives.

20 But suppose the charge is true. And there isn't any proof that the woman was a virgin.