Deuteronomy 22:20

20 But if the thing is true, and evidences of virginity are not found for the young woman,

Deuteronomy 22:20 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 22:20

But if this thing be true
Which the husband of the damsel laid to her charge, that she was no virgin when married to him, and she had committed whoredom, of which there was plain proof:

and the tokens of virginity be not found for the damsel;
by her parents, or those who had the care of her; or no sufficient reason could be assigned for the want of them, through any family defect, or any disorder of her own; which, as Maimonides ^F26 says, the judges were to inquire into.

---

FOOTNOTES:

F26 Hilchot Ishot, c. 11. sect. 12.

Deuteronomy 22:20 In-Context

18 Then the elders of that city shall take that man and punish him;

19 and they shall fine him one hundred shekels of silver and give them to the father of the young woman, because he has brought a bad name on a virgin of Israel. And she shall be his wife; he cannot divorce her all his days.

20 But if the thing is true, and evidences of virginity are not found for the young woman,

21 then they shall bring out the young woman to the door of her father's house, and the men of her city shall stone her to death with stones, because she has done a disgraceful thing in Israel, to play the harlot in her father's house. So you shall put away the evil from among you.

22 "If a man is found lying with a woman married to a husband, then both of them shall die--the man that lay with the woman, and the woman; so you shall put away the evil from Israel.