Deuteronomy 22:10-20

10 Thou shalt not plough with an ox and an ass together.
11 Thou shalt not wear a mingled , woollen and linen together.
12 Thou shalt make fringes on the four borders of thy garments, with which soever thou mayest be clothed.
13 And if any one should take a wife, and dwell with her, and hate her,
14 and attach to her reproachful words, and bring against her an evil name, and say, I took this woman, and when I came to her I found not her tokens of virginity:
15 then the father and the mother of the damsel shall take and bring out the damsel's tokens of virginity to the elders of the city to the gate.
16 And the father of the damsel shall say to the elders, I gave this my daughter to this man for a wife;
17 and now he has hated her, and attaches reproachful words to her, saying, I have not found tokens of virginity with thy daughter; and these the tokens of my daughter's virginity. And they shall unfold the garment before the elders of the city.
18 And the elders of that city shall take that man, and shall chastise him,
19 and shall fine him a hundred shekels, and shall give to the father of the damsel, because he has brought forth an evil name against a virgin of Israel; and she shall be his wife: he shall never be able to put her away.
20 But if this report be true, and the tokens of virginity be not found for the damsel;

Deuteronomy 22:10-20 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.

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. false or adulterated or drossy.

The Brenton translation of the Septuagint is in the public domain.