Deuteronomy 22:11-21

11 Thou shalt not be clothed in a cloth, which is woven together of wool and of flax. (Thou shalt not be clothed in a cloak, which is woven with wool and flax together.)
12 Thou shalt make little cords by four corners in the hems of thy mantle, with which thou art covered. (Thou shalt put tassels on the four corners of the hem of thy mantle, with which thou art covered.)
13 If a man weddeth a wife, and afterward hateth her,
14 and seeketh occasions by which he may leave her, and he putteth against her the worst name, and saith, I have taken this wife, and I have entered to her, and I found not her a virgin (and I did not find her a virgin);
15 (then) the father and mother of her shall take her, and they shall bear with them the tokens of her virginity to the elder men of the city, that be in the gate (who be at the gate);
16 and her father shall say, I gave my daughter (for a) wife to this man, and for (that) he hateth her,
17 he putteth to her the worst name, that he saith, I found not thy daughter a virgin (he hath put on her the worst name, for he saith, I did not find thy daughter to be a virgin); and lo! these be the tokens of the virginity of my daughter; (and) they shall spread forth a cloth before the elder men of the city.
18 And the elder men of that city shall take the man, and shall beat him,
19 and furthermore they shall condemn him in an hundred shekels of silver, which he shall give to the father of the damsel, for he defamed her by the worst name that may be upon a virgin of Israel; and he shall have her to wife, and he shall not be able to forsake her, in all his lifetime. (and furthermore they shall fine him a hundred shekels of silver, which he shall give to the young woman's father, for he defamed her with the worst name that can be put on a virgin of Israel; and he shall have her for his wife, and he shall not be able to divorce her, all the days of his life.)
20 That if it is found sooth, that (that) he putteth against her, and virginity is not found in the damsel, (But if what he hath put against her is found to be true, and no proof of the young woman's virginity is found,)
21 they shall cast her out of her father's gates; and men of that city shall oppress her with stones, and she shall die, for she did [an] unleaveful thing in Israel, that she did lechery in her father's house; and so thou shalt do away evil from the midst of thee. (then they shall bring her to the door of her father's house; and men of that city shall kill her with stones, and she shall die, for she did an unlawful thing in Israel, she did lechery in her father's house; and so thou shalt do away evil from the midst of thee.)

Deuteronomy 22:11-21 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.

Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.