Deuteronomy 22:17-27

17 and behold, he charges her with things for scandalous talk, saying, I found not thy daughter a virgin; and here are the tokens of my daughter's virginity. And they shall spread the cloth before the elders of the city.

18 And the elders of that city shall take the man and chastise him;

19 and they shall fine him a hundred shekels of silver, and give them unto the father of the damsel, because he hath caused an evil name to be spread abroad against a virgin in Israel. And she shall remain his wife: he may not put her away all his days.

20 But if this thing is true, [and] virginity hath not been found with the damsel;

21 then they shall bring out the damsel unto the entrance of her father's house, and the men of her city shall stone her with stones that she die: because she hath wrought infamy in Israel, committing fornication in her father's house; and thou shalt put evil away from thy midst.

22 If a man be found lying with a man's wife, they shall both of them die, the man that lay with the woman, and the woman; and thou shalt put away evil from Israel.

23 If a damsel, a virgin, be betrothed to some one, and a man find her in the city, and lie with her,

24 then ye shall bring them both out unto the gate of that city, and stone them with stones that they die; the damsel, because she cried not, [being] in the city, and the man, because he hath humbled his neighbour's wife; and thou shalt put evil away from thy midst.

25 But if a man find a betrothed damsel in the field, and the man force her, and lie with her, then the man only that lay with her shall die;

26 and unto the damsel thou shalt do nothing: there is in the damsel no sin worthy of death; for as when a man riseth against his neighbour, and murdereth him, so is this matter;

27 for he found her in the field, the betrothed damsel cried, and there was no one to save her.

Deuteronomy 22:17-27 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

• [a]. Lit. 'be.'