Deuteronomy 22:8-18

8 When thou buildest a new house, thou shalt make a parapet for thy roof, that thou bring not blood upon thy house, if any one should in any wise fall from it.
9 Thou shalt not sow thy vineyard with [seed of] two sorts, lest the whole of thy seed which thou hast sown, and the produce of thy vineyard, be forfeited.
10 Thou shalt not plough with an ox and an ass together.
11 Thou shalt not wear a garment of mixed material, [woven] of wool and linen together.
12 Tassels shalt thou make thee on the four corners of thy clothing, wherewith thou coverest thyself.
13 If a man take a wife, and go in unto her and hate her,
14 and charge her with things for scandalous talk, and cause an evil name against her to be spread abroad, and say, This woman have I taken, and I came in unto her, and I did not find her a virgin;
15 then shall the father of the damsel, and her mother, take and bring forth the tokens of the damsel's virginity unto the elders of the city in the gate;
16 and the damsel's father shall say unto the elders, I gave my daughter unto this man as wife, and he hates her;
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;

Deuteronomy 22:8-18 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 3

  • [a]. Lit. 'hallowed,' or 'set apart to God,' i.e. appropriated to the sanctuary as a forfeit.
  • [b]. Lit. 'covering.'
  • [c]. Lit. 'virginity in her.'
The Darby Translation is in the public domain.