Deuteronomy 22:8-18

8 When thou shall build a new house, then thou shalt make a parapet for thy roof that thou not bring blood upon thine house if anyone should fall from there.

9 Thou shalt not sow thy vineyard with mixture lest the fullness of thy seed which thou hast sown and the fruit of thy vineyard be defiled.

10 Thou shalt not plow with an ox and an ass together.

11 Thou shalt not wear a garment of mixture, as of woolen and linen together.

12 Thou shalt make thee fringes upon the four quarters of thy covering with which thou dost cover thyself.

13 When any man takes a wife and after having gone in unto her, hates her

14 and gives occasions of speech against her and brings up an evil name upon her and says, I took this woman, and when I came to her, I found her not 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 to wife, and he hates her;

17 and, behold, he has given occasions of speech against her, saying, I found not thy daughter a virgin; and yet these are the tokens of my daughter’s virginity. And they shall spread the cloth before the elders of the city.

18 Then the elders of that city shall take that 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.