Deuteronomy 21:22

22 If someone guilty of a capital offense is put to death and their body is exposed on a pole,

Deuteronomy 21:22 in Other Translations

King James Version (KJV)
22 And if a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be to be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree:
English Standard Version (ESV)
22 "And if a man has committed a crime punishable by death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree,
New Living Translation (NLT)
22 “If someone has committed a crime worthy of death and is executed and hung on a tree,
The Message Bible (MSG)
22 When a man has committed a capital crime, been given the death sentence, executed and hung from a tree,
American Standard Version (ASV)
22 And if a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree;
GOD'S WORD Translation (GW)
22 When a convicted person is put to death,
Holman Christian Standard Bible (CSB)
22 "If anyone is found guilty of an offense deserving the death penalty and is executed, and you hang his body on a tree,
New International Reader's Version (NIRV)
22 Suppose a man is put to death for a crime that is worthy of death. And a pole is stuck through his body and set up where people can see it.

Deuteronomy 21:22 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 21:22

And if a man have committed a sin worthy of death
This before mentioned, or any other that deserves death, any kind of death, as strangling, killing with the sword, burning and stoning, to which the Jews restrain it here:

and he be to be put to death, and thou hang him, on a tree;
is condemned to stoning, and after that they hang him, as the Targum of Jonathan; and according to the Jewish Rabbins, as Jarchi observes, all that were stoned were to be hanged, and only men, not women F7; for it is remarked that it is said "him" and not "her" F8: about this there is a dispute in the Misnah F9;

``all that are stoned are hanged, they are the words of R. Eliezer; but the wise men say none are to be hanged but the blasphemer and idolater; a man is to be hanged with his face to the people, a woman with her face to the tree, they are the words of R. Eliezer; but the wise men say, a man is to be hanged, but no woman, to whom R. Eliezer replied, did not Simeon Ben Shetach hang women in Ashkelon? they answered him, he hung eighty women (at once), but they do not judge or condemn two in one day;''

so that this was a particular case at a particular time, and not be drawn into an example: in the same place it is asked,

``how they hang one? they fix a beam in the earth, and a piece of wood goes out of it (near the top of it, as one of the commentator F11 remarks), and join his two hands together and hang him;''

that is, by his hand, not by his neck, as with us, but rather in the crucifixion; only in that the hands are spread, and one hand is fastened to one part of the cross beam, and the other to the other end.


FOOTNOTES:

F7 Misn. Sotah, c. 3. sect. 8.
F8 Maimon. & Bartenora in. ib.
F9 Misn. Sanhedrin, c. 6. sect. 4.
F11 Bartenora in Misn. Sanhedrin, c. 6. sect. 4.

Deuteronomy 21:22 In-Context

20 They shall say to the elders, “This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey us. He is a glutton and a drunkard.”
21 Then all the men of his town are to stone him to death. You must purge the evil from among you. All Israel will hear of it and be afraid.
22 If someone guilty of a capital offense is put to death and their body is exposed on a pole,
23 you must not leave the body hanging on the pole overnight. Be sure to bury it that same day, because anyone who is hung on a pole is under God’s curse. You must not desecrate the land the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance.

Cross References 1

  • 1. Deuteronomy 22:26; Matthew 26:66; Mark 14:64; Acts 23:29
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