Deuteronomy 22:20

20 `And if this thing hath been truth -- tokens of virginity have not been found for the damsel --

Deuteronomy 22:20 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 22:20

But if this thing be true
Which the husband of the damsel laid to her charge, that she was no virgin when married to him, and she had committed whoredom, of which there was plain proof:

and the tokens of virginity be not found for the damsel;
by her parents, or those who had the care of her; or no sufficient reason could be assigned for the want of them, through any family defect, or any disorder of her own; which, as Maimonides ^F26 says, the judges were to inquire into.

---

FOOTNOTES:

F26 Hilchot Ishot, c. 11. sect. 12.

Deuteronomy 22:20 In-Context

18 `And the elders of that city have taken the man, and chastise him,

19 and fined him a hundred silverlings, and given to the father of the damsel, because he hath brought out an evil name on a virgin of Israel, and she is to him for a wife, he is not able to send her away all his days.

20 `And if this thing hath been truth -- tokens of virginity have not been found for the damsel --

21 then they have brought out the damsel unto the opening of her father's house, and stoned her have the men of her city with stones, and she hath died, for she hath done folly in Israel, to go a-whoring [in] her father's house; and thou hast put away the evil thing out of thy midst.

22 `When a man is found lying with a woman, married to a husband, then they have died even both of them, the man who is lying with the woman, also the woman; and thou hast put away the evil thing out of Israel.