Deuteronomy 22:13–21

Laws Concerning Sexual Purity

¹³“Suppose a man marries a woman and later he decides he doesn’t want her. ¹⁴So he makes up false charges against her, accusing her of not being a virgin when they got married.

¹⁵“If this happens, the woman’s parents are to take the blood-stained wedding sheet that proves she was a virgin, and they are to show it in court to the town leaders. ¹⁶Her father will say to them, ‘I gave my daughter to this man in marriage, and now he doesn’t want her. ¹⁷He has made false charges against her, saying that she was not a virgin when he married her. But here is the proof that my daughter was a virgin; look at the bloodstains on the wedding sheet!’ ^18*Then the town leaders are to take the husband and beat him. ^19*They are also to fine him a hundred pieces of silver and give the money to the woman’s father, because the man has brought disgrace on an Israelite woman. Moreover, she will continue to be his wife, and he can never divorce her as long as he lives.

²⁰“But if the charge is true and there is no proof that she was a virgin, ²¹then they are to take her out to the entrance of her father’s house, where the men of her city are to stone her to death. She has done a shameful thing among our people by having intercourse before she was married, while she was still living in her father’s house. In this way you will get rid of this evil.