^22:1When you see¹ your neighbor’s² ox or sheep going astray, do not ignore it;³ you must return it without fail⁴ to your neighbor. ^22:2If the owner⁵ does not live⁶ near you or you do not know who the owner is,⁷ then you must corral the animal⁸ at your house and let it stay with you until the owner looks for it; then you must return it to him. ^22:3You shall do the same to his donkey, his clothes, or anything else your neighbor⁹ has lost and you have found; you must not refuse to get involved.¹⁰^22:4When you see¹¹ your neighbor’s donkey or ox fallen along the road, do not ignore it;¹² instead, you must be sure¹³ to help him get the animal on its feet again.¹⁴

^22:5A woman must not wear men’s clothing,¹⁵ nor should a man dress up in women’s clothing, for anyone who does this is offensive¹⁶ to the Lord your God.

^22:6If you happen to notice a bird’s nest along the road, whether in a tree or on the ground, and there are chicks or eggs with the mother bird sitting on them,¹⁷ you must not take the mother from the young.¹⁸^22:7You must be sure¹⁹ to let the mother go, but you may take the young for yourself. Do this so that it may go well with you and you may have a long life.

^22:8If you build a new house, you must construct a guard rail²⁰ around your roof to avoid being culpable²¹ in the event someone should fall from it.

Illustrations of the Principle of Purity

^22:9You must not plant your vineyard with two kinds of seed; otherwise the entire yield, both of the seed you plant and the produce of the vineyard, will be defiled.²²^22:10You must not plow with an ox and a donkey harnessed together. ^22:11You must not wear clothing made with wool and linen meshed together.²³^22:12You shall make yourselves tassels²⁴ for the four corners of the clothing you wear.

Purity in the Marriage Relationship

^22:13Suppose a man marries a woman, has sexual relations with her,²⁵ and then rejects²⁶ her, ^22:14accusing her of impropriety²⁷ and defaming her reputation²⁸ by saying, “I married this woman but when I had sexual relations²⁹ with her I discovered she was not a virgin!” ^22:15Then the father and mother of the young woman must produce the evidence of virginity³⁰ for the elders of the city at the gate. ^22:16The young woman’s father must say to the elders, “I gave my daughter to this man and he has rejected³¹ her. ^22:17Moreover, he has raised accusations of impropriety by saying, ‘I discovered your daughter was not a virgin,’ but this is the evidence of my daughter’s virginity!” The cloth must then be spread out³² before the city’s elders. ^22:18The elders of that city must then seize the man and punish³³ him. ^22:19They will fine him one hundred shekels of silver and give them to the young woman’s father, for the man who made the accusation³⁴ ruined the reputation³⁵ of an Israelite virgin. She will then become his wife and he may never divorce her as long as he lives.

^22:20But if the accusation is true and the young woman was not a virgin, ^22:21the men of her city must bring the young woman to the door of her father’s house and stone her to death, for she has done a disgraceful thing³⁶ in Israel by behaving like a prostitute while living in her father’s house. In this way you will purge³⁷ evil from among you.

^22:22If a man is caught having sexual relations with³⁸ a married woman³⁹ both the man who had relations with the woman and the woman herself must die; in this way you will purge⁴⁰ evil from Israel.

^22:23If a virgin is engaged to a man and another man meets⁴¹ her in the city and has sexual relations with⁴² her, ^22:24you must bring the two of them to the gate of that city and stone them to death, the young woman because she did not cry out though in the city and the man because he violated⁴³ his neighbor’s fiancée;⁴⁴ in this way you will purge⁴⁵ evil from among you. ^22:25But if the man came across⁴⁶ the engaged woman in the field and overpowered her and raped⁴⁷ her, then only the rapist⁴⁸ must die. ^22:26You must not do anything to the young woman—she has done nothing deserving of death. This case is the same as when someone attacks another person⁴⁹ and murders him, ^22:27for the man⁵⁰ met her in the field and the engaged woman cried out, but there was no one to rescue her.

^22:28Suppose a man comes across a virgin who is not engaged and overpowers and rapes⁵¹ her and they are discovered. ^22:29The man who has raped her must pay her father fifty shekels of silver and she must become his wife because he has violated her; he may never divorce her as long as he lives.

^{22:30 (23:1)}⁵² A man may not marry⁵³ his father’s former⁵⁴ wife and in this way dishonor his father.⁵⁵

Read in Logos

Footnotes

1 Heb “you must not see,” but, if translated literally into English, the statement is misleading.
2 Heb “brother’s” (also later in this verse). In this context it is not limited to one’s siblings, however; cf. “your kinsman’s.”
3 Heb “hide yourself.”
4 The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation indicates with the words “without fail.”
5 Heb “your brother” (also later in this verse).
6 Heb “is not.” The idea of “residing” is implied.
7 Heb “and you do not know him.”
8 Heb “it”; the referent (the ox or sheep mentioned in v. 1) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
9 Heb “your brother” (also in v. 4).
10 Heb “you must not hide yourself.”
11 Heb “you must not see.” See note at .
12 Heb “and (must not) hide yourself from them.”
13 The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation indicates with “be sure.”
14 Heb “help him to lift them up.” In keeping with English style the singular is used in the translation, and the referent (“the animal”) has been specified for clarity.
15 Heb “a man’s clothing.”
16 The Hebrew term תּוֹעֵבָה (to’evah, “offense”) speaks of anything that runs counter to ritual or moral order, especially (in the OT) to divine standards. Cross-dressing in this covenant context may suggest homosexuality, fertility cult ritual, or some other forbidden practice.
17 Heb “and the mother sitting upon the chicks or the eggs.”
18 Heb “sons,” used here in a generic sense for offspring.
19 The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation seeks to reflect with “be sure.”
20 Or “a parapet” (so , , ); “a battlement”; “a barrier.”
21 Heb “that you not place bloodshed in your house.”
22 Heb “set apart.” The verb קָדַשׁ (qadash) in the Qal verbal stem (as here) has the idea of being holy or being treated with special care. Some take the meaning as “be off-limits, forfeited,” i.e., the total produce of the vineyard, both crops and grapes, have to be forfeited to the sanctuary (cf. Exod 29:37; 30:29; Lev 6:18, 27; Num 16:37–38; Hag 2:12).
23 The Hebrew term שַׁעַטְנֵז (sha’atnez) occurs only here and in Lev 19:19. takes it to be a contraction of words (שַׁשׁ [shash, “headdress”] + עַטְנַז [’atnaz, “strong”]). 1043 שַׁעַטְנֵז offers the translation “mixed stuff” (cf. “woven with two kinds of yarn”; , , , “woven together”). The general meaning is clear even if the etymology is not.
24 Heb “twisted threads” (גְּדִלִים, gédilim) appears to be synonymous with צִיצִת (tsitsit) which, in Num 15:38, occurs in a passage instructing Israel to remember the covenant. Perhaps that is the purpose of the tassels here as well. Cf. , “fringes”; “twisted cords.”
25 Heb “goes to her,” a Hebrew euphemistic idiom for sexual relations.
26 Heb “hate.” See note on the word “other” in . Cf. “comes to dislike”; “turns against”; “decides he doesn’t want.”
27 Heb “deeds of things”; “makes up charges against her”; “slanders her.”
28 Heb “brings against her a bad name”; “gives her a bad name.”
29 Heb “drew near to her.” This is another Hebrew euphemism for having sexual relations.
30 In light of v. 17 this would evidently be blood-stained sheets indicative of the first instance of intercourse. See E. H. Merrill, Deuteronomy (), .
31 Heb “hated.” See note on the word “other” in .
32 Heb “they will spread the garment.”
33 Heb “discipline.”
34 Heb “for he”; the referent (the man who made the accusation) has been specified in the translation to avoid confusion with the young woman’s father, the last-mentioned male.
35 Heb “brought forth a bad name.”
36 The Hebrew term נְבָלָה (névalah) means more than just something stupid. It refers to a moral lapse so serious as to jeopardize the whole covenant community (cf. Gen 34:7; Judg 19:23; 20:6, 10; Jer 29:23). See C. Pan, 3:. Cf. “she committed a crime against Israel.”
37 Heb “burn.” See note on .
38 Heb “lying with” (so , ), a Hebrew idiom for sexual relations.
39 Heb “a woman married to a husband.”
40 Heb “burn.” See note on the phrase “purge out” in .
41 Heb “finds.”
42 Heb “lies with.”
43 Heb “humbled.”
44 Heb “wife.”
45 Heb “burn.” See note on the phrase “purge out” in .
46 Heb “found,” also in vv. 27, 28.
47 Heb “lay with” here refers to a forced sexual relationship, as the accompanying verb “seized” (חָזַק, khazaq) makes clear.
48 Heb “the man who lay with her, only him.”
49 Heb “his neighbor.”
50 Heb “he”; the referent (the man who attacked the woman) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
51 Heb “lies with.”
52 Beginning with 22:30, the verse numbers through 23:25 in the English Bible differ from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (), with 22:30 = 23:1 , 23:1 = 23:2 , 23:2 = 23:3 , etc., through 23:25 = 23:26 . With 24:1 the verse numbers in the and are again the same.
53 Heb “take.” In context this refers to marriage, as in the older English expression “take a wife.”
54 This presupposes either the death of the father or their divorce since it would be impossible for one to marry his stepmother while his father was still married to her.
55 Heb “uncover his father’s skirt” (so , ). This appears to be a circumlocution for describing the dishonor that would come to a father by having his own son share his wife’s sexuality (cf. , “dishonor his father’s bed”).