Purity in the Marriage Relationship

22:13 Suppose a man marries a woman, has sexual relations with her,25 and then rejects26 her, 22:14 accusing 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!” 22:15 Then the father and mother of the young woman must produce the evidence of virginity30 for the elders of the city at the gate. 22:16 The young woman’s father must say to the elders, “I gave my daughter to this man and he has rejected31 her. 22:17 Moreover, 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. 22:18 The elders of that city must then seize the man and punish33 him. 22:19 They 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.

22:20 But if the accusation is true and the young woman was not a virgin, 22:21 the 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.

22:22 If 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.

22:23 If a virgin is engaged to a man and another man meets41 her in the city and has sexual relations with42 her, 22:24 you 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. 22:25 But if the man came across46 the engaged woman in the field and overpowered her and raped47 her, then only the rapist48 must die. 22:26 You 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, 22:27 for the man50 met her in the field and the engaged woman cried out, but there was no one to rescue her.

22:28 Suppose a man comes across a virgin who is not engaged and overpowers and rapes51 her and they are discovered. 22:29 The 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