Deuteronomy 22:13-30

How do the sexual-offense cases distinguish false accusation, adultery, and assault?

Berean Standard Bible

13 Suppose a man marries a woman, has relations with her, and comes to hate her, 14 and he then accuses her of shameful conduct and gives her a bad name, saying, “I married this woman and had relations with her, but I discovered she was not a virgin.” 15 Then the young woman’s father and mother shall bring the proof of her virginity to the city elders at the gate 16 and say to the elders, “I gave my daughter in marriage to this man, but he has come to hate her. 17 And now he has accused her of shameful conduct, saying, ‘I discovered that your daughter was not a virgin.’ But here is the proof of her virginity.” And they shall spread out the cloth before the city elders. 18 Then the elders of that city shall take the man and punish him. 19 They are also to fine him a hundred shekels of silver and give them to the young woman’s father, because this man has given a virgin of Israel a bad name. And she shall remain his wife; he must not divorce her as long as he lives. 20 If, however, this accusation is true, and no proof of the young woman’s virginity can be found, 21 she shall be brought to the door of her father’s house, and there the men of her city will stone her to death. For she has committed an outrage in Israel by being promiscuous in her father’s house. So you must purge the evil from among you. 22 If a man is found lying with another man’s wife, both the man who slept with her and the woman must die. You must purge the evil from Israel. 23 If there is a virgin pledged in marriage to a man, and another man encounters her in the city and sleeps with her, 24 you must take both of them out to the gate of that city and stone them to death—the young woman because she did not cry out in the city, and the man because he has violated his neighbor’s wife. So you must purge the evil from among you. 25 But if the man encounters a betrothed woman in the open country, and he overpowers her and lies with her, only the man who has done this must die. 26 Do nothing to the young woman, because she has committed no sin worthy of death. This case is just like one in which a man attacks his neighbor and murders him. 27 When he found her in the field, the betrothed woman cried out, but there was no one to save her. 28 If a man encounters a virgin who is not pledged in marriage, and he seizes her and lies with her, and they are discovered, 29 then the man who lay with her must pay the young woman’s father fifty shekels of silver, and she must become his wife because he has violated her. He must not divorce her as long as he lives. 30 A man is not to marry his father’s wife, so that he will not dishonor his father’s marriage bed.

What is the context?

The first case concerns a husband who accuses his wife of not having been a virgin. Her parents present the prescribed evidence before the elders. If his accusation is false he is punished, fined, and barred from divorcing her; if the stated charge is true, the law prescribes death. The following cases also give severe penalties for adultery and sexual relations involving a betrothed woman.

The field-assault case expressly places guilt on the attacker alone and compares the attack to murder: the woman has committed no sin deserving death. The city case treats the absence of a cry as part of its stated legal circumstances. Those ancient case descriptions should not be turned into a universal rule that silence proves consent.

The case of an unbetrothed woman then says the man seizes her and violates her, pays her father, and must marry her without a right to divorce her. That difficult requirement should be stated plainly; this verse does not itself describe her choice. The section ends by forbidding marriage to one’s father’s wife.

How is this passage commonly understood?

The USCCB notes understand the earlier cloth as bloodstained wedding evidence, while Wesley acknowledges disagreement over what establishes the accusation’s falsity. This ancient procedure must not be treated as a modern medical test: the World Health Organization’s 2018 statement explains that physical examinations cannot establish a history of vaginal intercourse.

Wesley adds the father’s consent to the final marriage case. Maimonides, Virgin Maiden 1:3, explicitly gives an assaulted woman as well as her father the right to refuse marriage; the offender must still pay. This is a traditional Jewish interpretation of the law, not wording to insert into the BSB quotation. Neither the ancient penalties nor the payment should be presented as permission to assault someone or force a victim into a present marriage.

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