Deuteronomy 22

Translator Notes

1. The verb hit'allamta ('hide yourself, look the other way') condemns willful indifference to a neighbor's loss. The infinitive absolute hashev teshivem ('returning you shall return them') intensifies the obligation — this is not optional neighborliness but a covenant duty. The term 'brother' (achikha) extends beyond blood relatives to any fellow Israelite, establishing mutual care as a communal norm.

Translator Notes

1. The law extends to situations where the owner is unknown or distant. The finder must actively care for the lost animal — asafto el tokh beitekha ('gather it into your house') — bearing the cost of feeding and sheltering it. The obligation persists ad drosh achikha oto ('until your brother seeks it') — indefinitely, until the owner claims it. This creates a positive duty of stewardship over another's property.

Translator Notes

1. The law expands from livestock to any lost property: donkey, garment, and lekhol avedat achikha ('every lost thing of your brother'). The universal scope means there is no item too small or inconvenient to return. The closing phrase lo tukhal lehit'allem ('you cannot hide yourself, you may not ignore it') makes indifference itself a violation — seeing and doing nothing is morally equivalent to causing the loss.

Translator Notes

1. Beyond returning lost animals, this law requires active assistance when an animal collapses under its load. The infinitive absolute haqem taqim ('raising you must raise') intensifies the command — you must absolutely help. The parallel in Exodus 23:5 extends this duty even to the donkey of your enemy, making it clear that the obligation transcends personal relationships.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. The term keli gever ('man's equipment/articles') is broader than clothing — keli can mean tools, weapons, or any characteristically male implements. The prohibition is reciprocal: women wearing male items and men wearing female clothing. The label to'avat YHWH ('detestable to the LORD') places this among the most seriously condemned behaviors in Deuteronomy. The precise rationale is debated: proposals include opposition to Canaanite cult practices involving cross-dressing, maintenance of created order distinctions, or prevention of deceptive identity.

Translator Notes

1. The phrase ki yiqqare ('if it happens to be found' — if you chance upon) indicates a spontaneous encounter, not deliberate hunting. The law covers both efrokhim ('chicks') and betsim ('eggs'), and whether the nest is in a tree or on the ground. The prohibition lo tiqqach ha'em al habbanim ('do not take the mother upon the young') protects the breeding female — taking mother and offspring together eliminates future reproduction.

Translator Notes

1. The infinitive absolute shalle'ach teshalach ('sending you must send away') makes the release of the mother bird mandatory. The reward formula — lema'an yitav lakh veha'arakhta yamim ('so that it goes well with you and you prolong your days') — is the same promise attached to honoring parents (5:16). Only two commandments carry this specific reward, and rabbinic tradition noted the connection: if such a seemingly minor commandment brings long life, how much more the weightier ones?

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. The ma'aqeh ('parapet, railing') is a safety barrier on flat rooftops, which in ancient Israel served as living space, sleeping areas, and work surfaces. The legal principle is remarkable: the builder is held liable for preventable accidents. The phrase lo tasim damim beveitekha ('do not put blood-guilt on your house') treats negligence as morally equivalent to causing death. This is one of the earliest building safety codes in recorded law.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. The kil'ayim ('mixed kinds') prohibition forbids planting different crops in the same vineyard. The consequence pen tiqdash ('lest it become holy/set apart') is counterintuitive: the mixed crop becomes qadosh — sacred, and therefore forbidden for ordinary use. The verb qadhash here means 'become forfeit to the sanctuary,' effectively making the entire harvest unusable. Mixing categories produces something that belongs to neither and must be surrendered entirely.

Translator Notes

1. Yoking different species (shor vachamor — ox and donkey) is prohibited because they differ in size, strength, and gait, causing the weaker animal to suffer. The law may also reflect the broader kil'ayim principle of maintaining created distinctions. Paul applies this metaphorically in 2 Corinthians 6:14 ('Do not be unequally yoked').

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. Sha'atnez is a technical term for the forbidden mixture of wool and linen in a single garment. The prohibition parallels Leviticus 19:19. Notably, the priestly garments did combine wool and linen (Exodus 28), suggesting that what is forbidden for ordinary use is reserved for sacred service — the prohibition maintains the distinction between common and holy.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. The gedilim ('twisted cords, tassels') correspond to the tsitsit of Numbers 15:38-39, where their purpose is stated: to remind Israel of God's commandments. Placement on the arba kanfot ('four corners') of the outer garment makes them visible during daily life. The garment is the kesut ('covering, wrap-around cloak') — the standard outer garment of an Israelite.

Translator Notes

1. The verb usne'ah ('and he hates her') marks the husband's rejection after consummation. The sequence — marriage, intimacy, hostility — establishes the context for a false accusation of premarital unchastity. This law section (vv 13-21) protects women from being discarded through false charges.

Translator Notes

1. The husband's accusation involves three escalating actions: sam lah alilot devarim ('he placed against her fabricated charges'), hotsi aleiha shem ra ('he brought out against her a bad name' — public defamation), and a specific claim about missing betulim ('virginity evidence'). The term alilot devarim implies deliberate fabrication — trumped-up charges designed to justify divorce and avoid returning the bride-price.

Translator Notes

1. Both parents (avi hanna'arah ve'immah — 'the young woman's father and her mother') act to defend their daughter — the mother's role is explicitly included. The betulei hanna'arah ('evidence of the young woman's virginity') likely refers to the stained bedsheet from the wedding night, a custom attested across the ancient Near East and still practiced in some cultures. The elders at the gate serve as the judicial body.

Translator Notes

1. The father speaks as the family's legal representative. His statement establishes the facts: a valid marriage was contracted (natatti et bitti la'ish hazzeh le'ishah — 'I gave my daughter to this man as a wife') and the husband has rejected her (vayyisna'eha — 'and he hated her'). The father's testimony sets up the defense.

Translator Notes

1. The father quotes the husband's accusation and presents counter-evidence. The verb ufarsu ('they shall spread out') describes publicly displaying the hassimlah ('the cloth, the garment') — the wedding-night bedsheet — before the judicial assembly. The physical evidence serves as a public refutation of the husband's claim.

Translator Notes

1. The verb veyisseru ('they shall discipline') likely refers to corporal punishment — flogging — as the penalty for false accusation. The elders act as both judge and enforcer. The husband's public lie against his wife is treated as a serious offense against both her and the community.

Translator Notes

1. Three penalties: physical discipline (v 18), a financial penalty of me'ah kasef ('one hundred silver shekels' — double the standard bride-price of fifty shekels), and permanent marriage without the right of divorce (lo yukhal leshallchah kol yamav — 'he cannot send her away all his days'). The fine goes to the father as compensation for the public shame. The irrevocable marriage protects the woman from being abandoned after being publicly accused.

Translator Notes

1. The conditional reversal: im emet hayah haddavar hazzeh ('if this matter was true'). The absence of evidence (lo nimtse'u vetulim — 'virginity evidence was not found') shifts the case from false accusation to proven charge. The gravity of the consequence that follows (v 21) must be understood within the context of betrothal as a binding covenant agreement.

Translator Notes

1. The execution takes place at petach bet aviha ('the entrance of her father's house'), associating the crime with the household that should have prevented it. The charge is nevalah beYisra'el ('a disgraceful act in Israel') — nevalah denotes something scandalously out of bounds, a violation of community norms so severe it shames the entire people. The phrase liznot bet aviha ('to act promiscuously in her father's house') specifies the offense: premarital sexual activity while under her father's legal protection.

Translator Notes

1. Adultery with a married woman (ishah be'ulat ba'al — 'a woman mastered by a husband,' that is, a married woman) carries the death penalty for both parties. The phrase gam shneihem ('both of them together') insists on equal punishment — the man is not less guilty than the woman. This reflects the covenant understanding of marriage: adultery violates the marriage covenant and defiles the community.

Translator Notes

1. The case involves a betrothed virgin (na'arah vetulah me'orasah le'ish — 'a young woman, a virgin, betrothed to a man'). Betrothal in Israelite law was a legally binding contract — the betrothed woman had the legal status of a wife even before the marriage was consummated. Sexual contact with her therefore constituted adultery.

Translator Notes

1. The urban setting matters: in a city, help was available. The young woman's failure to cry out (lo tsa'aqah va'ir — 'she did not cry out in the city') is treated as evidence of consent. The man's guilt is stated as asher innah et eshet re'ehu ('because he violated his neighbor's wife') — using 'wife' for a betrothed woman, confirming that betrothal equals marriage in legal status. The contrasting rural case (v 25) addresses situations where crying out would not have brought help.

Translator Notes

1. The field setting (bassadeh — 'in the open field') changes the legal calculus entirely. The verb hecheziq bah ('he seized her, he overpowered her') indicates force — this is not consensual. Only the man dies (levaddo — 'alone, by himself'). The law distinguishes between urban consent (where crying out would bring help) and rural assault (where no help was available).

Translator Notes

1. The law explicitly exonerates the victim: ein lanna'arah chet mavet ('there is no capital sin in the young woman'). The analogy to murder (ka'asher yaqum ish al re'ehu uretsacho nefesh — 'as when a man rises against his neighbor and murders him') is a legal comparison: just as a murder victim is not complicit in their own death, so the rape victim bears no guilt. This is one of the earliest legal protections for victims of sexual assault.

Translator Notes

1. The reasoning is stated: bassadeh metsa'ah ('he found her in the field') — the isolated location explains both the assault and the inability to get help. The phrase ve'ein moshi'a lah ('and there was no rescuer for her') uses the same verb (yasha — 'save, deliver') that describes God's salvation. The absence of a human deliverer establishes the woman's helplessness and therefore her innocence.

Translator Notes

1. The third case: an unbetrothed virgin (na'arah vetulah asher lo orasah). The verb utfasah ('he seizes her') indicates force or coercion. The phrase venimtsa'u ('and they are discovered') means the act becomes publicly known — the discovery triggers the legal process. Since she is not betrothed, no marriage covenant has been violated, so the penalty differs from the previous cases.

Translator Notes

1. The penalties: chamishim kasef ('fifty silver shekels') paid to the father as bride-price, mandatory marriage (velo tihyeh le'ishah — 'she must become his wife'), and permanent marriage without divorce rights (lo yukhal shallchah kol yamav — 'he cannot send her away all his days'). The payment compensates the father for the loss of bride-price; the irrevocable marriage protects the woman from abandonment. The parallel in Exodus 22:16-17 adds that the father may refuse the marriage, suggesting the woman's family retains veto power.