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Deuteronomy 22

KJV · Chapter 22/34

1Thou shalt not see thy brother’s ox or his sheep go astray, and hide thyself from them: thou shalt in any case bring them again unto thy brother.

2And if thy brother be not nigh unto thee, or if thou know him not, then thou shalt bring it unto thine own house, and it shall be with thee until thy brother seek after it, and thou shalt restore it to him again.

3In like manner shalt thou do with his ass; and so shalt thou do with his raiment; and with all lost thing of thy brother’s, which he hath lost, and thou hast found, shalt thou do likewise: thou mayest not hide thyself.

4Thou shalt not see thy brother’s ass or his ox fall down by the way, and hide thyself from them: thou shalt surely help him to lift them up again.

5The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman’s garment: for all that do so are abomination unto the Lord thy God.

6If a bird’s nest chance to be before thee in the way in any tree, or on the ground, whether they be young ones, or eggs, and the dam sitting upon the young, or upon the eggs, thou shalt not take the dam with the young:

7But thou shalt in any wise let the dam go, and take the young to thee; that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days.

8When thou buildest a new house, then thou shalt make a battlement for thy roof, that thou bring not blood upon thine house, if any man fall from thence.

9Thou shalt not sow thy vineyard with divers seeds: lest the fruit of thy seed which thou hast sown, and the fruit of thy vineyard, be defiled.

10Thou shalt not plow with an ox and an ass together.

11Thou shalt not wear a garment of divers sorts, as of woollen and linen together.

12Thou shalt make thee fringes upon the four quarters of thy vesture, wherewith thou coverest thyself.

13If any man take a wife, and go in unto her, and hate her,

14And give occasions of speech against her, and bring up an evil name upon her, and say, I took this woman, and when I came to her, I found her not a maid:

15Then shall the father of the damsel, and her mother, take and bring forth the tokens of the damsel’s virginity unto the elders of the city in the gate:

16And the damsel’s father shall say unto the elders, I gave my daughter unto this man to wife, and he hateth her;

17And, lo, he hath given occasions of speech against her, saying, I found not thy daughter a maid; and yet these are the tokens of my daughter’s virginity. And they shall spread the cloth before the elders of the city.

18And the elders of that city shall take that man and chastise him;

19And they shall amerce him in an hundred shekels of silver, and give them unto the father of the damsel, because he hath brought up an evil name upon a virgin of Israel: and she shall be his wife; he may not put her away all his days.

20But if this thing be true, and the tokens of virginity be not found for the damsel:

21Then they shall bring out the damsel to the door of her father’s house, and the men of her city shall stone her with stones that she die: because she hath wrought folly in Israel, to play the whore in her father’s house: so shalt thou put evil away from among you.

22If a man be found lying with a woman married to an husband, then they shall both of them die, both the man that lay with the woman, and the woman: so shalt thou put away evil from Israel.

23If a damsel that is a virgin be betrothed unto an husband, and a man find her in the city, and lie with her;

24Then ye shall bring them both out unto the gate of that city, and ye shall stone them with stones that they die; the damsel, because she cried not, being in the city; and the man, because he hath humbled his neighbour’s wife: so thou shalt put away evil from among you.

25But if a man find a betrothed damsel in the field, and the man force her, and lie with her: then the man only that lay with her shall die:

26But unto the damsel thou shalt do nothing; there is in the damsel no sin worthy of death: for as when a man riseth against his neighbour, and slayeth him, even so is this matter:

27For he found her in the field, and the betrothed damsel cried, and there was none to save her.

28If a man find a damsel that is a virgin, which is not betrothed, and lay hold on her, and lie with her, and they be found;

29Then the man that lay with her shall give unto the damsel’s father fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife; because he hath humbled her, he may not put her away all his days.

30A man shall not take his father’s wife, nor discover his father’s skirt.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

A varied collection of practical laws: returning lost animals to one's neighbor, a prohibition against cross-dressing between genders, protection of bird nests, safety parapets on rooftops, a prohibition against mixtures (seeds, fabrics), the wearing of fringes on garments, and various laws about chastity and marital faithfulness.

Explanation

The obligation to return lost animals, even those belonging to a stranger, and the requirement of parapets on rooftops (used as gathering spaces in the region's climate) show a practical concern for a neighbor's safety and well-being as a concrete expression of love, not merely an abstract ideal. The laws against forbidden mixtures (different seeds in the same field, mixed fabrics) are generally understood as visible symbols of a created order that Israel was to respect and reflect, avoiding the confusion of categories in daily life as a reflection of its distinct identity as a people set apart for God. The laws about virginity and adultery, though they reflect the harsh standards of an ancient patriarchal society, also include notable protections, such as the presumption of innocence for a woman who cried out for help in the countryside, even with no witnesses available to confirm it.

Fun facts

  • The law against taking 'the dam with the young' when finding a bird's nest (v. 6-7), preserving the mother bird so she could continue to reproduce, is often cited as one of the earliest biblical principles of sustainable conservation of natural resources.
  • The 'fringes upon the four quarters' of the garment (v. 12) is the same instruction given in Numbers 15:38, and represents the same commandment repeated — a constant visual reminder of God's commandments, still practiced today through the Jewish tzitzit.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Deuteronomy 22:1It forbids pretending not to see a neighbor’s stray animal: the duty is to bring it back, not to ignore someone else’s problem.
  2. Deuteronomy 22:2If the owner lived far away or was unknown, the animal was to be kept at home until it was claimed.
  3. Deuteronomy 22:3It extends the same rule to any lost item — clothing or any belonging — reinforcing that pretending not to see is not an option.
  4. Deuteronomy 22:4It also forbids ignoring a neighbor’s animal fallen on the road: the command is to help lift it up.
  5. Deuteronomy 22:5It forbids cross-dressing between the sexes, treating it as an abomination — likely tied to Canaanite rituals that involved this practice.
  6. Deuteronomy 22:6On finding a nest, the law commands letting the mother go and taking only the young or the eggs — a rare commandment aimed at sparing a wild animal, tied to the same idea of not exhausting the land’s resources.
  7. Deuteronomy 22:7In sparing the mother bird, the promise is the same one given to those who honor father and mother: long life and well-being.
  8. Deuteronomy 22:8The required parapet on the roof, where people spent a good part of the day since roofs were flat, is a practical safety law: if someone fell for lack of it, the guilt of bloodshed would fall on the owner of the house.
  9. Deuteronomy 22:9It forbids mixing two kinds of seed in the same vineyard, so that the whole harvest would not be considered defiled.
  10. Deuteronomy 22:10It forbids plowing with an ox and a donkey yoked together, likely because they are animals of different strength and temperament.
  11. Deuteronomy 22:11It forbids mixing wool and linen in the same garment — another rule of separation without a fully clear reason, still discussed by scholars today.
  12. Deuteronomy 22:12It commands putting fringes on the four corners of the cloak worn, a custom that also appears in other legal texts.
  13. Deuteronomy 22:13When a husband accused his wife of not being a virgin at marriage, her parents could display “the tokens of virginity” — a cloth with evidence from the wedding night — before the elders to disprove the false charge. If the accusation was confirmed true, the penalty for the woman was death, which shows the extreme weight placed on family honor in that society.
  14. Deuteronomy 22:14It describes the serious accusation a husband could bring against his newly married wife: publicly claiming she was not a virgin.
  15. Deuteronomy 22:15Faced with the accusation, the girl’s parents were to present the physical evidence of her virginity to the elders.
  16. Deuteronomy 22:16The father would formally present the case to the elders, stating that the husband had rejected his daughter unjustly.
  17. Deuteronomy 22:17It details the presentation of the evidence: the wedding cloth would be spread out before the elders of the city as proof.
  18. Deuteronomy 22:18Once the accusation was proven false, the elders were to punish the husband for the slander he had raised.
  19. Deuteronomy 22:19The punishment included a heavy fine in silver, paid to the girl’s father, along with a lifelong ban on ever divorcing her.
  20. Deuteronomy 22:20It provides for the opposite scenario: if the husband’s accusation was proven true.
  21. Deuteronomy 22:21In that case, the penalty for the girl would be stoning, for having lied about her own virginity within her father’s house.
  22. Deuteronomy 22:22It establishes the death penalty for both parties involved in proven adultery with a married woman.
  23. Deuteronomy 22:23The difference in penalty between rape in the city and in the countryside hinges on one thing only: whether the woman could have cried out for help and been heard. In the countryside, where no one would hear, she is considered innocent by default; in the city, it is presumed she would have cried out if it were against her will.
  24. Deuteronomy 22:24In the case of relations with a betrothed girl within the city, both would be put to death — she for not crying out for help, he for dishonoring another man’s betrothed.
  25. Deuteronomy 22:25But if the same case happened in the countryside, far from any possible help, only the man would be punished with death.
  26. Deuteronomy 22:26The girl would be considered innocent in that case, compared to someone who suffered an attack through no fault of her own.
  27. Deuteronomy 22:27It justifies the difference in treatment: in the countryside, even if she cried out, there would have been no one to save her.
  28. Deuteronomy 22:28When a man forced a virgin girl who was not engaged to anyone, the law required him to pay her father and marry her forever, with no right to divorce afterward. By modern standards it’s a shocking solution, but within that society it worked as a way to guarantee support for the woman, whose chances of marriage were otherwise compromised by what happened.
  29. Deuteronomy 22:29For the case of relations with an unengaged virgin, the penalty was financial: paying her father and taking on the marriage with no right to divorce.
  30. Deuteronomy 22:30It closes the chapter by forbidding relations with one’s father’s wife, preserving the honor of the family.

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