Deuteronomy · 30 verses
Deuteronomy 22
Every verse links to the people and places named in it, and to the passages readers connect it with.
The chapter
What happens here
Atlas's own reading, written from this chapter and nothing else, and published only once a person has approved it. Each scene names the verses it covers; the names inside it link to the people and places they name.
A husband who comes to hate his wife may accuse her of shameful conduct, only to meet her parents at the city gate with a cloth spread before the elders as proof.
Lost things, fallen beasts, and rather particular mixturesvv. 1–12
The chapter begins with the practical business of finding a brother’s wandering ox, sheep, donkey, cloak, or anything else he has lost. If the owner is unknown or far away, the finder keeps the animal at home until its owner comes; if an ox or donkey has fallen on the road, the duty is to help lift it. Then the rules become gloriously exact: clothing is divided by sex, a mother bird must be released while her chicks or eggs may be taken, a roof must have a railing, vineyards must not mix seeds, ox and donkey must not plow together, wool and linen must not be woven together, and tassels belong on the four corners of the cloak. The roof railing sits among the birds, vineyards, yoked animals, and textiles like a perfectly respectable piece of building work that has wandered into a very serious list.
The cloth at the city gatevv. 13–21
A man marries a woman, has relations with her, comes to hate her, and gives her a bad name by saying that she was not a virgin. Her father and mother bring the proof of her virginity to the city elders at the gate, and spread out the cloth before them. If the accusation is false, the elders punish the man, fine him a hundred shekels of silver for giving a virgin of Israel a bad name, and leave him married to her for life. If the accusation is true and no proof can be found, the young woman is brought to the door of her father’s house, where the men of her city stone her. The cloth, meanwhile, has been asked to carry an astonishing amount of legal drama.
City, field, and the distinctions between themvv. 22–30
The remaining cases turn on where an encounter occurs and whether the woman cries out. A man found lying with another man’s wife dies with the woman. A virgin pledged in marriage who is encountered in the city dies with the man, but in the open country only the man dies, because there was no one to save her when she cried out. A virgin not pledged in marriage brings a fifty-shekel payment to her father and a lifelong marriage for the man who seized her. The chapter ends with a prohibition on marrying a father’s wife, lest the father’s marriage bed be dishonored. The city gate, the field, the father’s house, and the marriage bed have all had their separate moments.
The text
Read it
Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.
Deut 22:1If you see your brother’s ox or sheep straying, you must not ignore it; be sure to return it to your brother.
Deut 22:2If your brother does not live near you, or if you do not know who he is, you are to take the animal home to remain with you until your brother comes seeking it; then you can return it to him.
Deut 22:3And you shall do the same for his donkey, his cloak, or anything your brother has lost and you have found. You must not ignore it.
Deut 22:4If you see your brother’s donkey or ox fallen on the road, you must not ignore it; you must help him lift it up.
Deut 22:5A woman must not wear men’s clothing, and a man must not wear women’s clothing, for whoever does these things is detestable to the LORD your God.
Deut 22:6If you come across a bird’s nest with chicks or eggs, either in a tree or on the ground along the road, and the mother is sitting on the chicks or eggs, you must not take the mother along with the young.
Deut 22:7You may take the young, but be sure to let the mother go, so that it may be well with you and that you may prolong your days.
Deut 22:8If you build a new house, you are to construct a railing around your roof, so that you do not bring bloodguilt on your house if someone falls from it.
Deut 22:9Do not plant your vineyard with two types of seed; if you do, the entire harvest will be defiled—both the crop you plant and the fruit of your vineyard.
Deut 22:10Do not plow with an ox and a donkey yoked together.
Deut 22:11Do not wear clothes of wool and linen woven together.
Deut 22:12You are to make tassels on the four corners of the cloak you wear.
Deut 22:13Suppose a man marries a woman, has relations with her, and comes to hate her,
Deut 22:14and 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.”
Deut 22:15Then the young woman’s father and mother shall bring the proof of her virginity to the city elders at the gate
Deut 22:16and say to the elders, “I gave my daughter in marriage to this man, but he has come to hate her.
Deut 22:17And 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.
Deut 22:18Then the elders of that city shall take the man and punish him.
Deut 22:19They 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.
Deut 22:20If, however, this accusation is true, and no proof of the young woman’s virginity can be found,
Deut 22:21she 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.
Deut 22:22If 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.
Deut 22:23If there is a virgin pledged in marriage to a man, and another man encounters her in the city and sleeps with her,
Deut 22:24you 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.
Deut 22:25But 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.
Deut 22:26Do 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.
Deut 22:27When he found her in the field, the betrothed woman cried out, but there was no one to save her.
Deut 22:28If a man encounters a virgin who is not pledged in marriage, and he seizes her and lies with her, and they are discovered,
Deut 22:29then 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.
Deut 22:30A man is not to marry his father’s wife, so that he will not dishonor his father’s marriage bed.
02 — Read alongside
Where this is echoed
Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 122 passages were voted onto 25 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.
- 51 Corinthians 11:4–15Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head.
- 5Deuteronomy 18:12For whoever does these things is detestable to the LORD. And because of these detestable things, the LORD your God is driving out the nations before you.
- 28Exodus 22:16–17If a man seduces a virgin who is not pledged in marriage and sleeps with her, he must pay the full dowry for her to be his wife.
- 9Leviticus 19:19You are to keep My statutes. You shall not crossbreed two different kinds of livestock; you shall not sow your fields with two kinds of seed; and you shall not wear clothing made of two kinds of material.
- 6Leviticus 22:28But you must not slaughter an ox or a sheep on the same day as its young.
- 102 Corinthians 6:14–16Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership can righteousness have with wickedness? Or what fellowship does light have with darkness?
- 12Matthew 23:5All their deeds are done for men to see. They broaden their phylacteries and lengthen their tassels.
- 22Leviticus 20:10If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife—with the wife of his neighbor—both the adulterer and the adulteress must surely be put to death.
- 30Deuteronomy 27:20‘Cursed is he who sleeps with his father’s wife, for he has violated his father’s marriage bed.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’
- 21Genesis 34:7When Jacob’s sons heard what had happened, they returned from the field. They were filled with grief and fury, because Shechem had committed an outrage in Israel by lying with Jacob’s daughter—a thing that should not be done.
- 21Deuteronomy 13:5Such a prophet or dreamer must be put to death, because he has advocated rebellion against the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery; he has tried to turn you from the way in which the LORD your God has commanded you to walk. So you must purge the evil from among you.
- 29Deuteronomy 22:19They 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.
- 30Leviticus 18:8You must not have sexual relations with your father’s wife; it would dishonor your father.
- 301 Corinthians 5:1It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is intolerable even among pagans: A man has his father’s wife.
- 7Deuteronomy 4:40Keep His statutes and commandments, which I am giving you today, so that you and your children after you may prosper, and that you may live long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you for all time.
- 30Leviticus 20:11If a man lies with his father’s wife, he has uncovered his father’s nakedness. Both must surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.
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