Deuteronomy 22:17-21

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 out ¹  before the city’s elders. 22:18 The elders of that city must then seize the man and punish ²  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 accusation ³  ruined the reputation ⁴  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 thing ⁵  in Israel by behaving like a prostitute while living in her father’s house. In this way you will purge ⁶  evil from among you.

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¹ tn Heb “they will spread the garment.”

² tn Heb “discipline.”

³ tn Heb “for he”; the referent (the man who made the accusation) has been specified in the translation to avoid confusion with the young woman’s father, the last-mentioned male.

⁴ tn Heb “brought forth a bad name.”

⁵ tn The Hebrew term נְבָלָה (nÿvalah) means more than just something stupid. It refers to a moral lapse so serious as to jeopardize the whole covenant community (cf. Gen 34:7; Judg 19:23; 20:6, 10; Jer 29:23). See C. Pan, NIDOTTE 3:11-13. Cf. NAB “she committed a crime against Israel.”

⁶ tn Heb “burn.” See note on Deut 21:21.