Discovery BoxDeuteronomy 22:13-19 
Context22:13 Suppose a man marries a woman, has sexual relations with her, 1 and then rejects 2 her, 22:14 accusing her of impropriety 3 and defaming her reputation 4 by saying, “I married this woman but when I had sexual relations 5 with her I discovered she was not a virgin!” 22:15 Then the father and mother of the young woman must produce the evidence of virginity 6 for the elders of the city at the gate. 22:16 The young woman’s father must say to the elders, “I gave my daughter to this man and he has rejected 7 her. 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 8 before the city’s elders. 22:18 The elders of that city must then seize the man and punish 9 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 10 ruined the reputation 11 of an Israelite virgin. She will then become his wife and he may never divorce her as long as he lives.
1 tn Heb “goes to her,” a Hebrew euphemistic idiom for sexual relations.
2 tn Heb “hate.” See note on the word “other” in Deut 21:15. Cf. NAB “comes to dislike”; NASB “turns against”; TEV “decides he doesn’t want.”
3 tn Heb “deeds of things”; NRSV “makes up charges against her”; NIV “slanders her.”
4 tn Heb “brings against her a bad name”; NIV “gives her a bad name.”
5 tn Heb “drew near to her.” This is another Hebrew euphemism for having sexual relations.
6 sn In light of v. 17 this would evidently be blood-stained sheets indicative of the first instance of intercourse. See E. H. Merrill, Deuteronomy (NAC), 302-3.
7 tn Heb “hated.” See note on the word “other” in Deut 21:15.
8 tn Heb “they will spread the garment.”
9 tn Heb “discipline.”
10 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.
11 tn Heb “brought forth a bad name.”
