Add parallel Print Page Options

Purity in the Marriage Relationship

13 Suppose a man marries a woman, sleeps with her,[a] and then rejects[b] her, 14 accusing her of impropriety[c] and defaming her reputation[d] by saying, “I married this woman but when I approached her for marital relations[e] I discovered she was not a virgin!” 15 Then the father and mother of the young woman must produce the evidence of virginity[f] for the elders of the city at the gate.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 22:13 tn Heb “goes to her,” a Hebrew euphemistic idiom for sexual relations. See note at Deut 21:13.
  2. Deuteronomy 22:13 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. Deuteronomy 22:14 tn Heb “deeds of things”; NRSV “makes up charges against her”; NIV “slanders her.”
  4. Deuteronomy 22:14 tn Heb “brings against her a bad name”; NIV “gives her a bad name.”
  5. Deuteronomy 22:14 tn The expression קָרַב אֶל (qarav ʾel) means “draw near to” or “approach,” but is also used as a euphemism for the intended purpose of sexual relations.
  6. Deuteronomy 22:15 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.