Deuteronomy 22:25

Deu 22:25 But 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:

Ver. 25. And the man force her, and lie with her.] It was a speech of Charles V, emperor, If that impure fellow, Farnesius, who being the Pope’s general, had forced many fair ladies, were here present, I would kill him with mine own hand. Nec vocem iracundiorem unquam ex Carolo auditam ferunt. {a} Never was he heard to speak so angrily. The Lacedemonian commonwealth was utterly ruined by a rape committed on the two daughters of Scedasus at Leuctra.

{a} Parei, Hist. Prof. Medulla.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Verse 25. And the man force her] A rape also, by these ancient institutions, was punished with death, because a woman's honour was considered equally as precious as her life; therefore the same punishment was inflicted on the ravisher as upon the murderer. This offence is considered in the same point of view in the British laws, and by them also it is punished with death.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

25. But if in the field the man find, etc.] So the emphatic Heb. order. Field here in its wider and probably earlier sense, of the uncultivated, therefore uninhabited, land. So Deu_22:27, Deu_21:1.

force] Rather, seize, lay hold of, as in Deu_25:11.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

But unto the damsel thou shalt do nothing,.... Neither fine her, nor beat her, and much less punish her with death:

there is in the damsel no sin worthy of death; because what was done to her was done without her will and consent, and was what she was forced to submit unto; but the Targum of Jonathan adds, that the man to whom she was betrothed might dismiss her from himself by a bill of divorce:

for as when a man riseth against his neighbour, and slayeth him, even so is this matter; as when a man comes unawares upon another, and lays hold on him, and kills him, being stronger than he, and none to help; so is the case of a woman laid hold on by a man in a field, and ravished by him, where no help could be had; and depriving a woman of her chastity is like taking away a man's life; from this passage Maimonides (c) concludes, that impurities, incests, and adulteries, are equal to murder, to capital cases relating to life and death.

(c) Hilchot Yesode Hattorah, c. 5. sect. 10.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Hold. Septuagint, "offering violence," as also [in] ver. 28. (Haydock) --- Die. Moses supposes that the woman in the field had made all possible resistance, and that the one in the city had, by silence at least, consented. But if the case were otherwise, the judges were to make all necessary inquiries, and pass sentence accordingly. (Calmet)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

The man force her; which was to be examined and determined by the consideration of all the circumstances.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

the engaged girl

This means a girl whose parents have agreed to let her marry a certain man, but the girl has not married him yet.

then only the man who sleeps with her must die

"then you must only kill the man who slept with her"

there is no sin worthy of death in the girl

"you are not to punish her by killing her for what she did"

For this case is like when a man attacks his neighbor and kills him

"Because this situation is like the situation when somebody attacks another person and kills him"

For he found her in the field

"Because the man found the girl working in the field"

translationWords

seize

sin

die

neighbor

save

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.