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Deuteronomy 22:15

in Deuteronomy 22

Then the young woman’s father and mother shall bring the proof of her virginity to the city elders at the gate

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

then shall the father of the damsel, and her mother, take and bring forth the tokens of the damsel’s virginity unto the elders of the city in the gate;

KJV

Then shall the father of the damsel, and her mother, take and bring forth the tokens of the damsel’s virginity unto the elders of the city in the gate:

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This verse in Deuteronomy 22

Commentary

5 notes on this verse

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

Tokens of the damsel’s virginity - This was a perfectly possible case in all places where girls were married at ten, twelve, and fourteen years of age, which is frequent in the East. I have known several instances of persons having had two or three children at separate births before they were fourteen years of age. Such tokens, therefore, as the text speaks of, must be infallibly exhibited by females so very young on the consummation of their marriage.

This site's exposition

Suppose a man marries a woman

on Deuteronomy 22:13-21

Her parents answer the husband's charge by bringing proof to the elders at the gate. The case is public, and the burden falls first on the accuser. If the charge fails he is fined a hundred shekels and may never divorce her.

This site's exposition

bring the proof of her virginity

Wesley notes that the learned differ over what the proof of virginity was, and that the people under this law knew it well. Clarke explains the custom from brides given in marriage at ten to fourteen years old. The young woman's father and mother kept the proof.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

Then shall the father and the mother of the damsel take,....

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

If a man take a wife, &c.--The regulations that follow might be imperatively needful in the then situation of the Israelites; and yet, it is not necessary that we should curiously and impertinently inquire into them.

The words behind it

12 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וְלָקַ֛חand he will take

    velakachH3947 →966 times

  • אֲבִ֥י[the] father of

    ʾaviH1 →1212 times

  • הַֽנַּעֲרָ֖הthe young woman

    hanaarH5291 →63 times

  • וְאִמָּ֑הּand mother her

    veimahH517 →220 times

  • וְהוֹצִ֜יאוּand they will bring forth

    vehotziuH3318 →1067 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • בְּתוּלֵ֧י[the] virginiti<es> of

    betuleiH1331 →10 times

  • הַֽנַּעֲרָ֛הthe young woman

    hanaarH5291 →63 times

  • אֶל־to

    ʾel-H413 →5510 times

  • זִקְנֵ֥י[the] elders of

    zikneiH2205 →178 times

  • הָעִ֖ירthe city

    hairH5892 →1090 times

  • הַשָּֽׁעְרָה׃the gate towards

    hashaerahH8179 →374 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Where this verse is studied

About Deuteronomy

Moses Viewing the Promised Land, Frederic Edwin Church, 1846. Public domain.
Moses Viewing the Promised Land, Frederic Edwin Church, 1846. Public domain.
Deuteronomy: the study guide →Read Deuteronomy 22 →

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in Deuteronomy 22 →