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Deuteronomy 25:12

in Deuteronomy 25

you are to cut off her hand. You must show her no pity.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

then thou shalt cut off her hand, thine eye shall have no pity.

KJV

Then thou shalt cut off her hand, thine eye shall not pity her.

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This verse in Deuteronomy 25

Commentary

4 notes on this verse
This is the only mutilation prescribed by the Law of Moses, unless we except the retaliation prescribed as a punishment for the infliction on another of bodily injuries Lev 24:19-20. The act in question was probably not rare in the times and countries for which the Law of Moses was designed. It is of course to be understood that the act was willful, and that the prescribed punishment would be inflicted according to the sentence of the judges.

This site's exposition

When men strive together

on Deuteronomy 25:11-16

The hand cut off at verse 12 is the one mutilation the law of Moses prescribes on its own account, beside the like for like of Leviticus 24:19-20, and the formula thine eye shall not pity is the one this book keeps for cases it will not let a judge soften, at 13:8 and 19:13 and 19:21. The weights follow, a stone and a stone in the Hebrew, a heavy one to buy with and a light one to sell by. Leviticus 19:35-36 had already required just balances, and the prophets keep coming back to them at Amos 8:5 and Micah 6:10-11. The promise attached to honest scales is length of days in the land, which is the promise attached to honouring father and mother at Exodus 20:12.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

Then thou shall cut off her hand,.... Which was to be done not by the man that strove with her husband, or by any bystander, but by the civil magistrate or his order. This severity was used to deter women from such an immodest as well as injurious action, who on such an occasion are very passionate and inconsiderate.

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

The punishment was that her hand should be cut off; and the magistrates must not pretend to be more merciful than God: Thy eye shall not pity her. Perhaps our Saviour alludes to this law when he commands us to cut off the right hand that offends us, or is an occasion of sin to us.

The words behind it

6 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.

  • וְקַצֹּתָ֖הand you will cut off

    vekatzotahH7112 →

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • כַּפָּ֑הּhand her

    kapahH3709 →192 times

  • לֹ֥אnot

    lo'H3808 →5168 times

  • תָח֖וֹסit will look with pity

    tachosH2347 →24 times

  • עֵינֶֽךָ׃ סeye your

    ʾeinekhaH5869 →887 times

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

Related verses

4 in all, six open

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Deuteronomy 19:21

    You must show no pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, and foot for foot.

    it leads to

    • Matthew 5:38–39

      You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye and tooth for tooth.’

    • Exodus 21:23–25

      But if a serious injury results, then you must require a life for a life—

    • Deuteronomy 19:13

      You must show him no pity. You are to purge from Israel the guilt of shedding innocent blood, that it may go well with you.

  • Through

    Deuteronomy 7:2

    and when the LORD your God has delivered them over to you to defeat them, then you must devote them to complete destruction. Make no treaty with them and show them no mercy.

    it leads to

    • Judges 2:2

      and you are not to make a covenant with the people of this land, but you shall tear down their altars.’ Yet you have not obeyed My voice. What is this you have done?

    • Exodus 23:32–33

      You shall make no covenant with them or with their gods.

  • Through

    Deuteronomy 19:13

    You must show him no pity. You are to purge from Israel the guilt of shedding innocent blood, that it may go well with you.

    it leads to

    • 1 Kings 2:31

      And the king replied, “Do just as he says. Strike him down and bury him, and so remove from me and from the house of my father the innocent blood that Joab shed.

    • Deuteronomy 21:9

      So you shall purge from among you the guilt of shedding innocent blood, since you have done what is right in the eyes of the LORD.

    • Deuteronomy 7:2

      and when the LORD your God has delivered them over to you to defeat them, then you must devote them to complete destruction. Make no treaty with them and show them no mercy.

Where this verse is studied

About Deuteronomy

Moses Comes Down from Mount Sinai, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Moses Comes Down from Mount Sinai, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Deuteronomy: the study guide →Read Deuteronomy 25 →

This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in Deuteronomy 25 →