Laws concerning Chastity

13 If a man marries a woman, sleeps with her, and then turns on her, 14 calling her a slut, giving her a bad name, saying, "I married this woman, but when I slept with her I discovered she wasn't a virgin," 15 then the father and mother of the girl are to take her with the proof of her virginity to the town leaders at the gate. 16 The father is to tell the leaders, "I gave my daughter to this man as wife and he turned on her, rejecting her. 17 And now he has slanderously accused her, claiming that she wasn't a virgin. But look at this, here is the proof of my daughter's virginity." And then he is to spread out her blood-stained wedding garment before the leaders for their examination. 18 The town leaders then are to take the husband, whip him, 19 fine him a hundred pieces of silver, and give it to the father of the girl. The man gave a virgin girl of Israel a bad name. He has to keep her as his wife and can never divorce her. 20 But if it turns out that the accusation is true and there is no evidence of the girl's virginity, 21 the men of the town are to take her to the door of her father's house and stone her to death. She acted disgracefully in Israel. She lived like a whore while still in her parents' home. Purge the evil from among you. 22 If a man is found sleeping with another man's wife, both must die. Purge that evil from Israel. 23 If a man comes upon a virgin in town, a girl who is engaged to another man, and sleeps with her, 24 take both of them to the town gate and stone them until they die - the girl because she didn't yell out for help in the town and the man because he raped her, violating the fiancZe of his neighbor. You must purge the evil from among you. 25 But if it was out in the country that the man found the engaged girl and grabbed and raped her, only the man is to die, the man who raped her. 26 Don't do anything to the girl; she did nothing wrong. This is similar to the case of a man who comes across his neighbor out in the country and murders him; 27 when the engaged girl yelled out for help, there was no one around to hear or help her. 28 When a man comes upon a virgin who has never been engaged and grabs and rapes her and they are found out, 29 the man who raped her has to give her father fifty pieces of silver. He has to marry her because he took advantage of her. And he can never divorce her. 30 A man may not marry his father's ex-wife - that would violate his father's rights.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on Deuteronomy 22:13-30

Commentary on Deuteronomy 22:13-30

(Read Deuteronomy 22:13-30)

These and the like regulations might be needful then, and yet it is not necessary that we should curiously examine respecting them. The laws relate to the seventh commandment, laying a restraint upon fleshly lusts which war against the soul.