22 If someone guilty of a capital offense is put to death and their body is exposed on a pole,

Other Translations of Deuteronomy 21:22

King James Version

22 And if a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be to be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree:

English Standard Version

22 "And if a man has committed a crime punishable by death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree,

The Message

22 When a man has committed a capital crime, been given the death sentence, executed and hung from a tree,

New King James Version

22 "If a man has committed a sin deserving of death, and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree,

New Living Translation

22 "If someone has committed a crime worthy of death and is executed and hung on a tree,

Matthew Henry's Commentary on Deuteronomy 21:22

Commentary on Deuteronomy 21:22-23

(Read Deuteronomy 21:22-23)

By the law of Moses, the touch of a dead body was defiling, therefore dead bodies must not be left hanging, as that would defile the land. There is one reason here which has reference to Christ; "He that is hanged is accursed of God;" that is, it is the highest degree of disgrace and reproach. Those who see a man thus hanging between heaven and earth, will conclude him abandoned of both, and unworthy of either. Moses, by the Spirit, uses this phrase of being accursed of God, when he means no more than being treated most disgracefully, that it might afterward be applied to the death of Christ, and might show that in it he underwent the curse of the law for us; which proves his love, and encourages to faith in him.