Deuteronomy 22

1 You shall not see your brother’s ox or his sheep go astray and hide yourself from them. You shall surely bring them again to your brother.

“If you see some Israeli’s ox or sheep that has strayed away, do not act as though you did not see it. Take it back [to its owner].

2 If your brother is not near to you, or if you do not know him, then you shall bring it home to your house, and it shall be with you until your brother comes looking for it, and you shall restore it to him.

But if the owner does not live near you, or if you do not know who the owner is, take the animal to your house. [It can stay with you] until the owner comes, searching for it. Then you must give the animal to him.

3 So you shall do with his donkey. So you shall do with his garment. So you shall do with every lost thing of your brother’s, which he has lost and you have found. You may not hide yourself.

You must do the same thing if you see a donkey, or a piece of clothing, or anything else that someone has lost. Do not refuse to do what you should do.

4 You shall not see your brother’s donkey or his ox fallen down by the way, and hide yourself from them. You shall surely help him to lift them up again.

“And if you see a fellow Israeli’s donkey or cow that has fallen down on the road, do not act as though you did not see it. Help the owner to lift the animal up [so that it can stand on its feet again].

5 A woman shall not wear men’s clothing, neither shall a man put on women’s clothing; for whoever does these things is an abomination to the LORD your God.

“Women must not wear men’s clothes, and men must not wear women’s clothes. Yahweh our God hates people who do things like that.

6 If you come across a bird’s nest on the way, in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs, and the hen sitting on the young, or on the eggs, you shall not take the hen with the young.

“If you happen to find a bird’s nest in a tree or on the ground, and the mother bird is sitting in the nest on its eggs or with the baby birds, do not take the mother bird [and kill it].

7 You shall surely let the hen go, but the young you may take for yourself, that it may be well with you, and that you may prolong your days.

You are permitted to take the baby birds, but you must allow the mother bird to fly away. Do this in order that things will go well for you and that you will live for a long time.

8 When you build a new house, then you shall make a railing around your roof, so that you do not bring blood on your house if anyone falls from there.

“If you build a new house, you must put a (railing/low wall) around the edge of the roof. If you do that, and if someone falls off the roof [and dies], (you will not be guilty of causing that person to die/his death [MTY] will not be your fault).

9 You shall not sow your vineyard with two kinds of seed, lest all the fruit be defiled, the seed which you have sown, and the increase of the vineyard.

“Do not plant any crop in the area where your grapevines are growing. If you do, you are not allowed to harvest the crops that you have planted or to harvest the grapes [to make wine from them].

10 You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together.

“Do not hitch together an ox and a donkey [for plowing your fields].

11 You shall not wear clothes of wool and linen woven together.

“Do not wear clothing that is made by weaving together (wool and linen/two different kinds of thread).

12 You shall make yourselves fringes on the four corners of your cloak with which you cover yourself.

“[Twist threads together to] make tassels and sew/fasten them on the four bottom corners of your cloak.

13 If any man takes a wife, and goes in to her, hates her,

“Suppose a man marries a young woman and has sex with her and later decides that he does not want her any more,

14 accuses her of shameful things, gives her a bad name, and says, “I took this woman, and when I came near to her, I did not find in her the tokens of virginity;”

and he says false things about her, and claims that she was not a virgin when he married her.

15 then the young lady’s father and mother shall take and bring the tokens of the young lady’s virginity to the elders of the city in the gate.

If that happens, the young woman’s parents must take the sheet that was on the bed when that man and their daughter were married, which still has bloodstains on it, and show it to the elders of the city at the (gate of/central meeting place in) the city.

16 The young lady’s father shall tell the elders, “I gave my daughter to this man as his wife, and he hates her.

Then the father of the young woman must say to the elders, ‘I gave my daughter to this man to be his wife. But now he says that he doesn’t want her any more.

17 Behold, he has accused her of shameful things, saying, ‘I did not find in your daughter the tokens of virginity;’ and yet these are the tokens of my daughter’s virginity.” They shall spread the cloth before the elders of the city.

And he has falsely said that she was not a virgin when he married her. But look! Here is what proves that my daughter was a virgin! Look at the bloodstains on the sheet where they slept the night that they were married!’ And he will show the sheet to the elders.

18 The elders of that city shall take the man and chastise him.

Then the elders of that city must take that man and whip him.

19 They shall fine him one hundred shekels of silver, and give them to the father of the young lady, because he has given a bad name to a virgin of Israel. She shall be his wife. He may not put her away all his days.

They shall require that he pay a fine of 100 pieces of silver and give the money to the father of the young woman, because the man caused an Israeli young woman to be disgraced. Also, that woman must continue to live with him; she is his wife. He is not allowed to divorce her during the rest of his life.

20 But if this thing is true, that the tokens of virginity were not found in the young lady,

“But if what the man said is true, and there is nothing to prove that she was a virgin when he married her,

21 then they shall bring out the young lady to the door of her father’s house, and the men of her city shall stone her to death with stones, because she has done folly in Israel, to play the prostitute in her father’s house. So you shall remove the evil from among you.

they must take that young woman to the door of her father’s house. Then the men of that city must execute her by throwing stones at her. They must do that because she has done something in Israel that is very disgraceful, by having sex with some man [while she was still living] in her father’s house. By executing her like that, you will get rid of this evil practice among you.

22 If a man is found lying with a woman married to a husband, then they shall both die, the man who lay with the woman and the woman. So you shall remove the evil from Israel.

“If a man is caught while he is having sex with another man’s wife, both of them must be executed. By doing that, you will get rid of this evil practice in Israel.

23 If there is a young lady who is a virgin pledged to be married to a husband, and a man finds her in the city, and lies with her,

“Suppose in some town a man sees a young woman who is engaged/promised to be married to another man, and he is caught having sex with [EUP] her.

24 then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city, and you shall stone them to death with stones; the lady, because she did not cry, being in the city; and the man, because he has humbled his neighbor’s wife. So you shall remove the evil from among you.

You must take both of them to the (gate of/central meeting place in) that town. There you must execute them both by throwing stones at them. You must execute the young woman because she did not shout for help even though she was in the town. And the man must be executed because he had sex [EUP] with someone who was already engaged/promised to be married. By doing that, you will get rid of this evil practice among you.

25 But if the man finds the lady who is pledged to be married in the field, and the man forces her and lies with her, then only the man who lay with her shall die;

“But suppose out in the open countryside a man meets a young woman who is engaged/promised to be married, and he rapes her. If that happens, only that man must be executed.

26 but to the lady you shall do nothing. There is in the lady no sin worthy of death; for as when a man rises against his neighbor and kills him, even so is this matter;

You must not punish the young woman, because she did not do anything for which she deserves to be executed. This case is like when one man attacks another man [in the countryside] and murders him,

27 for he found her in the field, the pledged to be married lady cried, and there was no one to save her.

because the man who raped her saw her when she was in the open countryside, and even though she called out for help, there was no one there who could rescue her.

28 If a man finds a lady who is a virgin, who is not pledged to be married, grabs her and lies with her, and they are found,

“If a man rapes a young woman who is not engaged/promised to be married, if someone sees him while he is doing that,

29 then the man who lay with her shall give to the lady’s father fifty shekels of silver. She shall be his wife, because he has humbled her. He may not put her away all his days.

that man must pay 50 pieces of silver to the young woman’s father, and he must marry her, because he forced her to have sex with him. He is not allowed to divorce her for the rest of his life.

30 A man shall not take his father’s wife, and shall not uncover his father’s skirt.

“man must not disgrace his father by having sex with any of his father’s wives.”