Deuteronomy 22

Do Not Ignore Your Neighbor’s Loss

1“You shall not see your brother’s ox or sheep wandering away and hide yourself from them. You shall surely return them to your brother. 2And if your brother is not near you or you do not know him, then you shall gather it into your house, and it shall remain with you until your brother seeks it. Then you shall return it to him. 3Thus you shall do with his donkey, with his garment, and with every lost thing of your brother that is lost from him and you find. You may not hide yourself. 4You shall not see your brother’s donkey or ox fallen on the road and hide yourself from them. You shall surely raise it with him.

Distinctions in Clothing and Creation

5“A woman shall not wear the gear of a man, and a man shall not put on the garment of a woman, for everyone who does these things is detestable to the LORD your God.

A Bird’s Nest

6“If a bird’s nest happens to be before you on the way, in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs, and the mother is sitting upon the young or upon the eggs, you shall not take the mother together with the young. 7You shall surely send the mother away, but the young you may take for yourself, so that it may go well with you and you may prolong your days.

Build a Parapet

8“When you build a new house, you shall make a parapet for your roof, so that you do not place bloodguilt on your house if someone falls from it.

Do Not Mix What Must Be Kept Distinct

9“You shall not sow your vineyard with two kinds of seed, lest the whole yield become forfeited—the seed that you sow and the produce of the vineyard. 10You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together. 11You shall not wear cloth of wool and linen woven together. 12You shall make tassels for yourself on the four corners of the covering with which you cover yourself.

Accusation against a New Wife

13“If a man takes a wife and goes in to her, then hates her, 14and charges her with shameful deeds and brings an evil name upon her, saying, ‘I took this woman, but when I approached her I did not find evidence of virginity in her,’ 15then the father of the young woman and her mother shall take and bring out the evidence of the young woman’s virginity to the elders of the city at the gate. 16The young woman’s father shall say to the elders, ‘I gave my daughter to this man as wife, but he hates her. 17And look, he has charged her with shameful deeds, saying, “I did not find evidence of virginity in your daughter.” But this is the evidence of my daughter’s virginity.’ Then they shall spread the cloth before the elders of the city. 18The elders of that city shall take the man and discipline him. 19They shall fine him one hundred shekels of silver and give them to the father of the young woman, because he brought an evil name upon a virgin of Israel. She shall remain his wife; he may not send her away all his days.

If the Accusation Is True

20“But if this matter is true and evidence of virginity was not found for the young woman, 21then they shall bring the young woman out to the entrance of her father’s house, and the men of her city shall stone her with stones so that she dies, because she committed a disgraceful thing in Israel by prostituting herself in her father’s house. So you shall remove the evil from your midst.

Laws concerning Sexual Relations

22“If a man is found lying with a woman married to a husband, then both of them shall die, the man who lay with the woman and the woman. So you shall remove the evil from Israel. 23If there is a young virgin betrothed to a man, and another man finds her in the city and lies with her, 24then you shall bring both of them out to the gate of that city and stone them with stones so that they die—the young woman because she did not cry out in the city, and the man because he humbled his neighbor’s wife. So you shall remove the evil from your midst. 25But if the man finds the betrothed young woman in the field and the man seizes her and lies with her, then only the man who lay with her shall die. 26You shall do nothing to the young woman. There is no sin deserving death in the young woman, for this matter is like when a man rises against his neighbor and murders him. 27For he found her in the field. The betrothed young woman cried out, but there was no one to save her.

An Unbetrothed Virgin

28“If a man finds a young virgin who is not betrothed, seizes her, and lies with her, and they are found, 29then the man who lay with her shall give the young woman’s father fifty shekels of silver, and she shall become his wife because he humbled her. He may not send her away all his days. 30A man shall not take his father’s wife and shall not uncover his father’s skirt.