The Hebrew verb "hashev tashivem" (surely return) appears with intensive doubling, emphasizing that neighborly restoration transcends mere legal obligation to become moral imperative.
Deuteronomy 22
Various Laws of Neighborliness
1You 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.
2If your brother isn’t near to you, or if you don’t 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.
3So 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.
4You 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.
Various Regulations
5A 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.
6If 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.
7You 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.
8When you build a new house, then you shall make a railing around your roof, so that you don’t bring blood on your house if anyone falls from there.
9You 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.
10You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together.
11You shall not wear clothes of wool and linen woven together.
12You shall make yourselves fringes on the four corners of your cloak with which you cover yourself.
Laws Concerning Sexual Relations
13If any man takes a wife, and goes in to her, hates her,
14accuses her of shameful things, gives her a bad name, and says, “I took this woman, and when I came near to her, I didn’t find in her the tokens of virginity;”
15then 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.
16The young lady’s father shall tell the elders, “I gave my daughter to this man as his wife, and he hates her.
17Behold, he has accused her of shameful things, saying, ‘I didn’t 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.
18The elders of that city shall take the man and chastise him.
19They 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.
20But if this thing is true, that the tokens of virginity were not found in the young lady,
21then 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.
22If 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.
23If 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,
24then 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 didn’t 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.
25But 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;
26but 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;
27for he found her in the field, the pledged to be married lady cried, and there was no one to save her.
28If 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,
29then 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.
30A man shall not take his father’s wife, and shall not uncover his father’s skirt.
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Theme
Deuteronomy 22 presents a collection of civil and moral laws that emphasize community responsibility, ritual distinctiveness, and sexual ethics. The chapter begins with practical regulations about caring for neighbors' property and safety, then addresses various purity laws including clothing distinctions and agricultural practices. The final section establishes detailed procedures for handling accusations of sexual misconduct, particularly regarding marriage and adultery, with severe penalties prescribed for violations.
Context
This chapter continues the detailed legal code begun in chapter 21, providing specific applications of covenant law before Moses' final speeches in chapters 27-30.
Key Themes
Outline
- 1-4 Laws of Neighborly Care Requirements to help neighbors with lost or fallen livestock, emphasizing community responsibility.
- 5-12 Purity and Distinction Laws Regulations on clothing, wildlife protection, building safety, and agricultural practices that maintain proper boundaries.
- 13-21 Marriage and Virginity Laws Procedures for handling accusations against a bride's virginity, with penalties for false accusations or proven guilt.
- 22-30 Sexual Misconduct Regulations Laws governing adultery, rape, and improper sexual relations with prescribed punishments and protections.
Various Laws of Neighborliness
22:1–22:4 law instruction contemplative
Laws promoting neighborly care by requiring Israelites to help recover and return lost property and assist with fallen animals. These regulations foster community responsibility and mutual aid.
theme_rarity
The Hebrew verb "hashev tashivem" (surely return) appears with intensive doubling, emphasizing that neighborly restoration transcends mere legal obligation to become moral imperative.
Various Regulations
22:5–22:12 law instruction contemplative
Various regulations covering gender distinctions in clothing, wildlife conservation, building safety, agricultural practices, and religious dress. These laws promote holiness, practical wisdom, and compassionate stewardship.
theme_rarity
Deuteronomy's bird's nest law uniquely combines ritual holiness with ecological compassion, representing one of only four biblical passages where these themes intersect to demonstrate divine care for creation.
Laws Concerning Sexual Relations
22:13–22:30 law instruction solemn
Comprehensive laws governing sexual conduct and marriage relationships, including procedures for accusations of adultery and premarital relations. These regulations aim to protect marriage sanctity and maintain community moral standards.
theme_rarity
Deuteronomy's marriage laws uniquely interweave "marriage" and "sin" themes in only two biblical passages, establishing marriage as both covenant relationship and moral boundary requiring divine justice.
Insights
Deuteronomy's bird's nest law uniquely combines ritual holiness with ecological compassion, representing one of only four biblical passages where these themes intersect to demonstrate divine care for creation.
Deuteronomy's marriage laws uniquely interweave "marriage" and "sin" themes in only two biblical passages, establishing marriage as both covenant relationship and moral boundary requiring divine justice.
Cross-References
Connected passages across Scripture
Deuteronomy 22:1 2 references
Deuteronomy 22:4 3 references
Lexicals 3
Exodus 21:33 Lexical
“If a man opens a pit, or if a man digs a pit and doesn’t cover it, and a bull or a donkey falls into it,
1 Samuel 12:3 Lexical
Here I am. Witness against me before the LORD and before his anointed. Whose ox have I taken? Whose donkey have I taken?…
Exodus 23:4 Lexical
“If you meet your enemy’s ox or his donkey going astray, you shall surely bring it back to him again.
Deuteronomy 22:6 1 reference
Deuteronomy 22:7 3 references
Lexicals 3
Deuteronomy 5:16 Lexical
“Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God commanded you, that your days may be long and that it may go we…
Deuteronomy 4:40 Lexical
You shall keep his statutes and his commandments which I command you today, that it may go well with you and with your c…
Exodus 20:12 Lexical
“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land which the LORD your God gives you.
Deuteronomy 22:9 5 references
Lexicals 5
Psalms 107:37 Lexical
sow fields, plant vineyards, and reap the fruits of increase.
Leviticus 25:3 Lexical
You shall sow your field six years, and you shall prune your vineyard six years, and gather in its fruits;
Isaiah 30:23 Lexical
He will give the rain for your seed, with which you will sow the ground; and bread of the increase of the ground will be…
Jeremiah 35:7 Lexical
You shall not build a house, sow seed, plant a vineyard, or have any; but all your days you shall dwell in tents, that y…
Leviticus 19:19 Lexical
“‘You shall keep my statutes. “‘You shall not cross-breed different kinds of animals. “‘You shall not sow your field wit…
Deuteronomy 22:11 5 references
Lexicals 5
Ezekiel 44:17 Lexical
“‘“It will be that when they enter in at the gates of the inner court, they shall be clothed with linen garments. No woo…
Leviticus 13:47 Lexical
“The garment also that the plague of leprosy is in, whether it is a woolen garment, or a linen garment;
Leviticus 13:59 Lexical
This is the law of the plague of mildew in a garment of wool or linen, either in the warp, or the woof, or in anything o…
Proverbs 31:13 Lexical
She seeks wool and flax, and works eagerly with her hands.
Leviticus 13:48 Lexical
whether it is in warp or woof; of linen or of wool; whether in leather, or in anything made of leather;
Deuteronomy 22:21 1 reference
Deuteronomy 22:24 3 references
Lexicals 3
Deuteronomy 17:5 Lexical
then you shall bring out that man or that woman who has done this evil thing to your gates, even that same man or woman;…
Isaiah 62:10 Lexical
Go through, go through the gates! Prepare the way of the people! Build up, build up the highway! Gather out the stones!…
Deuteronomy 21:21 Lexical
All the men of his city shall stone him to death with stones. So you shall remove the evil from among you. All Israel sh…
Deuteronomy 22:29 1 reference
Interlinear
Word-by-word original language
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Lemma
Morphology
Semantic Range
Theological Significance
Translation Notes
Key Passages
Historical Context
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