Marriage Violations
If a husband turns against his wife and falsely claims she was not a virgin, her parents may bring evidence before the elders. The man is punished, fined, and forbidden to divorce her.
S13uppose a man marries a woman, has relations with her, and comes to hate her, 14and he then accuses her of shameful conduct and gives her a bad name, saying, “I married this woman and had relations with her, but I discovered she was not a virgin.” 15Then the young woman’s father and mother shall bring the proof of her virginity to the city elders at the gate 16and say to the elders, “I gave my daughter in marriage to this man, but he has come to hate her. 17And now he has accused her of shameful conduct, saying, ‘I discovered that your daughter was not a virgin.’ But here is the proof of her virginity.” And they shall spread out the cloth before the city elders. 18Then the elders of that city shall take the man and punish him. 19They are also to fine him a hundred shekels of silver and give them to the young woman’s father, because this man has given a virgin of Israel a bad name. And she shall remain his wife; he must not divorce her as long as he lives.
If the accusation is true and no proof is found, the woman is executed at her father’s house for an outrage committed in Israel.
20If, however, this accusation is true, and no proof of the young woman’s virginity can be found, 21she shall be brought to the door of her father’s house, and there the men of her city will stone her to death. For she has committed an outrage in Israel by being promiscuous in her father’s house. So you must purge the evil from among you.
If a man is found with another man’s wife, both parties are to die.
22If a man is found lying with another man’s wife, both the man who slept with her and the woman must die. You must purge the evil from Israel.
If a betrothed virgin lies with a man in the city, both are put to death, since she did not cry out and he violated another man’s wife.
23If there is a virgin pledged in marriage to a man, and another man encounters her in the city and sleeps with her, 24you must take both of them out to the gate of that city and stone them to death— the young woman because she did not cry out in the city, and the man because he has violated his neighbor’s wife. So you must purge the evil from among you.
If the same thing happens in the open country and the man overpowers the betrothed woman, only he dies. The woman bears no guilt, because her case is treated like violent assault where no rescue was possible.
25But if the man encounters a betrothed woman in the open country, and he overpowers her and lies with her, only the man who has done this must die. 26Do nothing to the young woman, because she has committed no sin worthy of death. This case is just like one in which a man attacks his neighbor and murders him. 27When he found her in the field, the betrothed woman cried out, but there was no one to save her.
If a man lies with an unbetrothed virgin and they are discovered, he must pay her father and take her as his wife, without later divorcing her.
28If a man encounters a virgin who is not pledged in marriage, and he seizes her and lies with her, and they are discovered, 29then the man who lay with her must pay the young woman’s father fifty shekels of silver, and she must become his wife because he has violated her. He must not divorce her as long as he lives.
A man must not marry his father’s wife or uncover his father’s marriage bed.
30A man is not to marry his father’s wife, so that he will not dishonor his father’s marriage bed.