Deuteronomy 22:30

Complete Jewish Bible

"You are not to watch your brother's ox or sheep straying and behave as if you hadn't seen it; you must bring them back to your brother. If your brother is not close by, or you don't know who the owner is, you are to bring it home to your house; and it will remain with you until your brother asks for it; then you are to give it back to him. You are to do the same with his donkey, his coat or anything else of your brother's that he loses. If you find something he lost, you must not ignore it. "If you see your brother's donkey or ox collapsed on the road, you may not behave as if you hadn't seen it; you must help him get them up on their feet again. "A woman is not to wear men's clothing, and a man is not to put on women's clothing, for whoever does these things is detestable to Adonai your God. "If, as you are walking along, you happen to see a bird's nest in a tree or on the ground with chicks or eggs, and the mother bird is sitting on the chicks or the eggs, you are not to take the mother with the chicks. You must let the mother go, but you may take the chicks for yourself; so that things will go well with you, and you will prolong your life. (iii) "When you build a new house, you must build a low wall around your roof; otherwise someone may fall from it, and you will be responsible for his death. "You are not to sow two kinds of seed between your rows of vines; if you do, both the two harvested crops and the yield from the vines must be forfeited. You are not to plow with an ox and a donkey together. You are not to wear clothing woven with two kinds of thread, wool and linen together. "You are to make for yourself twisted cords on the four corners of the garment you wrap around yourself. "If a man marries a woman, has sexual relations with her and then, having come to dislike her, brings false charges against her and defames her character by saying, ‘I married this woman, but when I had intercourse with her I did not find evidence that she was a virgin'; then the girl's father and mother are to take the evidence of the girl's virginity to the leaders of the town at the gate. The girl's father will say to the leaders, ‘I let my daughter marry this man, but he hates her, so he has brought false charges that he didn't find evidence of her virginity; yet here is the evidence of my daughter's virginity' — and they will lay the cloth before the town leaders. The leaders of that town are to take the man, punish him, and fine him two-and-a-half pounds of silver shekels, which they will give to the girl's father, because he has publicly defamed a virgin of Isra'el. She will remain his wife, and he is forbidden from divorcing her as long as he lives. "But if the charge is substantiated that evidence for the girl's virginity could not be found; then they are to lead the girl to the door of her father's house, and the men of her town will stone her to death, because she has committed in Isra'el the disgraceful act of being a prostitute while still in her father's house. In this way you will put an end to such wickedness among you. "If a man is found sleeping with a woman who has a husband, both of them must die — the man who went to bed with the woman and the woman too. In this way you will expel such wickedness from Isra'el. "If a girl who is a virgin is engaged to a man, and another man comes upon her in the town and has sexual relations with her; you are to bring them both out to the gate of the city and stone them to death — the girl because she didn't cry out for help, there in the city, and the man because he has humiliated his neighbor's wife. In this way you will put an end to such wickedness among you. "But if the man comes upon the engaged girl out in the countryside, and the man grabs her and has sexual relations with her, then only the man who had intercourse with her is to die. You will do nothing to the girl, because she has done nothing deserving of death. The situation is like the case of the man who attacks his neighbor and kills him. For he found her in the countryside, and the engaged girl cried out, but there was no one to save her. "If a man comes upon a girl who is a virgin but who is not engaged, and he grabs her and has sexual relations with her, and they are caught in the act, then the man who had intercourse with her must give to the girl's father one-and-a-quarter pounds of silver shekels, and she will become his wife, because he humiliated her; he may not divorce her as long as he lives.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
“A man is not to marry his father’s wife; he must not violate his father’s marriage bed.

Hebrew Names Version
A man shall not take his father's wife, and shall not uncover his father's skirt.

King James Version
A man shall not take his father's wife, nor discover his father's skirt.

Lexham English Bible
A man may not take the wife of his father, and so he may not dishonor his father.

English Standard Version
"A man shall not take his father's wife, so that he does not uncover his father's nakedness.

New Century Version
A man must not marry his father's wife; he must not dishonor his father in this way.

New English Translation
A man may not marry his father's former wife and in this way dishonor his father.

Amplified Bible
"A man shall not take his father's [former] wife, so that he will not expose his father's wife.

New American Standard Bible
"A man shall not take his father's wife in marriage, so that he does not uncover his father's garment.

Geneva Bible (1587)
No man shal take his fathers wife, nor shall vncouer his fathers skirt.

Legacy Standard Bible
"A man shall not take his father's wife so that he will not uncover his father's skirt.

Contemporary English Version
A man must not marry a woman who was married to his father. This would be a disgrace to his father.

Darby Translation
A man shall not take his father's wife, nor uncover his father's skirt.

Easy-to-Read Version
"A man must not bring shame to his father by marrying his father's wife.

George Lamsa Translation
A man shall not take his fathers wife, nor uncover the skirt of his fathers wife.

Good News Translation
"No man is to disgrace his father by having intercourse with any of his father's wives.

Literal Translation
A man shall not take his father's wife, and shall not uncover his father's skirt.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Noma shal take his fathers wife, ner vncouer his fathers couerynge.

American Standard Version
A man shall not take his father's wife, and shall not uncover his father's skirt.

Bible in Basic English
A man may not take his father's wife or have sex relations with a woman who is his father's.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
No man shall take his fathers wife, nor vnheale his fathers couering.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
span data-lang="eng" data-trans="jps" data-ref="deu.22.1" class="versetxt"> Thou shalt not see thy brother's ox or his sheep driven away, and hide thyself from them; thou shalt surely bring them back unto thy brother. And if thy brother be not nigh unto thee, and thou know him not, then thou shalt bring it home to thy house, and it shall be with thee until thy brother require it, and thou shalt restore it to him. And so shalt thou do with his ass; and so shalt thou do with his garment; and so shalt thou do with every lost thing of thy brother's, which he hath lost, and thou hast found; thou mayest not hide thyself. Thou shalt not see thy brother's ass or his ox fallen down by the way, and hide thyself from them; thou shalt surely help him to lift them up again. A woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman's garment; for whosoever doeth these things is an abomination unto the LORD thy God. If a bird's nest chance to be before thee in the way, in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs, and the dam sitting upon the young, or upon the eggs, thou shalt not take the dam with the young; thou shalt in any wise let the dam go, but the young thou mayest take unto thyself; that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days. When thou buildest a new house, then thou shalt make a parapet for thy roof, that thou bring not blood upon thy house, if any man fall from thence. Thou shalt not sow thy vineyard with two kinds of seed; lest the fulness of the seed which thou hast sown be forfeited together with the increase of the vineyard. Thou shalt not plow with an ox and an ass together. Thou shalt not wear a mingled stuff, wool and linen together. Thou shalt make thee twisted cords upon the four corners of thy covering, wherewith thou coverest thyself. If any man take a wife, and go in unto her, and hate her, and lay wanton charges against her, and bring up an evil name upon her, and say: 'I took this woman, and when I came nigh to her, I found not in her the tokens of virginity'; then shall the father of the damsel, and her mother, take and bring forth the tokens of the damsel's virginity unto the elders of the city in the gate. And the damsel's father shall say unto the elders: 'I gave my daughter unto this man to wife, and he hateth her; and, lo, he hath laid wanton charges, saying: I found not in thy daughter the tokens of virginity; and yet these are the tokens of my daughter's virginity.' And they shall spread the garment before the elders of the city. And the elders of that city shall take the man and chastise him. And they shall fine him a hundred shekels of silver, and give them unto the father of the damsel, because he hath brought up an evil name upon a virgin of Israel; and she shall be his wife; he may not put her away all his days. But if this thing be true, that the tokens of virginity were not found in the damsel; then they shall bring out the damsel to the door of her father's house, and the men of her city shall stone her with stones that she die; because she hath wrought a wanton deed in Israel, to play the harlot in her father's house; so shalt thou put away the evil from the midst of thee. If a man be found lying with a woman married to a husband, then they shall both of them die, the man that lay with the woman, and the woman; so shalt thou put away the evil from Israel. If there be a damsel that is a virgin betrothed unto a man, and a man find her in the city, and lie with her; then ye shall bring them both out unto the gate of that city, and ye shall stone them with stones that they die: the damsel, because she cried not, being in the city; and the man, because he hath humbled his neighbour's wife; so thou shalt put away the evil from the midst of thee. But if the man find the damsel that is betrothed in the field, and the man take hold of her, and lie with her; then the man only that lay with her shall die. But unto the damsel thou shalt do nothing; there is in the damsel no sin worthy of death; for as when a man riseth against his neighbour, and slayeth him, even so is this matter. For he found her in the field; the betrothed damsel cried, and there was none to save her. If a man find a damsel that is a virgin, that is not betrothed, and lay hold on her, and lie with her, and they be found; then the man that lay with her shall give unto the damsel's father fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife, because he hath humbled her; he may not put her away all his days.

King James Version (1611)
A man shall not take his fathers wife, nor discouer his fathers skirt.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
A man shall not take his father’s wife, and shall not uncover his father’s skirt.

English Revised Version
A man shall not take his father's wife, and shall not uncover his father's skirt.

Berean Standard Bible
A man is not to marry his father's wife, so that he will not dishonor his father's marriage bed.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
A man schal not take `the wijf of his fadir, nethir he schal schewe `the hilyng of hir.

Young's Literal Translation
`A man doth not take his father's wife, nor uncover his father's skirt.

Update Bible Version
A man shall not take his father's wife, and shall not uncover his father's skirt.

Webster's Bible Translation
A man shall not take his father's wife, nor discover his father's skirt.

World English Bible
A man shall not take his father's wife, and shall not uncover his father's skirt.

New King James Version
"A man shall not take his father's wife, nor uncover his father's bed.

New Living Translation
"A man must not marry his father's former wife, for this would violate his father.

New Life Bible
"A man must not take his father's wife. He must not take the clothes off the woman who belongs to his father.

New Revised Standard
A man shall not marry his father's wife, thereby violating his father's rights.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
A man shall not take his father's wife, - neither shall he turn aside his father's coverlet.

Douay-Rheims Bible
No man shall take his father’s wife, nor remove his covering.

Revised Standard Version
"A man shall not take his father's wife, nor shall he uncover her who is his father's.

THE MESSAGE
A man may not marry his father's ex-wife—that would violate his father's rights.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"A man shall not take his father's wife so that he will not uncover his father's skirt.

Contextual Overview

¹³ "If a man marries a woman, has sexual relations with her and then, having come to dislike her, ¹⁴ brings false charges against her and defames her character by saying, ‘I married this woman, but when I had intercourse with her I did not find evidence that she was a virgin'; ¹⁵ then the girl's father and mother are to take the evidence of the girl's virginity to the leaders of the town at the gate. ¹⁶ The girl's father will say to the leaders, ‘I let my daughter marry this man, but he hates her, ¹⁷ so he has brought false charges that he didn't find evidence of her virginity; yet here is the evidence of my daughter's virginity' — and they will lay the cloth before the town leaders. ¹⁸ The leaders of that town are to take the man, punish him, ¹⁹ and fine him two-and-a-half pounds of silver shekels, which they will give to the girl's father, because he has publicly defamed a virgin of Isra'el. She will remain his wife, and he is forbidden from divorcing her as long as he lives. ²⁰ "But if the charge is substantiated that evidence for the girl's virginity could not be found; ²¹ then they are to lead the girl to the door of her father's house, and the men of her town will stone her to death, because she has committed in Isra'el the disgraceful act of being a prostitute while still in her father's house. In this way you will put an end to such wickedness among you. ²² "If a man is found sleeping with a woman who has a husband, both of them must die — the man who went to bed with the woman and the woman too. In this way you will expel such wickedness from Isra'el.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

a man shall: This is to be understood as referring to the case of a stepmother. A man in his old age may have married a young woman, and on his dying, his son by another, or a former wife, may desire to espouse her; which is here forbidden. Deuteronomy 27:20, Leviticus 18:8, Leviticus 20:11, 1 Corinthians 5:1, 1 Corinthians 5:13

discover: Ruth 3:9, Ezekiel 16:8

Gill's Notes on the Bible

A man shall not take his father's wife,.... Not marry her, whether his own mother, or a stepmother; or even, as Aben Ezra thinks, anyone that was deflowered by his father. Jarchi interprets it of his father's brother's wife, which he was obliged to marry by virtue of the law in Deuteronomy 25:5

nor discover his father's skirt; or lie with her his father had thrown his skirt over, or married; and which being the first, is mentioned here as a sample to all the rest forbidden Leviticus 18:7 or, as Bishop Patrick expresses it, is a "short memorandum", to make them careful to observe all the other laws respecting incestuous marriages and copulations there delivered.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Deuteronomy 22:30. A man shall not take his father's wife — This is to be understood as referring to the case of a stepmother. A man in his old age may have married a young wife, and on his dying, his son by a former wife may desire to espouse her: this the law prohibits. It was probably on pretence of having broken this law, that Solomon put his brother Adonijah to death, because he had desired to have his father's concubine to wife, 1 Kings 2:13-25.