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Deuteronomy 22:23–27, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
Deuteronomy 22:23–27
Betrothal, Location, Presumed Cry, and Assault
A betrothed woman in the city is judged by a presumed cry
If a betrothed damsel is found in the city by a man who lies with her, the ancient law sentences both: the damsel because she cried not, being in the city, and the man because he humbled his neighbor's wife. Location is used as an evidentiary presumption that help was available.
That presumption is a product of its world. Silence or a city setting never proves consent now, and the passage must not be used to blame survivors.
In the field the assault is named as murder
If the man finds her in the field, only he dies. Unto the damsel nothing shall be done; there is in her no sin worthy of death. The comparison is explicit: as when a man rises against his neighbor and slays him, so is this matter. She cried, and there was none to save her.
The field case clears the woman and classifies the attack with killing. Force, isolation, and the absence of a rescuer control the verdict. Do not let the city case's presumption cancel this unit's own statement of her innocence.
How this should shape us
Center force and the woman's stated innocence. Reject city-versus-field rules as modern evidence, and answer sexual assault with survivor-led safety, reporting options, and trauma-informed care.
Teach it back
Explain Deuteronomy 22:23–27 in your own words. Include its place in Moses' speeches or the final narrative, both movements, one material uncertainty, one affected person or group, and one use the complete context rules out.
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Go deeper
The explanation above is meant to stand on its own. Open these notes only if you want language, history, disagreements, or source locations.
Where careful interpreters disagreeThe strongest options and their difficulties
Where do careful interpreters disagree?
Best judgment: Interpreters disagree about the composition, date, Mosaic presentation, final-form role, legal relationship, rhetoric, history, and reception of “Betrothal, Location, Presumed Cry, and Assault.” Confidence is strongest in the received unit's movement summarized here; historical and source-critical reconstructions remain probable, plausible, or uncertain as the evidence warrants.
How certain? probableResearch trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section
Supports: Exact reader-facing KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage for this thought unit.
Deuteronomy 22:23–27, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Supports: Hebrew wording, morphology, names, speech and legal clauses, poetic lines, older-English controls, and translation limits.
Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Deut.xml, Masoretic words and morphology for 22:23–27
Supports: Unit-bounded translation, syntax, lexical, legal, poetic, measure, name, and selected textual notes; silence is not evidence.
NET Bible Deuteronomy PDF, complete PDF pp. 1–111, translation and translator notes attached to 22:23–27
Supports: Concise critical framing of Deuteronomy's law collection, historical setting, relationship to other Torah laws, centralization, and moral tensions.
Yale Bible Study, 'Deuteronomy Part 1,' complete two-page PDF and linked lesson sections on law, legal collections, reform, centralization, and ethics, applied to Deuteronomy 22:23–27
Supports: A current debate map only; no unexposed chapter argument is attributed.
Schmid, Oxford Handbook chapter (2020), official abstract and six-question scope: Pentateuchal setting, reworked Tetrateuch, layers, date, covenant and treaty, and Deuteronomism
Supports: Mosaic speech presentation, self-referential Torah language, final-form function, and one model of earlier independent literary life.
Glatt-Gilad, 'Deuteronomy: The First Torah,' complete article sections on speeches, Torah self-reference, law differences, and Joshua-Kings reception; applied to Deuteronomy 22:23–27
Supports: Sexual violence, consent, status, patriarchal power, comparative law, lexical uncertainty, and survivor-safety controls.
Feinstein, 'The Rape of the Unbetrothed Virgin in Torah and Assyrian Law,' complete sections on Deuteronomy 22:23–29, Exodus 22, Hebrew terms, consent, payment, marriage, and Middle Assyrian comparison; applied to Deuteronomy 22:23–27
Sources for This Section
These records identify the source, the claim it supports, and the exact location used. A source remains evidence to evaluate; it does not replace the biblical text.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact reader-facing KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage for this thought unit.
Exact location: Deuteronomy 22:23–27, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Deuteronomy
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Hebrew wording, morphology, names, speech and legal clauses, poetic lines, older-English controls, and translation limits.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Deut.xml, Masoretic words and morphology for 22:23–27
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: Deuteronomy with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
eBible.org distribution of the NET Bible, PDF generated 2026-08-12
Supports: Unit-bounded translation, syntax, lexical, legal, poetic, measure, name, and selected textual notes; silence is not evidence.
Exact location: NET Bible Deuteronomy PDF, complete PDF pp. 1–111, translation and translator notes attached to 22:23–27
Open source ↗modern critical open study guide
Deuteronomy Part 1: Law, Reform, and Historical Setting
Joel S. Baden and Yale Bible Study
Yale Divinity School, 2023 course edition
Supports: Concise critical framing of Deuteronomy's law collection, historical setting, relationship to other Torah laws, centralization, and moral tensions.
Exact location: Yale Bible Study, 'Deuteronomy Part 1,' complete two-page PDF and linked lesson sections on law, legal collections, reform, centralization, and ethics, applied to Deuteronomy 22:23–27
Open source ↗modern scholarly handbook chapter abstract
The Place of Deuteronomy in the Formation of the Pentateuch
Konrad Schmid
The Oxford Handbook of the Pentateuch, Oxford University Press, 2020
Supports: A current debate map only; no unexposed chapter argument is attributed.
Exact location: Schmid, Oxford Handbook chapter (2020), official abstract and six-question scope: Pentateuchal setting, reworked Tetrateuch, layers, date, covenant and treaty, and Deuteronomism
Open source ↗modern jewish scholarly open composition study
Deuteronomy: The First Torah
David A. Glatt-Gilad
TheTorah.com, 2015
Supports: Mosaic speech presentation, self-referential Torah language, final-form function, and one model of earlier independent literary life.
Exact location: Glatt-Gilad, 'Deuteronomy: The First Torah,' complete article sections on speeches, Torah self-reference, law differences, and Joshua-Kings reception; applied to Deuteronomy 22:23–27
Open source ↗modern jewish scholarly open sexual and comparative law study
The Rape of the Unbetrothed Virgin in Torah and Assyrian Law
Eve Levavi Feinstein
TheTorah.com, 2013
Supports: Sexual violence, consent, status, patriarchal power, comparative law, lexical uncertainty, and survivor-safety controls.
Exact location: Feinstein, 'The Rape of the Unbetrothed Virgin in Torah and Assyrian Law,' complete sections on Deuteronomy 22:23–29, Exodus 22, Hebrew terms, consent, payment, marriage, and Middle Assyrian comparison; applied to Deuteronomy 22:23–27
Open source ↗