Passage

Deuteronomy 22.25-27

"But if in the field the man finds the girl who is engaged, and the man forces her and lies with her, then only the man who lies with her shall die. But you shall do nothing to the girl; there is no sin in the girl worthy of death, for just as a man rises against his neighbor and murders him, so is this case. When he found her in the field, the engaged girl cried out, but there was no one to save her." (Deuteronomy 22:25-27, NASB95)

Deuteronomy 22:25-27 is the OT's clearest legal statement that the rapist alone bears capital guilt for sexual assault, and the victim no guilt whatever. The passage is a load-bearing text against the modern critic-claim that the Bible blames rape victims or the Bible endorses rape. Read in its own legal logic, and read alongside vv.23-24 (urban betrothed woman) and vv.28-29 (unbetrothed virgin), the passage emerges as a sophisticated three-case casuistic structure that hinges on consent, witness, and the analogy of rape to murder.

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

"23. If there be a damsel that is a virgin betrothed unto a husband, and a man find her in the city, and lie with her; 24. then ye shall bring them both out unto the gate of that city, and ye shall stone them to death with stones; the damsel, because she cried not, being in the city; and the man, because he hath humbled his neighbor's wife: so thou shalt put away the evil from the midst of thee."

"25. But if the man find the damsel that is betrothed in the field, and the man force her, and lie with her; then the man only that lay with her shall die: 26. 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 neighbor, and slayeth him, even so is this matter; 27. for he found her in the field, the betrothed damsel cried, and there was none to save her."

"28. 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; 29. 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." (Deuteronomy 22:23-29, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"23. If 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; 24. then 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."

"25. But 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; 26. but 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; 27. for he found her in the field, the pledged to be married lady cried, and there was no one to save her."

"28. If 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; 29. then 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." (Deuteronomy 22:23-29, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"23. If a damsel that is a virgin be betrothed unto an husband, and a man find her in the city, and lie with her; 24. 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 evil from among you."

"25. But if a man find a betrothed damsel in the field, and the man force her, and lie with her: then the man only that lay with her shall die: ^{force: or, take strong hold of} 26. 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: 27. For he found her in the field, and the betrothed damsel cried, and there was none to save her."

"28. If a man find a damsel that is a virgin, which is not betrothed, and lay hold on her, and lie with her, and they be found; 29. 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." (Deuteronomy 22:23-29, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"23. 'When there is a damsel, a virgin, betrothed to a man, and a man hath found her in a city, and lain with her; 24. then ye have brought them both out unto the gate of that city, and stoned them with stones, and they have died:, the damsel, because that she hath not cried, [being] in a city; and the man, because that he hath humbled his neighbour's wife; and thou hast put away the evil thing out of thy midst."

"25. 'And if in a field the man find the damsel who is betrothed, and the man hath laid hold on her, and lain with her, then hath the man who hath lain with her died alone; 26. and to the damsel thou dost not do anything, the damsel hath no deadly sin; for as a man riseth against his neighbour and hath murdered him, the life, so [is] this thing; 27. for in a field he found her, she hath cried, the damsel who is betrothed, and she hath no saviour."

"28. 'When a man findeth a damsel, a virgin who is not betrothed, and hath caught her, and lain with her, and they have been found, 29. then hath the man who is lying with her given to the father of the damsel fifty silverlings, and to him she is for a wife; because that he hath humbled her, he is not able to send her away all his days." (Deuteronomy 22:23-29, YLT)

Setting

Speaker: Moses (traditionally) delivering Deuteronomic legislation
Audience: Israel on the plains of Moab before the Jordan crossing
Location: plains of Moab, east of the Jordan
Time period: events c. 1406 BC (early-date Exodus) or c. 1250 BC (late-date Exodus); Deuteronomy in its present canonical form preserves Moses' final addresses

Theological reading

The passage is the middle case in a three-case casuistic structure that distinguishes urban-betrothed-consent (vv.23-24), rural-betrothed-forced (vv.25-27), and unbetrothed (vv.28-29). The structuring distinctions are: (a) is the woman betrothed (legally she-belongs-to-another), (b) is the location urban (potential witnesses, cry-for-help would be heard) or rural (no witnesses, cry-for-help would not be heard), and (c) is the act consensual or forced (the verb chazaq in v.25, to seize / overpower, signals force).

The center of the passage is the analogy of v.26: just as a man rises against his neighbor and murders him, so is this case. The Mosaic law explicitly classifies rape as a capital felony of the same kind as murder, with the victim treated as an innocent attacked party. This is a strong refutation of the popular critic-claim that the OT treats rape as a property crime against the father. In the betrothed-woman case (vv.25-27), the analogy is to murder of the neighbor (the would-be husband's interest is implicit in betrothed), but the victim's own guilt is explicitly zeroed: there is no sin in the girl worthy of death. The cry-for-help test (v.27) is not a burden of proof on the woman in the field, it is the legal presumption in her favor in the rural setting where witnesses would be unavailable.

This passage is the apologetic key to several common defeaters. Against the Bible blames the victim: v.26 explicitly removes any guilt from the woman. Against the Bible only punishes rape because she's another man's property: the murder-analogy in v.26 treats rape as a personal-injury felony of the same kind as homicide, not as a property tort. Against the Bible endorses rape: the rapist receives capital punishment, the maximum sanction the Mosaic legal system can impose. Against Deut 22:28-29 forces a rape victim to marry her rapist: the unbetrothed case in vv.28-29 uses a different verb (taphas, seize, possibly weaker than chazaq; some readings render the unbetrothed case as seduction rather than rape), and the marriage-with-no-divorce clause functions as lifetime economic protection in a setting where an unbetrothed deflowered virgin faced destitution, the law binds the perpetrator to the victim's lifetime support, not the victim to the perpetrator's whim.

The three cases together display a coherent legal logic: rape is a capital crime against the victim (treated as murder-analogous), urban-consent and rural-force are distinguished by the witness-availability presumption, and the unbetrothed case shifts to economic-protection because no capital element of betrothed-status is in view. The passage is well-defended in the careful evangelical apologetic literature (cf. ris3n's notes Rape Only Condemned When Unmarried Objection Defeater, OT Sexual-Violence Laws).

Key words

chazaq, chazaq (to seize, overpower); the verb in v.25 marking forceful overpowering, not consensual encounter.
tsaaq, tsa'aq (to cry out); the cry-for-help test in v.27, the legal presumption in the woman's favor.
rea, rea (neighbor); the analogy of rape to attack on a neighbor in v.26.
ratsach, ratsach (to murder); the verb in v.26 that classifies rape as homicide-analogous.

Theological themes

Rape is treated as a capital crime against the victim. The murder-analogy of v.26 places rape on the same legal plane as homicide; the rapist receives the maximum sanction.
No guilt on the victim. There is no sin in the girl worthy of death (v.26) is an explicit zeroing of victim-blame; the cry-for-help in v.27 is a presumption in her favor in settings without witnesses.
Urban / rural casuistic distinction. The legal logic distinguishes settings by witness-availability, not by victim-credibility; rural-presumption protects the woman who would not be heard.
Three-case structure. Urban-consent (vv.23-24), rural-force (vv.25-27), unbetrothed (vv.28-29) form a coherent legal system, not a one-size-fits-all ruling.
Apologetic load. This passage is the textual answer to the Bible endorses rape and the Bible blames the victim critic-claims; it does neither.

Cross-references

Deuteronomy 22.23-24, the urban-betrothed case, consensual or presumed-consensual (the woman did not cry out).
Deuteronomy 22.28-29, the unbetrothed case; lifetime economic protection clause (not lifetime captivity).
Exodus 22.16-17, the parallel unbetrothed-virgin law in the Covenant Code; father retains veto.
2 Samuel 13, the Tamar case; narrative illustration of rape's gravity in Israel's history.
Judges 19-20, the Levite's concubine; the civil war response shows the legal seriousness of sexual violence.
Genesis 34, the Dinah case; non-legal but illustrative.

Quoted in

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.