Passage

Exodus 22.16-17

"If a man seduces a virgin who is not engaged, and lies with her, he must pay a dowry for her to be his wife. If her father absolutely refuses to give her to him, he shall pay money equal to the dowry for virgins." (Exodus 22:16-17, NASB95)

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

"14. And if a man borrow aught of his neighbor, and it be hurt, or die, the owner thereof not being with it, he shall surely make restitution. 15. If the owner thereof be with it, he shall not make it good: if it be a hired thing, it came for its hire."

"16. And if a man entice a virgin that is not betrothed, and lie with her, he shall surely pay a dowry for her to be his wife. 17. If her father utterly refuse to give her unto him, he shall pay money according to the dowry of virgins."

"18. Thou shalt not suffer a sorceress to live. 19. Whosoever lieth with a beast shall surely be put to death." (Exodus 22:14-19, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"14. "If a man borrows anything of his neighbor's, and it is injured, or dies, its owner not being with it, he shall surely make restitution. 15. If its owner is with it, he shall not make it good. If it is a leased thing, it came for its lease."

"16. "If a man entices a virgin who isn't pledged to be married, and lies with her, he shall surely pay a dowry for her to be his wife. 17. If her father utterly refuses to give her to him, he shall pay money according to the dowry of virgins."

"18. "You shall not allow a sorceress to live. 19. "Whoever has sex with an animal shall surely be put to death." (Exodus 22:14-19, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"14. And if a man borrow ought of his neighbour, and it be hurt, or die, the owner thereof being not with it, he shall surely make it good. 15. But if the owner thereof be with it, he shall not make it good: if it be an hired thing, it came for his hire."

"16. And if a man entice a maid that is not betrothed, and lie with her, he shall surely endow her to be his wife. 17. If her father utterly refuse to give her unto him, he shall pay money according to the dowry of virgins. ^{pay: Heb. weigh}"

"18. Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live. 19. Whosoever lieth with a beast shall surely be put to death." (Exodus 22:14-19, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"14. 'And when a man doth ask [anything] from his neighbour, and it hath been hurt or hath died, its owner not being with it, he doth certainly repay; 15. if its owner [is] with it, he doth not repay,, if it [is] a hired thing, it hath come for its hire."

"16. 'And when a man doth entice a virgin who [is] not betrothed, and hath lain with her, he doth certainly endow her to himself for a wife; 17. if her father utterly refuse to give her to him, money he doth weigh out according to the dowry of virgins."

"18. 'A witch thou dost not keep alive. 19. 'Whoever lieth with a beast is certainly put to death." (Exodus 22:14-19, YLT)

Setting

Speaker: YHWH, through Moses
Audience: Israel at Sinai, receiving the Book of the Covenant (Exod 20:22 to 23:33)
Location: the foot of Mount Sinai
Time period: c. 1446 BC (early-date Exodus) or c. 1260 BC (late-date Exodus)

The case sits in a block of civil and property cases (Exod 21:1 to 22:31). It addresses consensual seduction of an unbetrothed virgin daughter still under her father's household, not assault. The Hebrew verb pathah ("entice") in v. 16 carries the sense of persuasion or enticement, distinct from chazaq ("seize, force") used in Deuteronomy 22.28-29 and elsewhere for sexual violence (see Hebrew Verbs for Sexual Contact).

Theological reading

The law protects the woman and her family inside the kinship economy of ancient Near Eastern Israel. An unmarried daughter's marriageability was the family's social and economic security; consensual loss of virginity outside marriage was a real harm to her future prospects. The statute responds in three layers. First, the man must pay the standard mohar (bride-price) for virgins, the same sum he would have paid had he sought her honourably. Second, he must marry her, taking on the long-term responsibility his act has incurred. Third, and decisively, the father may refuse the marriage; in that case the man still pays the bride-price, leaving the family compensated and the daughter free to remain in her father's house. The father's veto matters: it gives the family a legal exit from forced marriage to an opportunist, and gives the woman an off-ramp through her family's voice.

Read alongside Deuteronomy 22.28-29, the broader OT sexual-violence framework distinguishes seduction (Exod 22:16-17, consensual, pathah) from forcible rape (Deut 22:25-27, capital crime, chazaq). The frequent atheist objection collapses all three OT laws into "the Bible forces rape victims to marry their rapists" by ignoring the verb distinctions, the betrothal-status distinctions, and the father's veto here. ris3n's notes treat that objection at length under Rape Only Condemned When Unmarried Objection Defeater and OT Sexual-Violence Laws.

The deeper theology: Israel's case law treats sexual sin as covenant harm, not private taste. Sex outside marriage damages a real person and a real household, and the law assigns real cost to the man who caused the damage. That logic carries into the NT vision of marriage as covenant (cf. Marriage) rather than transactional pairing.

Key words

H1330 - bethulah, bethulah (Strong's H1330). The unbetrothed virgin in view; the standard OT term for a young woman of marriageable age whose status has not changed.

Cross-references

Deuteronomy 22.28-29, the parallel seduction-versus-assault statute, completes the OT picture and is the standard partner-text for this passage.
See Hebrew Verbs for Sexual Contact for the pathah / chazaq / shakab distinctions decisive in the rape-marriage objection.

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.