complete verse (Deuteronomy 22:23)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Deuteronomy 22:23:

  • Kupsabiny: “There may be a girl who has been promised in marriage, and then another man meets the girl in the city and they sleep together.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “If you see an engaged [lit.: marriage agreed upon] woman sleeping with another man, if this happens within a town” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “‘If a man had-sexual-intercourse with a woman who is about-to-be-married already, and this happened in a town,” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “‘Suppose in some town a man sees a young woman who is engaged/promised to be married to another man, and he is caught having sex with her.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Deuteronomy 22:23

Verses 23-24 deal with another case, this one involving a woman who is engaged.

A betrothed virgin: to be betrothed meant that the marriage had already been agreed upon, and a bride-price had been paid by the groom to the woman’s parents. In Israel such people were regarded as already married. So in some languages this first sentence will be expressed as “Suppose a man is caught sleeping with a girl [or, young woman] for whom the bride-price has been paid by another man.”

Lies with her: that is, “Has intercourse with her.” As the next case shows (verses 25-27), it is assumed that she was a willing partner; she was not forced to have sex with the man.

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Deuteronomy. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .