Deuteronomy - 20:7



7 What man is there who has pledged to be married a wife, and has not taken her? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man take her."

Verse In-Depth

Explanation and meaning of Deuteronomy 20:7.

Differing Translations

Compare verses for better understanding.
And what man is there that hath betrothed a wife, and hath not taken her? let him go and return unto his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man take her.
What man is there, that hath espoused a wife, and not taken her? let him go, and return to his house, lest he die in the war, and another man take her.
And who is the man that hath betrothed a woman, and hath not taken her?, let him go and turn back to his house, lest he die in battle, and another man take her.
Or if any man is newly married and has had no sex relations with his wife, let him go back to his house, so that in the event of his death in the fight, another man may not take her.
Et quis est vir qui despondit mulierem, et non accepit eam? abeat et revertatur domum suam ne forte moriatur in praelio, et alius eam accipiat.

*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.


Historical Commentaries

Scholarly Analysis and Interpretation.

Betrothed a wife, and hath not taken her? - It was customary among the Jews to contract matrimony, espouse or betroth, and for some considerable time to leave the parties in the houses of their respective parents: when the bridegroom had made proper preparations, then the bride was brought home to his house, and thus the marriage was consummated. The provisions in this verse refer to a case of this kind; for it was deemed an excessive hardship for a person to be obliged to go to battle, where there was a probability of his being slain, who had left a new house unfinished; a newly purchased heritage half tilled; or a wife with whom he had just contracted marriage. Homer represents the case of Protesilaus as very afflicting, who was obliged to go to the Trojan war, leaving his wife in the deepest distress, and his house unfinished.
Του δε και αμφιδρυφης αλοχος Φυλακῃ ελελειπτο,
Και δομος ἡμιτελης· τον δ' εκτανε Δαρδανος ανηρ,
Νηος αποθρωσκοντα πολυ πρωτιστον Αχαιων.
Iliad, 1. ii., ver. 100.
"A wife he left,
To rend in Phylace her bleeding cheeks,
And an unfinish'd mansion: first he died
Of all the Greeks; for as he leap'd to land,
Long ere the rest, a Dardan struck him dead."
Cowper.

And what man is there that hath betrothed a wife, and hath not taken her?.... Home to his house and bedded with her; has only betrothed her, but is not properly married to her, the nuptials are not completed; this the Jews understand of anyone betrothed to him, whether a virgin or a widow, or the wife of a deceased brother (yea, they say, if his brother is dead in war, he returns and comes home), but not of a former wife divorced and received again (m):
let him go and return unto his house, lest he die in battle, and another man take her; or marry her.
(m) Misn. Sotah, ib. sect. 2.

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