Wives from War
Deuteronomy 21:10-14
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Deu.21.10 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- כי: CONJ
- תצא: VERB,qal,impf,2,ms
- למלחמה: PREP+NOUN,f,sg,abs
- על: PREP
- איביך: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- ונתנו: CONJ+VERB,qal,perf,3,m,pl
- יהוה: NOUN,prop,m,sg,abs
- אלהיך: NOUN,m,sg,prsuf-2ms
- בידך: PREP+NOUN,f,sg,suff,2,m,sg
- ושבית: VERB,qal,impf,2,m,sg
- שביו: NOUN,m,sg,abs
Parallels
- Deuteronomy 20:10-14 (structural): Closest legal context: rules for approaching a city in wartime and the distinction between killing the males and taking women, children, livestock, and goods as spoil — frames Deut 21:10’s rules about captives.
- Numbers 31:7-18 (verbal): Account of Israel taking Midianite captives after battle and subsequent instructions about the treatment of women and children; echoes the language and practical issues raised by taking prisoners in wartime.
- Judges 21:10-24 (thematic): Narrative of the Israelites seizing women after internal warfare (the Benjamites episode) and allocating captives as wives — a parallel instance of post-battle captive-taking and its social/legal consequences.
- 1 Samuel 15:2-3 (thematic): Divine command to destroy Amalek and put men, women, children, and animals under the ban; thematically related as another instance where warfare and the fate of captives are determined by divine command or sanction.
Alternative generated candidates
- When you go out to war against your enemies, and the LORD your God gives them into your hand and you take captives,
- When you go out to war against your enemies, and the LORD your God gives them into your hand, and you take some of them captive.
Deu.21.11 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- וראית: VERB,qal,perf,2,m,sg
- בשביה: PREP+NOUN,f,sg,abs
- אשת: NOUN,f,sg,cns
- יפת: ADJ,f,sg,cons
- תאר: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- וחשקת: VERB,qal,perf,2,m,sg
- בה: PREP+PRON,3,f,sg
- ולקחת: VERB,qal,impf,2,m,sg
- לך: PRON,2,m,sg
- לאשה: PREP+NOUN,f,sg,abs
Parallels
- Deut.21.12-14 (structural): Immediate continuation of the same law: prescribes the procedures (shaving, mourning, waiting a month) and the conditional release if the husband is not pleased — directly expands and governs the taking of a captive woman as wife.
- Numbers 31:17-18 (verbal): Moses commands the Israelites to kill Midianite males but keep the young virgin women for themselves; closely parallels Deut.21:10–14 in treating captive women as objects for sexual/marital use and regulating their disposition.
- Judges 21:10-24 (thematic): After the war with Benjamin the Israelites obtain wives for the surviving Benjaminites by seizing women from Shiloh (including abduction at the dances); illustrates a communal practice of acquiring wives from defeated groups similar to Deut.21:11–14.
- Leviticus 25:44-46 (thematic): Permits Israelites to possess foreign slaves and treat them as hereditary property; thematically related in treating non-Israelite captives as legally subordinate and transferable, bearing on the social status of captive women mentioned in Deut.21:11.
Alternative generated candidates
- and you see among the captives a woman of beautiful appearance, and you desire her and would take her for yourself to be a wife,
- And you see among the captives a woman of beautiful appearance, and you desire her and take her to be your wife.
Deu.21.12 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- והבאתה: VERB,hiphil,perf,2,m,sg
- אל: NEG
- תוך: PREP
- ביתך: NOUN,m,sg,abs+2ms
- וגלחה: VERB,qal,perf,3,f,sg
- את: PRT,acc
- ראשה: NOUN,m,sg,abs,3,f,sg
- ועשתה: VERB,qal,perf,3,f,sg
- את: PRT,acc
- צפרניה: NOUN,f,pl,suff
Parallels
- Deut.21.13 (structural): Immediate continuation of the same law—after shaving and trimming, she puts off her captive garb and may mourn a month before marriage (same legal sequence).
- Judg.21:10–12 (thematic): Episode of acquiring wives for Benjamin after battle; both passages regulate the assimilation of women captured in wartime and communal arrangements for providing wives. (Judg.21:12: bringing young virgins to Shiloh.)
- Num.31:18 (thematic): War-captive women in the Midianite campaign—both texts deal with the disposition and treatment of women taken in war and the question of keeping them as wives. (Num.31 addresses which captives were retained.)
- Lev.14:8–9 (verbal): Shaving of hair occurs as part of a ritual/transition (here cleansing of a healed leper); parallels the physical act of shaving the head as a mark of status change in Deut.21:12. (Both prescribe shaving as a ritual action.)
- Num.6:18 (thematic): Nazirite completion requires shaving the head at the tent of meeting—another instance where shaving the head marks the end of a prior state and the transition to a new ritual/social status, echoing the transitional function in Deut.21:12.
Alternative generated candidates
- then you shall bring her into your house; and she shall shave her head and pare her nails.
- You shall bring her into your house; she shall shave her head and pare her nails.
Deu.21.13 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- והסירה: VERB,hiphil,perf,3,m,sg
- את: PRT,acc
- שמלת: NOUN,f,sg,cstr
- שביה: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- מעליה: PREP+PRON,3,f,sg
- וישבה: VERB,qal,perf,3,f,sg
- בביתך: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs+PRON,2,m,sg
- ובכתה: CONJ+VERB,qal,perf,3,f,sg
- את: PRT,acc
- אביה: NOUN,m,sg,suff
- ואת: CONJ
- אמה: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- ירח: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ימים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- ואחר: CONJ
- כן: ADV
- תבוא: VERB,qal,impf,2,m,sg
- אליה: PREP+PRON,3,f,sg
- ובעלתה: CONJ+VERB,qal,impf,2,m,sg,obj:3,f,sg
- והיתה: VERB,qal,perf,3,f,sg
- לך: PRON,2,m,sg
- לאשה: PREP+NOUN,f,sg,abs
Parallels
- Deut.21:10-14 (structural): Immediate context: the full law regulating the treatment of a female captive, including removal of her captive's garments, a mourning period, and subsequent marriage procedures.
- Exod.21:7-11 (thematic): Law concerning a slave girl who becomes a wife or concubine; both passages regulate the transition from captive/servant status into a domestic/marital relationship and prescribe protections and procedures.
- Num.31:17-18 (thematic): Regulations after warfare concerning female captives (keeping virgins) and distribution; parallels concern wartime capture and the fates/uses of women taken in war.
- Judg.21:10-14 (thematic): Narrative account of obtaining women as wives for the Benjaminites after conflict; reflects a practical/ethical analog to Deuternomic rules about captive women and marriage.
- 2 Sam.13:19 (verbal): Tamar's tearing of her garment and putting ashes on her head expresses mourning and violated chastity; parallels Deut.'s concern with the captive's change of garments and a period of mourning before marriage.
Alternative generated candidates
- She shall put off the garb of her captivity from her, and shall remain in your house and mourn for her father and for her mother a full month; and after that you shall go in to her and be her husband, and she shall be your wife.
- She shall remove the garment of her captivity, and shall sit in your house and mourn her father and her mother for a full month; then you shall go in to her and become her husband, and she shall be your wife.
Deu.21.14 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- והיה: VERB,qal,imperfect,3,m,sg
- אם: CONJ
- לא: PART_NEG
- חפצת: VERB,qal,perf,2,m,sg
- בה: PREP+PRON,3,f,sg
- ושלחתה: CONJ+VERB,qal,perf,2,m,sg+PRON,3,f,sg
- לנפשה: PREP+NOUN,f,sg,abs+PRON,3,f,sg
- ומכר: CONJ+VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- לא: PART_NEG
- תמכרנה: VERB,qal,impf,3,f,pl
- בכסף: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- לא: PART_NEG
- תתעמר: VERB,hitpael,impf,2,m,sg
- בה: PREP+PRON,3,f,sg
- תחת: PREP
- אשר: PRON,rel
- עניתה: VERB,qal,perf,2,m,sg
Parallels
- Exodus 21:7-11 (verbal): Both passages use similar legal language regulating the status of a woman who is placed in a man's household against her will and provide rules for her release/redemption rather than treating her purely as chattel.
- Numbers 31:17-18 (thematic): Both deal with women taken in war; Numbers 31 prescribes sparing young virgins as spoil, whereas Deut 21:10–14 governs a captive woman taken as wife and forbids selling her — together they form Israelite legal responses to wartime captives.
- Deuteronomy 22:28-29 (structural): Both are part of Deuteronomic legislation regulating sexual relations and marital obligations after non-consensual or forced sexual encounters (Deut 21:10–14 for a captive woman; 22:28–29 for a man who has lain with an unbetrothed virgin).
- Judges 21:10-14 (thematic): Narrative instance of Israelite men seizing women as wives after conflict; provides a practical, non-legal parallel to the institutionalized regulations in Deut 21 governing capture and marriage of women after war.
- Leviticus 25:44-46 (thematic): Leviticus permits buying and holding certain persons as servants, which contrasts with Deut 21:14’s explicit prohibition on selling a captive wife or making merchandise of her — highlighting different legal treatments of persons and profit from them.
Alternative generated candidates
- And if you are not pleased with her and send her away, you shall not sell her for money, nor shall you treat her as a slave; for you have humbled her.
- If you are not pleased with her, you shall let her go wherever she wishes; you shall not sell her for money, nor shall you treat her harshly, for you have humbled her.
When you go out to war against your enemies, and the LORD your God gives them into your hand and you take them captive,
and you see among the captives a woman of fair appearance and you desire her and would take her for a wife,
then you shall bring her into your house, and she shall shave her head and pare her nails;
and you shall remove the captive woman's garments from her, and she shall sit in your house and mourn for her father and mother a full month; then you may go in to her and be her husband, and she shall be your wife.
If you are not pleased with her and send her away free, you shall not sell her for money, nor shall you oppress her, for you have humbled her.