What Does Deuteronomy 22:5 Mean?
A woman shall not wear a man's gear, and a man shall not put on a woman's cloak, for the LORD your God recoils from all who do these things.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman’s garment: for all that do so are abomination unto the LORD thy God.THE KEY
The verse draws its boundary in two different images: a man’s article is forbidden upon a woman, while a man’s act of putting on a woman’s garment is forbidden.
THE MEANING
This verse places dress within a visible boundary between woman and man: the first clause names a man’s article upon a woman, and the second names a man putting on a woman’s garment. It calls crossing that boundary an abomination to the LORD your God; the wording is categorical and direct.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse overturns the idea that what someone wears is always without spiritual significance: here, the text attaches moral weight to the clothing boundary.
THE ROOT
יִלְבַּשׁ
yilbash
GROWS FROM
לבש
to put on, clothe
“put on” in this verse is yilbash. The root connects the act of dressing with the clothing itself, so wearing is more than an incidental detail: it is something taken onto the body. The verse pairs that active act in its second half with the image of a man’s article resting upon a woman in its first.
ALSO GROWS
levush: clothing, attire
לְבוּשׁ
This noun names what is put on, keeping the act and the garment in one word-family.
malbush: garment, clothing
מַלְבּוּשׁ
This branch also names the covering itself, linking the verb of dressing to the visible thing worn.
THE PATTERN
Scripture uses clothing as a visible sign of what marks or covers a person.
I put on alignment, and it clothed me; my judgment was like a robe and a turban.For as many of you as have been immersed into the Anointed One have put on the Anointed One.THE THREAD
I put on alignment, and it clothed me; my judgment was like a robe and a turban.The Hebrew verb translated “put on” in Deuteronomy and Job comes from the same root, לבש (labash), “to put on, clothe.” In Deuteronomy it names putting on a garment; Job uses the same clothing language for being covered in righteousness.
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