What Does Deuteronomy 22:14 Mean in the King James?
And give occasions of speech against her, and bring up an evil name upon her, and say, I took this woman, and when I came to her, I found her not a maid:
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The accusation is not merely spoken; it is brought out against her as a name that can shape how others see her.
THE MEANING
The verse presents a man speaking against a woman, saying that after taking her and coming to her, he found her not a maid. His words are framed as an attack on her name, not a neutral report. The charge acts on her public identity even as it remains his assertion.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the idea that an accusation is only a private opinion: here, a charge against her sexual history is treated as an act that places an evil name upon her.
THE ROOT
דְּבָרִים
devarim
GROWS FROM
דבר
To speak; the word-family also refers to a word, matter, or affair.
The Hebrew phrase speaks of “acts of words,” presenting the accusation as something done through speech. In this word-family, speech and the matter being alleged share a root, holding the words and the charge together.
ALSO GROWS
davar: word, matter, or affair
דָּבָר
This branch carries both spoken words and the matter under discussion, echoing how the speech becomes the accusation itself.
dibber: spoke; to speak
דִּבֵּר
This verbal form makes the accusation an act of speaking, as the verse describes the man speaking against her.
וְהוֹצִיא
vehotsi
GROWS FROM
יצא
To go out or emerge; in the causative form, to bring out.
The verb gives the accusation the shape of something brought out against her. The Hebrew root’s sense of going out adds force to “bring up”: he makes the damaging name emerge in speech.
ALSO GROWS
yatsa: went out, came forth
יָצָא
This base form shows the movement of something emerging, while the verse uses a causative form to describe bringing the accusation out.
yetze: will go out, will come forth
יֵצֵא
This form keeps the same root consonants and image of emergence, illuminating the force of making a name come forth against her.
THE PATTERN
Speech becomes consequential when it is brought out as an accusation against someone’s name.
For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful are opened against me: they have spoken against me with a lying tongue.This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not.Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.THE THREAD
And they shall amerce him in an hundred shekels of silver, and give them unto the father of the damsel, because he hath brought up an evil name upon a virgin of Israel: and she shall be his wife; he may not put her away all his days.The phrase “brought up an evil name” returns, making the connection between the accusation and its effect explicit. The verb comes from יצא (yatsa, go out), the same root used here for bringing the name out against her.
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