What Does Deuteronomy 22:22 Mean in the King James?
If a man be found lying with a woman married to an husband, then they shall both of them die, both the man that lay with the woman, and the woman: so shalt thou put away evil from Israel.
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 verb behind “put away” can mean “burn” or “consume,” so the two deaths are the stated means of removing evil.
THE MEANING
This verse confronts the reader with a severe claim: sexual betrayal reaches beyond the couple into the community, and both participants die. It makes their deaths the means of removing evil from Israel. The same sentence is named for the man and the woman.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that adultery is only a private matter dissolves here: the verse gives the community a role and names death for both participants.
THE ROOT
וּבִעַרְתָּ
uvi'arta
GROWS FROM
בער
b-ʿ-r
Burn or consume; in this legal formula, remove or eradicate.
“put away” in this verse is uvi'arta. The closing verb can carry the concrete sense “burn” or “consume” as well as “remove.” The verse states that the deaths of both participants are the means by which evil is eradicated from Israel.
ALSO GROWS
baʿar: Burn or consume.
בָּעַר
This concrete sense lies beneath the verb translated “put away.”
biʿer: Clear away or eradicate.
בִּעֵר
This form of the same root appears in removal language like the verse’s closing command.
בְּעֻלַת בַּעַל
be'ulat ba'al
GROWS FROM
בעל
b-ʿ-l
Possess or be master over; as a noun, master, owner, or husband.
“married to an husband” in this verse is be'ulat ba'al. The phrase uses be’ulat ba’al, a term for a married woman built from the word ba’al. That word’s range includes husband, master, and owner, so the Hebrew carries a shade of claim and status within the relationship term.
ALSO GROWS
baʿal: Husband, master, or owner.
בַּעַל
This is the word paired with be’ulat in the verse’s description of the marriage bond.
be'ulah: A married woman.
בְּעוּלָה
This form names the woman through the same root as ba’al, making the bond visible in Hebrew.
THE PATTERN
When wrongdoing is treated as a communal threat, the text assigns the community the work of removing it.
The hands of the witnesses shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterward the hands of all the people. So thou shalt put the evil away from among you.And the man that committeth adultery with another man’s wife, even he that committeth adultery with his neighbour’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.THE THREAD
And it shall be at that day, saith the LORD, that thou shalt call me Ishi; and shalt call me no more Baali.Deuteronomy’s בְּעֻלַת בַּעַל (be’ulat ba’al, “a married woman”) shares בעל (baʿal) with Hosea’s בַּעְלִי (baʿali, “my master/husband”). Hosea’s contrast with אִישִׁי (ishi, “my man/husband”) makes the wider master and owner shade in Deuteronomy’s word for husband visible.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us