Violation of an Unbetrothed Virgin

Violation of an Unbetrothed Virgin is a law governing a man who has sexual relations with an unbetrothed virgin. It requires him to pay her father fifty shekels of silver and marry her, and bars him from later divorcing her; the provision thus assigns a lasting marital and financial consequence to the man’s act.

The Rule and Its Terms

The provision applies when a man takes hold of an unbetrothed virgin and they are found. It directs him to give the woman’s father fifty shekels of silver and to take her as his wife. He may not put her away for the rest of his life.

The rule names the father as recipient of the payment, while the woman is the person whom the man must marry. Its terms therefore regulate not only the man’s conduct but also the resulting relationship between households, making marriage and an enduring obligation the prescribed outcome.

Placement Among Family Laws

The rule appears in a sequence of provisions that distinguish circumstances of sexual relations and marriage. Nearby laws address adultery, encounters involving a betrothed woman, and accusations made by a husband about his wife’s premarital virginity. The distinction between a betrothed and an unbetrothed woman is therefore consequential: this provision specifies payment and marriage for the latter case.

Other laws in the same legal collection regulate family continuity and marital duties, including inheritance for a firstborn son and a deceased brother’s obligation to preserve his name through an heir. In this context, the prohibition on dismissing the woman after marriage makes the marriage a continuing responsibility rather than a temporary remedy.

Financial and Marital Consequences

The fifty-shekel payment is directed to the woman’s father, and marriage is required alongside it; neither obligation replaces the other. The text does not describe the woman’s own consent or explain how the arrangement is carried out, so those matters cannot be inferred from the rule.

By forbidding the man to divorce her, the provision limits his ability to end the marriage after the payment and marriage have been imposed. Its stated terms connect sexual conduct, a transfer of money within the family, and a durable marital bond.