Deuteronomy 25:11
A plain-spoken deep dive on this verse. Read the chapter →
If two men are fighting, and the wife of one steps in to rescue her husband from the one striking him, and she reaches out her hand and grabs his genitals,
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
"But in order that the great independence which is here accorded to a childless widow in relation to her brother-in-law, might not be interpreted as a false freedom granted to the female sex" (Baumgarten), the law is added immediately afterwards, that a woman whose husband was quarrelling with another, and who should come to his assistance by laying hold of the secret parts of the man who was striking her husband, should have her hand cut off.
Open source ↗Here is, I. A law to moderate the scourging of malefactors (Deu 25:1-3). II. A law in favour of the ox the treads out the corn (Deu 25:4). III. For the disgracing of him that refused to marry his brother's widow (Deu 25:5-10). IV. For the punishment of an immodest woman (Deu 25:11, Deu 25:12). V. For just weights and measures (Deu 25:13-16). VI. For the destroying of Amalek (Deu 25:17, etc.).
Open source ↗25:11-12 cut off her hand: The woman’s act would emasculate the man, depriving him of (or cutting off from him) any offspring. As with the previous law (25:9), the punishment fits the crime (lex talionis; see study note on 19:21).
Open source ↗Cross-references
Other passages the community most often connects to this one. Tap to read.
Likewise, I want the women to adorn themselves with respectable apparel, with modesty, and with self-control, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or expensive clothes,
Why not say, as some slanderously claim that we say, “Let us do evil that good may result”? Their condemnation is deserved!