Deuteronomy 21:14

And if you are not pleased with her, you are to let her go wherever she wishes. But you must not sell her for money or treat her as a slave, since you have dishonored her.

Berean Standard Bible

Follow its threads on the canvas →

Study note

Setting — Moses addresses Israel in the plains of Moab, prescribing covenant law for a captive woman who has been taken as a wife.

The words — חָפַצְתָּ (cha.fatz.ta) means "you delight" or "you are pleased," and שִׁלַּחְתָּהּ (shi.lach.tah) means "you will let her go."

The thread — The prohibition against commodifying her appears in Deuteronomy 21:14, while Deuteronomy 22:29 and Genesis 34:2 provide parallel legal and narrative contexts regarding forced relations and marital status.

Why it lands — The text commands immediate emancipation and forbids selling or enslaving the woman, establishing that the husband’s prior sexual violation creates an ongoing obligation to protect her freedom.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Hebrew words

וְהָיָ֞הve./ha.Yahand/ it will be אִם־'im-if לֹ֧אlo'not חָפַ֣צְתָּcha.Fatz.tayou delightבָּ֗הּBa/hin <the>/ herוְשִׁלַּחְתָּהּ֙ve./shi.lach.Ta/hand/ you will let go/ her לְנַפְשָׁ֔הּle./naf.Sha/hfor/ self/ her וּמָכֹ֥רu./ma.Khorand/ certainly <sell>לֹא־lo'-not תִמְכְּרֶ֖נָּהtim.ke.Re./nahyou will sell/ her בַּכָּ֑סֶףba./Ka.seffor <the>/ money לֹא־lo'-not תִתְעַמֵּ֣רtit.'a.Meryou will treat as a slaveבָּ֔הּBa/h<in> <the>/ herתַּ֖חַתTa.chatbecause אֲשֶׁ֥ר'a.Sherthat עִנִּיתָֽהּ׃ ס'i.ni.Ta/hyou have humiliated/ her

King James Version

And it shall be, if thou have no delight in her, then thou shalt let her go whither she will; but thou shalt not sell her at all for money, thou shalt not make merchandise of her, because thou hast humbled her.

Cross-references

Deuteronomy 22:29 then the man who lay with her must pay the young woman’s father fifty shekels of silver, and she must become his wife because he has violated her. He must not divorce her as long as he lives.
Genesis 34:2 When Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the region, saw her, he took her and lay with her by force.
Deuteronomy 22:19 They are also to fine him a hundred shekels of silver and give them to the young woman’s father, because this man has given a virgin of Israel a bad name. And she shall remain his wife; he must not divorce her as long as he lives.
Deuteronomy 22:24 you must take both of them out to the gate of that city and stone them to death—the young woman because she did not cry out in the city, and the man because he has violated his neighbor’s wife. So you must purge the evil from among you.
Exodus 21:7 And if a man sells his daughter as a servant, she is not to go free as the menservants do.
Judges 19:24 Look, let me bring out my virgin daughter and the man’s concubine, and you can use them and do with them as you wish. But do not do such a vile thing to this man.”