Bible Strands
Deuteronomy 25:11
If two men are fighting, and the wife of one comes to rescue her husband from the one striking him, and she reaches out her hand and grabs his genitals,
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Moses delivers these statutes to Israel on the plains of Moab, concluding the covenant renewal before the nation crosses the Jordan. The verse functions as a civil regulation within a broader legal passage addressing public order and personal injury.
The words — The text highlights יִנָּצ֨וּ (yi.na.Tzu), meaning "they will be struggling together," and אֵ֣שֶׁת ('E.shet), meaning "the wife of." These terms establish the scene as a sudden, violent intervention by a spouse during a physical altercation.
The thread — The regulation appears in the immediate context of Deuteronomy 25:10 and Deuteronomy 25:12, which prescribe the removal of the sandal and the cutting off of the hand. The supplied cross-references in Romans 3:8 and 1 Timothy 2:9 address unrelated ethical and domestic instructions.
Why it lands — The text states that a woman who grabs a man's genitals during a fight must have her hand cut off without pity. It requires readers to accept the law's explicit focus on halting escalation and enforcing strict, unmerited penalties.
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
King James Version
When men strive together one with another, and the wife of the one draweth near for to deliver her husband out of the hand of him that smiteth him, and putteth forth her hand, and taketh him by the secrets:
Cross-references
- Romans 3:8 Why not say, as some slanderously claim that we say, “Let us do evil that good may result”? Their condemnation is deserved!
- 1 Timothy 2:9 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,