Exodus 22:17

If her father absolutely refuses to give her to him, the man still must pay an amount comparable to the bridal price of a virgin.

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — The speaker addresses the Israelite community regarding a legal case where a man has slept with an unpledged virgin. The instruction is delivered immediately after Exodus 22:16 establishes the baseline requirement for the man to pay the full dowry and take the woman as his wife.

The words — The Hebrew מָאֵ֧ן (ma'En) and יְמָאֵ֛ן (ye.ma'En) convey absolute refusal, while כְּ/מֹ֖הַר (ke./Mo.har) denotes the fixed bride-price. These terms anchor the financial obligation to a specific standard regardless of paternal consent.

The thread — This bride-price obligation runs parallel to the dowry demands in Genesis 34:12 and the king’s specific dowry request in 1 Samuel 18:25. It also intersects with the broader prohibition against intermarriage found in Deuteronomy 7:3.

Why it lands — The text mandates that the financial penalty remains binding even when the father withholds approval. It requires the reader to apply the law without exception, prioritizing the woman’s compensation and the man’s accountability over familial veto.

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

אִם־'im-if מָאֵ֧ןma.'Enabsolutely <refuse>יְמָאֵ֛ןye.ma.'Enhe will refuse אָבִ֖יהָ'a.Vi./hafather/ her לְתִתָּ֣הּle./ti.Ta/hto/ give/ herל֑וֹl/oto <the>/ himכֶּ֣סֶףKe.sefsilver יִשְׁקֹ֔לyish.Kolhe will weigh out כְּמֹ֖הַרke./Mo.haraccording to/ [the] bride-price of הַבְּתוּלֹֽת׃ סha./be.tu.Lot<the>/ virgins

King James Version

If her father utterly refuse to give her unto him, he shall pay money according to the dowry of virgins.

Cross-references

Genesis 34:12 Demand a high dowry and an expensive gift, and I will give you whatever you ask. Only give me the girl as my wife!”
1 Samuel 18:25 Saul replied, “Say to David, ‘The king desires no other dowry but a hundred Philistine foreskins as revenge on his enemies.’” But Saul intended to cause David’s death at the hands of the Philistines.
Deuteronomy 7:3 Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons,
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 23:16 Abraham agreed to Ephron’s terms and weighed out for him the price he had named in the hearing of the Hittites: four hundred shekels of silver, according to the standard of the merchants.