Bible Commentaries

Thou shalt not see thy brother's ox or his sheep go astray, and ^a hide thyself from them: thou shalt in any case bring them again unto thy brother.

(a) As though your did not see it.

And if thy brother [be] not ^b nigh unto thee, or if thou know him not, then thou shalt bring it unto thine own house, and it shall be with thee until thy brother seek after it, and thou shalt restore it to him again.

(b) Showing that brotherly affection must be shown, not only to those who dwell near to us, but also to those who are far off.

In like manner shalt thou do with his ^c ass; and so shalt thou do with his raiment; and with all lost thing of thy brother's, which he hath lost, and thou hast found, shalt thou do likewise: thou mayest not hide thyself.

(c) You are bound to do much more for your neighbour.

The ^d woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman's garment: for all that do so [are] abomination unto the LORD thy God.

(d) For that alters the order of nature, and shows that you despise God.

If a bird's nest chance to be before thee in the way in any tree, or on the ground, [whether they be] young ones, or eggs, and the dam sitting upon the young, or upon the eggs, ^e thou shalt not take the dam with the young:

(e) If God detests cruelty done to little birds, how much more to man, made according to his image?

Thou shalt not ^f sow thy vineyard with divers seeds: lest the fruit of thy seed which thou hast sown, and the fruit of thy vineyard, be defiled.

(f) The tenor of this law is to walk in simplicity and not to be curious about new fads.

And give ^g occasions of speech against her, and bring up an evil name upon her, and say, I took this woman, and when I came to her, I found her not a maid:

(g) That is, be an occasion that she is slandered.

And, lo, he hath given occasions of speech [against her], saying, I found not thy daughter a maid; and yet these [are the tokens of] my daughter's virginity. And they shall spread the ^h cloth before the elders of the city.

(h) Meaning, the sheet, in which the signs of her virginity were.

And they shall amerce him in an hundred [shekels] of silver, and give [them] unto the father ⁱ of the damsel, because he hath brought up an evil name upon a virgin of Israel: and she shall be his wife; he may not put her away all his days.

(i) For the fault of the child becomes the shame of the parents: therefore he was recompensed when she was faultless.

But unto the damsel thou shalt do nothing; [there is] in the damsel no sin [worthy] of death: for as when a man riseth against his neighbour, and slayeth him, even so ^k [is] this matter:

(k) Meaning, that the innocent cannot be punished.

A man shall not ^l take his father's wife, nor discover his father's skirt.

(l) He shall not lie with his stepmother, meaning by this all other variations forbidden in (Leviticus 18:1-30).