But if a man find a betrothed damsel in the field, and the man force her, and lie with her: then the man only that lay with her shall die:
If a man find a betrothed damsel. If a young woman was seduced after betrothal, and before the consummation of her marriage, both she and her seducer were to be put to death. But if she was forced, the man only who committed the rape was to suffer for the violence, which was regarded as a capital crime. In the case of a maiden not betrothed being seduced, the man was obliged to marry her, and he forfeited the right possessed by other husbands of giving her a divorce. But her father might refuse to allow the marriage, and in that case the seducer had to pay her a dowry (cf. Exodus 22:16-17). These stringent laws were calculated to exert a powerful influence, not only over young women themselves, but over their parents, in increasing their vigilance in preserving the chastity of their daughters.