Exodus 22:17

Summary

The verse continues the case of a man who has had relations with an unbetrothed virgin (v. 16). It addresses the situation where her father refuses to give her to him in marriage, stipulating that the man must still weigh out silver equivalent to the bride-price customarily paid for virgins.

Key words

• ma'En / yema'En ("absolutely refuse" / "he will refuse", H3985) — the infinitive absolute followed by the imperfect of the same piel verb creates an emphatic construction, intensifying the certainty or completeness of the father's refusal ("if he indeed/utterly refuses").
• 'aviha ("her father", H0001G) — noun in construct state bound to the pronominal suffix ha ("her"), forming a possessive unit: "father-of-her."
• tittah ("to give her", H5414G) — qal infinitive with attached object suffix -ah ("her"), expressing the purpose of the refusal: to give her (in marriage).
• yishqol ("he will weigh out", H8254) — qal imperfect, denoting future/ongoing action; the root refers literally to weighing metal on a scale, an archaic mode of payment before coined currency.
• mohar habbetulot ("bride-price of the virgins", H4119 + H1330) — a construct chain: mohar ("bride-price of") governs the definite plural noun habbetulot ("the virgins"), setting the standard rate by comparison.

What the text says

The verse opens with the conditional particle 'im ("if") governing the doubled verb construction ma'En yema'En — infinitive absolute plus finite imperfect of the same root H3985. This grammatical doubling in Biblical Hebrew typically marks emphasis on the verbal action; here it stresses the firmness of the father's refusal ("if he indeed refuses") rather than merely stating a hypothetical possibility.

The subject of this refusal is 'aviha, "her father," where the construct form plus suffix ties the noun directly to the daughter mentioned in the preceding verse. The purpose clause letittah lo ("to give her to him") uses another infinitive, this time in the qal stem, with two pronominal suffixes marking both the female object ("her") and the male recipient ("him") attached to the preposition le ("to").

The apodosis states that kesef yishqol — "silver he will weigh out" — using the verb H8254, which describes the physical act of weighing metal rather than a generic verb for paying or giving. The amount is fixed kemohar habbetulot, "according to the bride-price of the virgins," a construct phrase establishing a customary standard rate rather than a negotiated sum. The Hebrew clause does not explicitly name the subject of yishqol (it is grammatically "he," inferred from context as the man of v. 16) nor a stated recipient of the payment.

Differences between versions

The LXX adds explicit elements absent in the Hebrew: καὶ μὴ βούληται ὁ πατὴρ αὐτῆς ("and the father does not wish") as a parallel restatement of the refusal, and τῷ πατρί ("to the father") specifying the recipient of the silver — information the Hebrew leaves unstated. The Vulgate's reddet pecuniam ("he will return the money") similarly omits an explicit recipient, closer to the Hebrew's silence on this point. The BSB explicitly supplies "the man" as subject of the payment clause, an addition not overtly present in the Hebrew verb form yishqol, which carries no explicit grammatical subject noun.