Skip Navigation

Journal of Semitic Studies 2004 49(1):47-58; doi:10.1093/jss/49.1.47
© 2004 by University of Manchester
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Walsh, J. T.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

‘You Shall Cut off Her...Palm’? A Reexamination of Deuteronomy 25:11–12

Jerome T. Walsh

University of Dallas, Texas

This article argues that the most likely translation for Deut. 25:12a is ‘you shall shave [the hair of] her groin’. This reading is philologically and lexically superior to the standard translations, and it resolves the anomaly of one and only one law in the entire Israelite corpus that imposes physical mutilation as a punishment. It also addresses problems that divide commentators into two camps: those who see the punishment as talionic and those who see it as based on the shamefulness of the woman's deed. By reducing the severity of the punishment from the permanency of amputation to the temporary humiliation of depilation, it allows the punishment to be seen as both. She has humiliated a man publicly by an assault on his genitalia (presumably without serious injury to them); her punishment is public genital humiliation, similarly without permanent injury.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer:
Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.