Deuteronomy 22:13

"If any man take a wife, and go in unto her, and hate her, and lay shameful things to her charge, and bring up an evil name upon her, and say, I took this woman, and when I came nigh to her, I found not in her the tokens of virginity; then shall the father of the damsel, and her mother, take and bring forth the tokens of the damsel's virginity unto the elders of the city in the gate; and the damsel's father shall say unto the elders, I gave my daughter unto this man to wife, and he hateth her; and lo, he hath laid shameful things to her charge, saying, I found not in thy daughter the tokens of virginity; and yet these are the tokens of my daughter's virginity. And they shall spread the garment before the elders of the city. And the elders of that city shall take the man and chastise him; and they shall fine him a hundred shekels of silver, and give them unto the father 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. But if this thing be true, that the tokens of virginity were not found in the damsel; then they shall bring out the damsel to the door of her father's house, and the men of the city shall stone her to death with stones, because she hath wrought folly in Israel, to play the harlot in her father's house: so shalt thou put away the evil from the midst of thee."

Although such a law as this may seem to us indelicate and cruel, such proofs were considered necessary in the culture of ancient peoples; and "They are still demanded by certain tribes in Syria, Egypt, and Morocco."[14]

"Chastise ..." (Deuteronomy 22:18). The word here means "flog," or "whip."[15]

"Tokens of her virginity ..." is a reference to the blood-stained sheet resulting from the consummation of the marriage. It would appear from the parents of the bride having possession of this that it was customary for them to acquire it upon the occasion of the couple's coming together. There are many literary references to such tokens. Shakespeare, for example, asked a certain woman, "Art thou willing to wear the bloody nightgear for him?"

The triple penalty of whipping, fine, and denial of any subsequent possibility of divorce was considered to be very severe in those times, but it did not at all compare with the harsh penalty of death imposed by stoning upon a damsel declared to be guilty. Note that in the case of a verdict against the damsel, the parents, especially her father, were considered to share in the guilt, since the crime was committed in the father's house, hence, the sight for the execution "at the door of her father's house."