then you shall bring her home to your house, and she shall shave her head and trim her nails.
Parallel translations
- WEB then you shall bring her home to your house. She shall shave her head and trim her nails.
- KJV Then thou shalt bring her home to thine house; and she shall shave her head, and pare her nails;
- BSB then you shall bring her into your house. She must shave her head, trim her nails,
- NASB then you shall bring her into your home, and she shall shave her head and trim her nails.
- NLT If this happens, you may take her to your home, where she must shave her head, cut her nails,
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The captive woman is brought into the home and shaves her head and trims her nails. These acts mark a transition out of her former life into a new identity.
Overview
Bringing her into the house, rather than the camp, signals protection and the beginning of a marriage process. Shaving the head and trimming the nails were likely signs of mourning and of purification, marking a clear break from her past. The law slows the man's desire and gives the woman space to grieve and transition, showing unusual sensitivity for its time.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 4
- Num 6:9“‘If any man dies very suddenly beside him, and he defiles the head of his separation; then he shall shave his head in the day of his cleansing. On the seventh day he shall shave it.
- Lev 14:9It shall be on the seventh day, that he shall shave all his hair off his head and his beard and his eyebrows, even all his hair he shall shave off. He shall wash his clothes, and he shall bathe his body in water, then he shall be clean.
- Eph 4:22that you put away, as concerning your former way of life, the old man, that grows corrupt after the lusts of deceit;
- 1 Cor 11:6For if a woman is not covered, let her hair also be cut off. But if it is shameful for a woman to have her hair cut off or be shaved, let her be covered.
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Christ at the center
Moses promised a Prophet like himself to whom Israel must listen (18:15); Jesus is that Prophet, the one who keeps the covenant we broke and becomes the curse for us by hanging on a tree (Gal 3:13).
How Deuteronomy 21:12 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.