then you shall cut off her hand. Your eye shall have no pity.
Parallel translations
- KJV Then thou shalt cut off her hand, thine eye shall not pity her.
- BSB you are to cut off her hand. You must show her no pity.
- NKJV then you shall cut off her hand; your eye shall not pity her.
- NASB then you shall cut off her hand; you shall not show pity.
- NLT you must cut off her hand. Show her no pity.
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 penalty prescribed is the cutting off of her hand, without pity. The severity reflects the gravity of an attack that could end a family line.
Overview
This is one of the few Old Testament laws prescribing mutilation, and faithful interpreters differ on whether it was literal or a measured financial penalty in keeping with Israel's wider lex talionis. Either way, the law marks the seriousness of an immodest assault threatening procreation. The principle of 'no pity' shows that justice must not be swayed by partiality, even as the gospel reveals a mercy that does not cancel justice but satisfies it in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 3
- Deut 19:13Your eye shall not pity him, but you shall purge the innocent blood from Israel, that it may go well with you.
- Deut 7:2and when Yahweh your God delivers them up before you, and you strike them; then you shall utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them, nor show mercy to them;
- Deut 19:21Your eyes shall not pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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 25:12 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.