What does the Bible say about rape?

[tonychanyt]

Unlike English, in Biblical Hebrew, there was not an unambiguous word that meant to rape. There were some descriptions of the concept of rape in the OT.

ESV, Genesis 34:

1Now Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to see the women of the land. 2 And when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her, he seized her and lay with her and humiliated her.

Note the verbs.

New International Version: When Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, the ruler of that area, saw her, he took her and raped her.

At Biblehub, 10 out of 35 translations used the word "raped".

But then:

3 And his soul was drawn to Dinah the daughter of Jacob. He loved the young woman and spoke tenderly to her. 4So Shechem spoke to his father Hamor, saying, “Get me this girl for my wife.”

The Bible does not describe how Dinah felt about it from her point of view.

As punishment,

25b two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, took their swords and came against the city while it felt secure and killed all the males. 26 They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with the sword and took Dinah out of Shechem’s house and went away.

What did Moses Law say about rape?

Deuteronomy 22:

23If there is a virgin pledged in marriage to a man, and another man encounters her in the city and sleeps with her, 24you must take both of them out to the gate of that city and stone them to death—the young woman because she did not cry out in the city, and the man because he has violated his neighbor’s wife. So you must purge the evil from among you.

Presumably, crying out would bring in witnesses and help. If a betrothed virgin did not cry out and had sexual intercourse with a man, it wasn't rape. Kill them both.

25 But if the man encounters a betrothed woman in the open country, and he overpowers her and lies with her, only the man who has done this must die. 26 Do nothing to the young woman, because she has committed no sin worthy of death. This case is just like one in which a man attacks his neighbor and murders him. 27 When he found her in the field, the betrothed woman cried out, but there was no one to save her.

If a betrothed woman cried out and had sex with a man, it was rape. Kill only the man

28If a man encounters a virgin who is not pledged in marriage, and he seizes her and lies with her, and they are discovered, 29then the man who lay with her must pay the young woman’s father fifty shekels of silver, and she must become his wife because he has violated her. He must not divorce her as long as he lives.

In this case, there was no mention of crying out. If a non-betrothed virgin had sexual intercourse with a man, he didn't need to be executed. It is arguable whether this was a case of rape or not,

What about the case of a man raping someone's wife?

The Law did not specify this case precisely. However, it did say:

22 If a man is found lying with another man’s wife, both the man who slept with her and the woman must die. You must purge the evil from Israel.

I assume that she didn't cry out. If she had cried out, then only the man would be executed.

The NT does not mention rape explicitly.

In any case, these were antiquated laws particular to its time and culture. Our modern legal and ethical understanding of the concept of rape is more precise and defined.

See also What did Moses say about rapists?