13 Bible Verses About Rape

Deuteronomy 22:25-27

“But if out in the country a man happens to meet a young woman pledged to be married and rapes her, only the man who has done this shall die. Do nothing to the woman; she has committed no sin deserving death. This case is like that of someone who attacks and murders a neighbor, for the man found the young woman out in the country, and though the betrothed woman screamed, there was no one to rescue her.”

Reflection: The law sets two cases side by side. In a town, a betrothed woman is stoned with the man “because she was in a town and did not scream for help” (verses 23-24). In the open country the man alone is put to death and the woman is declared free of sin. Verse 26 compares the case to “someone who attacks and murders a neighbor,” and verse 27 takes it as given that she screamed and no one was there to rescue her.

Deuteronomy 22:28-29

“If a man happens to meet a virgin who is not pledged to be married and rapes her and they are discovered, he shall pay her father fifty shekels of silver. He must marry the young woman, for he has violated her. He can never divorce her as long as he lives.”

Reflection: The next case in the chapter concerns a virgin who is not pledged to be married. The man pays her father fifty shekels of silver, must marry her “for he has violated her,” and loses the right to divorce her. Exodus 22:16-17 sets out a similar case using the word “seduces” and lets the father refuse the marriage while still receiving the bride-price. Neither law mentions the woman’s own wishes.

2 Samuel 13:12-14

““No, my brother!” she said to him. “Don’t force me! Such a thing should not be done in Israel! Don’t do this wicked thing. What about me? Where could I get rid of my disgrace? And what about you? You would be like one of the wicked fools in Israel. Please speak to the king; he will not keep me from being married to you.” But he refused to listen to her, and since he was stronger than she, he raped her.”

Reflection: Amnon, a son of David, has his sister Tamar alone in his room. She refuses him in plain words, calls the act wicked and says “such a thing should not be done in Israel,” nearly the words the narrator uses in Genesis 34:7 to explain why Jacob’s sons were furious at Dinah’s rape, “a thing that should not be done.” The narrator states that “since he was stronger than she, he raped her.” Afterward Tamar tore her robe, put ashes on her head and lived in Absalom’s house “a desolate woman” (13:19-20), after Absalom had told her, “Be quiet for now, my sister; he is your brother.”

Psalm 10:17-18

“You, LORD, hear the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry, defending the fatherless and the oppressed, so that mere earthly mortals will never again strike terror.”

Reflection: Psalm 10 describes a man who “lies in wait to catch the helpless” and tells himself, “God will never notice” (verses 9 and 11). The psalm answers him in verse 14: “But you, God, see the trouble of the afflicted.” Its last verses say that God hears the afflicted and defends the oppressed, “so that mere earthly mortals will never again strike terror.”

Psalm 55:22

“Cast your cares on the LORD and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous be shaken.”

Reflection: In Psalm 55 David is attacked by “my companion, my close friend” (verse 13), someone he once walked beside at the house of God. He writes of horror, of wishing for “the wings of a dove” to fly away, and of a friend whose words were “more soothing than oil, yet they are drawn swords” (verse 21). Verse 22 turns from the complaint to the listener with “Cast your cares on the Lord,” and the psalm closes with “But as for me, I trust in you.”

Psalm 13:1-2

“How long, LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me?”

Reflection: David asks “How long?” again and again, about God’s silence, about sorrow “day after day” and about an enemy who triumphs. The psalm ends in trust, “But I trust in your unfailing love” (verse 5), and it says nothing about the enemy having gone.

Psalm 22:1-2

“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish? My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, but I find no rest.”

Reflection: The psalm opens with a cry made by day and by night that has received no answer. Jesus cried its opening question from the cross, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” which Matthew translates “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46). The psalmist addresses the complaint to God himself, calling him “My God” while asking why he is “so far from saving me.”

Lamentations 3:19-23

“I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”

Reflection: Lamentations mourns the ruin of Jerusalem, and among its losses it records that “women have been violated in Zion” (5:11). The hope in verse 21 comes through memory, “Yet this I call to mind,” while the poet still says, “I well remember” the bitterness.

Psalm 34:18

“The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”

Reflection: The heading ties Psalm 34 to the time David pretended to be insane before Abimelek. The verse before says “The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them,” and the verse after admits that “the righteous person may have many troubles” before adding that the Lord delivers him from them all.

Isaiah 61:1

“The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners.”

Reflection: The speaker is anointed to bind up the brokenhearted and to “comfort all who mourn,” giving them “a crown of beauty instead of ashes” (verse 3). Jesus read from this passage in the synagogue at Nazareth and said, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:21).

Revelation 21:4

“‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

Reflection: In John’s vision of a new heaven and a new earth, a voice from the throne announces that God will live among his people and wipe every tear from their eyes. The one seated on the throne then says, “I am making everything new!” (verse 5). The promise belongs to the time when “the old order of things has passed away.”

Proverbs 31:8-9

“Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.”

Reflection: King Lemuel records what his mother taught him (31:1). She warns that drink can make rulers “deprive all the oppressed of their rights” (verse 5), then tells him to speak up and judge fairly for those who cannot speak for themselves. The charge is given to a king, the person with the power to judge.

Isaiah 1:17

“Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.”

Reflection: God refuses to listen to Judah’s prayers because “your hands are full of blood” (verse 15). The commands to seek justice and defend the oppressed follow directly on “Wash and make yourselves clean” in verse 16.