A hundred shekels of silver: this is twice the amount of the standard bride price a groom paid the father (see 22.29). So the young man would have to pay the bride price again, plus an additional fifty shekels. A hundred shekels was worth quite a lot. Translators should avoid transliterating the word “shekel,” as it will be meaningless to the reader. A better model is “a hundred pieces of silver” (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version).

A virgin of Israel: this is a solemn title, indicating the seriousness of the man’s conduct. However, if the use of a technical term meaning virgin sounds strange in this context, we may say, for example, “because the man has disgraced an Israelite girl [or, young woman]” or “… has caused an Israelite young woman to receive shame [or, lose face].” The Contemporary English Version rendering “accused his bride of not being a virgin” doesn’t really bring out the idea of disgrace within the community of Israel.

She shall be his wife; he may not put her away all his days: this is taken to be a good ruling; the young woman’s wishes are of no importance. A good alternative model is “she shall continue to be his wife, and he can never divorce her as long as he lives” (Good News Translation).

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Deuteronomy. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .