Verses 25-29 deal with another case: rape. This case assumes that the woman did cry out but was not heard (see verse 27).

In the open country: meaning that it was at a distance from any town. We may express this as “in the fields outside a town” or “away from where people live.”

Who is betrothed: see verse 23.

Seizes her and lies with her: both Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version combine the two actions with the term “rape,” meaning sex by force. In languages that do not have a single term for “rape,” we may say, for example, “forces her to have sex with him.”

Then only the man is to be put to death: in languages that do not use the passive voice, this may be transformed to “they [people not named] shall kill only the man.”

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 .