Deuteronomy 22:8

When thou buildest a new house, then thou shalt make a battlement for thy roof, that thou bring not blood upon thine house, if any man fall from thence.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
buildest	תִבְנֶה֙ tiv.Neh	H1129	to build (literally and figuratively) · verb, qal imperfect, 2nd person masculine singular
new	חָדָ֔שׁ cha.Dash	H2319	new · adjective, masculine singular absolute
house	בַּ֣יִת Ba.yit	H1004	a house (in the greatest variation of applications · noun, common masculine singular absolute
make	וְעָשִׂ֥יתָ ve.'a.Si.ta	H6213	to do or make · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 2nd person masculine singular
battlement	מַעֲקֶ֖ה ma.'a.Keh	H4624	a parapet · noun, common masculine singular absolute
roof	לְגַגֶּ֑ךָ le.ga.Ge.kha	H1406	a roof · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
bring	תָשִׂ֤ים ta.Sim	H7760	to put (used in a great variety of applications · verb, qal imperfect, 2nd person masculine singular
blood	דָּמִים֙ da.Mim	H1818	blood (as that which when shed causes death) of man or… · noun, common masculine plural absolute
house	בְּבֵיתֶ֔ךָ be.vei.Te.kha	H1004	a house (in the greatest variation of applications · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
man	יִפֹּ֥ל yi.Pol	H5307	to fall · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
fall	הַנֹּפֵ֖ל ha.no.Fel	H5307	to fall · definite article + verb, qal active participle, masculine singular absolute

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Exodus 21:28-36 If an ox gore a man or a woman, that they die: then the ox shall be surely stoned, and his flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the ox…
2 Samuel 11:2 And it came to pass in an eveningtide, that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king’s house: and from the roof he…
Isaiah 22:1 The burden of the valley of vision. What aileth thee now, that thou art wholly gone up to the housetops?
Jeremiah 19:13 And the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Judah, shall be defiled as the place of Tophet, because of all the houses upon w…
Mark 2:4 And when they could not come nigh unto him for the press, they uncovered the roof where he was: and when they had broken it up, they let dow…
Exodus 22:6 If fire break out, and catch in thorns, so that the stacks of corn, or the standing corn, or the field, be consumed therewith; he that kindl…
Matthew 10:27 What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light: and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops.
Acts 10:9 On the morrow, as they went on their journey, and drew nigh unto the city, Peter went up upon the housetop to pray about the sixth hour:

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Deuteronomy 22:5-12

Here are several laws in these verses which seem to stoop very low, and to take cognizance of things mean and minute. Men's laws commonly do not so: De minimis non curat lex - The law takes no cognizance of little things; but because God's providence extends itself to the smallest affairs, his precepts do so, that even in them we may be in the fear of the Lord, as we are under his eye and care. And yet the significancy and tendency of these statutes, which seem little, are such that, notwithstanding their minuteness, being fond among the things of God's law, which he has written to us, they are to be accounted great things. I. The distinction of sexes by the apparel is to be kept up, for the…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Deuteronomy 22:8

thou shalt make a battlement for thy roof, that thou bring not blood upon thine house, if any man fall from thence--The tops of houses in ancient Judea, as in the East still, were flat, being composed of branches or twigs laid across large beams, and covered with a cement of clay or strong plaster. They were surrounded by a parapet breast high. In summer the roof is a favorite resort for coolness, and accidents would frequently happen from persons incautiously approaching the edge and falling into the street or court; hence it was a wise and prudent precaution in the Jewish legislator to provide that a stone balustrade or timber railing round the roof should form an essential part of every n…

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John Gill on Deuteronomy 22:8

When thou buildest a new house,.... Which is to be understood of a house to dwell in, not of a granary, barn, or stable, or such like, and every house that is not four cubits square, as Maimonides observes (f): then thou shalt make a battlement for thy roof; in the Talmud (g) it is asked, what is the meaning of, or why is it said, "thy roof?" to except synagogues and schools; the gloss upon which is, synagogues, &c. do not belong to any single person, and besides are no dwelling place. A battlement, as Jarrift describes it, was a fence round the roof; or, as more fully described by Kimchi (h), it was an edifice made for a roof round about it, ten hands high, or more, that a person might not…

The Church Fathers

When you build a house, you do not quit before building the protective parapet of the house. It is this parapet that prevents one who has ascended onto the house from falling. So it is with the house of the Word. Consequently those who fall because of unfinished buildings fall only from houses which lack the parapet. Those architects and builders bear the blame for such slaughters and falls.
— Origen of Alexandria, COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 6.7

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Battlement — A parapet wall or balustrade surrounding the flat roofs of the houses, required to be built by a special law (Deut. 22:8). In Jer. 5:10, it denotes the parapet of a city wall.
House — Till their sojourn in Egypt the Hebrews dwelt in tents. They then for the first time inhabited cities (Gen. 47:3; Ex. 12:7; Heb. 11:9). From the earliest times the Assyrians and the Canaanites were…
Battlements · On the roofs of houses — On the roofs of houses
Homicide · FELONIOUS, OR MUR — FELONIOUS, OR MUR
House · .Battlements required in Mosaic law — .Battlements required in Mosaic law
Houses · The flat roofs of: Surrounded with battlements — The flat roofs of: Surrounded with battlements

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

Deuteronomy 22:8

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Deuteronomy 22:5-12

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Deuteronomy 22:8

John Gill on Deuteronomy 22:8

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Deuteronomy 22:8

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Deuteronomy 22:5-12

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Deuteronomy 22:8

John Gill on Deuteronomy 22:8

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John Calvin on Deuteronomy 22:8

Keil & Delitzsch on Deuteronomy 22:1-12

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Deuteronomy 22:5

Rashi on Deuteronomy 22:8