Deuteronomy 21:22–23 - On the noun אִישׁ

(The above rendering comes from the RJPS translation, an adaptation of the NJPS translation. Before accounting for this rendering, I will analyze the plain sense of the Hebrew term אִישׁ, by employing a situation-oriented construal as outlined in this introduction, pp. 11–16.)

Prototypically, the label אִישׁ profiles its referent in terms of the depicted situation; that is, it relates the depicted situation’s key participant to that situation. Such is its function here.

By their very nature, grammatically masculine labels implicitly include women when the reference is nonspecific (i.e., to a type), as here. Subsequent co-references are masculine simply for the sake of gender concord. (This feature of the language is demonstrated by biblical narratives in which the characters confirm such inclusion by their words and actions; Stein 2008, Stein 2013.) Thus women are in view by default unless the topic under discussion is restricted to men by convention, or if such a restriction is explicitly stated.

In this case, the text’s ancient Israelite audience would have known that a woman as well as a man was liable in capital offenses. Although it may seem unlikely that an executed woman’s corpse would have been impaled, we lack definite evidence to sustain that assumption. As Adele Berlin points out, “The Bible does not speak to the difference between the execution of a man and a woman” (personal communication, 5/11/04).

In short, gender is not at issue, and women are not definitely excluded from view.

As for rendering into English, there is no warrant for rendering in gendered terms. Nowadays, the NJPS rendering is construed as gendered: “If a man is guilty of a capital offense and is put to death, and you impale him on a stake, you must not let his corpse remain on the stake overnight, but must bury him the same day.…” The revised rendering is therefore recast in gender-neutral terms.