TO BETROTH — to make a woman a wife by contract before she is taken home; a betrothed woman is legally married and a betrothed man is legally a husband, which is why the law of Deuteronomy 22:23–27 (already on these pages) treats her as a wife. ⭐ Read across the archived text, the verb stands in ten verses of the Hebrew Bible (the consonants also spell an unrelated desire and be wicked): the seduced virgin not betrothed of Exodus 22:16, the soldier sent home at Deuteronomy 20:7, four verses of chapter 22, the curse of 28:30 — you will betroth a wife, and another man will lie with her, the soldier’s fear made his sentence — David’s claim on Michal (2 Samuel 3:14), and God’s three times to Israel at Hosea 2:21–22, I will betroth you to me for ever (neither yet on these pages). → first discussed at Deut 28:30