TO SEIZE, take hold of, handle — a verb of grasping, and the hinge of the most disputed law in Deuteronomy 22. ⭐ Its range is set by its ordinary uses: parents take hold of the rebellious son to drag him to the elders (Deuteronomy 21:19), an army captures a city (2 Kings 14:7), and a man handles a bow (Amos 2:15), a sickle (Jeremiah 50:16) or the law itself (Jeremiah 2:8). It is force, and it is not the strongest word available. ⚠ That matters at Deuteronomy 22:28, where a man seizes an unbetrothed virgin — because three verses earlier, at 22:25, the same chapter used hecheziq, to OVERPOWER, of the man in the field. Deuteronomy had the stronger verb in hand and chose this one. ⭐ And the Torah tells the 22:28 case a second time with a third verb: Exodus 22:16 has yefatteh, he ENTICES her. ⚠ The shelf split on this verb is recent. Every older witness renders a taking hold — 'lay hold on her' (KJV, ASV), 'take her' (Geneva), «la tomare» (RV 1909, RV60), 'seizes' (NWT 1984) — while the NIV and TLB print 'rapes her'. The tell is that the NIV prints 'rapes her' at 22:25 as well, so the gradient the law is built on disappears into one English word. → first discussed at Deut 22:28