John Calvin on Deuteronomy 22:5
Commentaries. Browse this work.
Read Deuteronomy 22. Compare commentaries on this chapter.
Source and publication rights
Public domain. Public Domain. Source edition.
Berean Blue opens December 1, 2026. Explore this passage in the app preview.
Deuteronomy22:5
5. This decree also commends modesty in general, and in it God anticipates the danger, lest women should harden themselves into forgetfulness of modesty, or men should degenerate into effeminacy unworthy of their nature. Garments are not in themselves of so much importance; but as it is disgraceful for men to become effeminate, and also for women to affect manliness in their dress and gestures, propriety and modesty are prescribed, not only for decency’s sake, but lest one kind of liberty should at length lead to something worse. The words of the heathen poet are very true: The quotation is from Juvenal, Sat. 6:252:
“Quem praestare potest mulier galeata pudorem, Quae fugit a sexu.”
The Fr. translation is forcible: “qu’une femme, qui contrefait le gendarme, et fuit son sexe, ne gardera nulle honte.”
“What shame can she, who wears a helmet, show, Her sex deserting?”
Wherefore, decency in the fashion of the clothes is an excellent preservative of modesty.
The Eighth Commandment
Exodus 20
Exodus 20:15
15. Thou shalt not steal.
15. Non furaberis.
THE REPETITION OF THE SAME COMMANDMENT
Deuteronomy 5
Deuteronomy 5:19
19. Neither shalt thou steal.
19. Non furaberis.
John Calvin, Commentaries, Deuteronomy 22:5. Public domain.
Permanent link. Source edition.