Deuteronomy 23-25

Holman Christian Standard Bible

Exclusion and Inclusion

23 “No man whose testicles have been crushed^[a] or whose penis has been cut off may enter the Lord’s assembly. ² No one of illegitimate birth may enter the Lord’s assembly; none of his descendants, even to the tenth generation, may enter the Lord’s assembly. ³ No Ammonite or Moabite may enter the Lord’s assembly;^(A) none of their descendants, even to the tenth generation, may ever enter the Lord’s assembly. ⁴ This is because they did not meet you with food and water on the journey after you came out of Egypt, and because Balaam son of Beor from Pethor in Aram-naharaim was hired to curse you.^{(B) 5} Yet the Lord your God would not listen to Balaam, but He turned the curse into a blessing for you because the Lord your God loves^(C) you.^{(D) 6} Never seek their peace or prosperity as long as you live. ⁷ Do not despise an Edomite, because he is your brother. Do not despise an Egyptian, because you were a foreign resident in his land. ⁸ The children born to them in the third generation may enter the Lord’s assembly.

Cleanliness of the Camp

⁹ “When you are encamped against your enemies, be careful to avoid anything offensive. ¹⁰ If there is a man among you who is unclean because of a bodily emission during the night, he must go outside the camp; he may not come anywhere inside the camp. ¹¹ When evening approaches, he must wash with water, and when the sun sets he may come inside the camp.^{(E) 12} You must have a place outside the camp and go there to relieve yourself. ¹³ You must have a digging tool in your equipment; when you relieve yourself, dig a hole with it and cover up your excrement. ¹⁴ For the Lord your God walks throughout your camp to protect you and deliver your enemies to you; so your encampments must be holy. He must not see anything improper among you or He will turn away from you.

Fugitive Slaves

¹⁵ “Do not return a slave to his master when he has escaped from his master to you. ¹⁶ Let him live among you wherever he wants within your gates. Do not mistreat him.

Cult Prostitution Forbidden

¹⁷ “No Israelite woman is to be a cult prostitute, and no Israelite man is to be a cult prostitute. ¹⁸ Do not bring a female prostitute’s wages or a male prostitute’s^[b] earnings into the house of the Lord your God to fulfill any vow, because both are detestable to the Lord your God.

Interest on Loans

¹⁹ “Do not charge your brother interest on money, food, or anything that can earn interest. ²⁰ You may charge a foreigner interest, but you must not charge your brother interest, so that the Lord your God may bless you in everything you do^[c] in the land you are entering to possess.^(F)

Keeping Vows

²¹ “If you make a vow to the Lord your God, do not be slow to keep it, because He will require it of you, and it will be counted against you as sin. ²² But if you refrain from making a vow, it will not be counted against you as sin. ²³ Be careful to do whatever comes from your lips, because you have freely vowed what you promised^[d] to the Lord your God.^(G)

Neighbor’s Crops

²⁴ “When you enter your neighbor’s vineyard, you may eat as many grapes as you want until you are full, but you must not put any in your container. ²⁵ When you enter your neighbor’s standing grain, you may pluck heads of grain with your hand, but you must not put a sickle to your neighbor’s grain.

Marriage and Divorce Laws

24 “If a man marries a woman, but she becomes displeasing to him because he finds something improper about her, he may write her a divorce certificate, hand it to her, and send her away from his house.^{(H) 2} If after leaving his house she goes and becomes another man’s wife, ³ and the second man hates her, writes her a divorce certificate, hands it to her, and sends her away from his house or if he^[e] dies, ⁴ the first husband who sent her away may not marry her again after she has been defiled, because that would be detestable to the Lord. You must not bring guilt on the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.^(I)

⁵ “When a man takes a bride, he must not go out with the army or be liable for any duty. He is free to stay at home for one year, so that he can bring joy to the wife he has married.

Safeguarding Life

⁶ “Do not take a pair of millstones or an upper millstone as security for a debt, because that is like taking a life as security.

⁷ “If a man is discovered kidnapping^(J) one of his Israelite brothers, whether he treats him as a slave or sells him, the kidnapper must die. You must purge the evil from you.

⁸ “Be careful in a case of infectious skin disease, following carefully everything the Levitical priests instruct you to do. Be careful to do as I have commanded them. ⁹ Remember what the Lord your God did to Miriam on the journey after you left Egypt.^(K)

Consideration for People in Need

¹⁰ “When you make a loan of any kind to your neighbor, do not enter his house to collect what he offers as security. ¹¹ You must stand outside while the man you are making the loan to brings the security out to you. ¹² If he is a poor man, you must not sleep in the garment he has given as security. ¹³ Be sure to return it^[f] to him at sunset. Then he will sleep in it and bless you, and this will be counted as righteousness to you before the Lord your God.^(L)

¹⁴ “Do not oppress a hired hand who is poor and needy, whether one of your brothers or one of the foreigners residing within a town^[g] in your land. ¹⁵ You are to pay him his wages each day before the sun sets, because he is poor and depends on them.^(M) Otherwise he will cry out to the Lord against you, and you will be held guilty.

¹⁶ “Fathers are not to be put to death for their children or children for their fathers; each person will be put to death for his own sin.^{(N) 17} Do not deny justice to a foreigner or fatherless child, and do not take a widow’s garment as security. ¹⁸ Remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed^(O) you from there. Therefore I am commanding you to do this.^(P)

¹⁹ “When you reap the harvest in your field, and you forget a sheaf in the field, do not go back to get it. It is to be left for the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow, so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.^{(Q) 20} When you knock down the fruit from your olive tree, you must not go over the branches again. What remains will be for the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow. ²¹ When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you must not glean what is left. What remains will be for the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow. ²² Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt. Therefore I am commanding you to do this.^(R)

Fairness and Mercy

25 “If there is a dispute between men, they are to go to court, and the judges will hear their case. They will clear the innocent and condemn the guilty. ² If the guilty party deserves to be flogged, the judge will make him lie down and be flogged in his presence with the number of lashes appropriate for his crime. ³ He may be flogged with 40 lashes, but no more. Otherwise, if he is flogged with more lashes than these, your brother will be degraded in your sight.

⁴ “Do not muzzle an ox while it treads out grain.^(S)

Preserving the Family Line

⁵ “When brothers live on the same property^[h] and one of them dies without a son, the wife of the dead man may not marry a stranger outside the family. Her brother-in-law is to take her as his wife, have sexual relations with her, and perform the duty of a brother-in-law for her. ⁶ The first son she bears will carry on the name of the dead brother, so his name will not be blotted out from Israel.^{(T) 7} But if the man doesn’t want to marry his sister-in-law, she must go to the elders at the city gate^(U) and say, ‘My brother-in-law refuses to preserve his brother’s name in Israel. He isn’t willing to perform the duty of a brother-in-law for me.’ ⁸ The elders of his city will summon him and speak with him. If he persists and says, ‘I don’t want to marry her,’ ⁹ then his sister-in-law will go up to him in the sight of the elders, remove his sandal from his foot, and spit in his face. Then she will declare, ‘This is what is done to a man who will not build up his brother’s house.’ ¹⁰ And his family name in Israel will be called ‘The house of the man whose sandal was removed.’^(V)

¹¹ “If two men are fighting with each other, and the wife of one steps in to rescue her husband from the one striking him, and she puts out her hand and grabs his genitals, ¹² you are to cut off her hand. You must not show pity.

Honest Weights and Measures

¹³ “You must not have two different weights^[i] in your bag, one heavy and one light.^{(W) 14} You must not have two differing dry measures in your house, a larger and a smaller. ¹⁵ You must have a full and honest weight, a full and honest dry measure, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you. ¹⁶ For everyone who does such things and acts unfairly is detestable to the Lord your God.^(X)

Revenge on the Amalekites

¹⁷ “Remember what the Amalekites did to you on the journey after you left Egypt.^{(Y) 18} They met you along the way and attacked all your stragglers from behind when you were tired and weary. They did not fear God. ¹⁹ When the Lord your God gives you rest^(Z) from all the enemies around you in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess as an inheritance,^(AA) blot out the memory of Amalek under heaven. Do not forget.^(AB)