Those Who Cannot Go into the Meeting of the Lord

23 “No man who has his sex part crushed or cut off will go into the meeting of the Lord. ² No one who was born to parents who were not married will go into the meeting of the Lord. And none of his children will go into the meeting of the Lord, even to the children’s children of ten families in the future. ³ No Ammonite or Moabite will go into the meeting of the Lord. None of their children will go into the meeting of the Lord, even to the children’s children of ten families of the future, ⁴ because they did not meet you with food and water on your way from Egypt, and they paid Balaam the son of Beor from Pethor of Mesopotamia to curse you. ⁵ But the Lord your God would not listen to Balaam. Instead He changed the curse into good for you, because the Lord your God loves you. ⁶ Do nothing for their peace or their well-being all your days.

⁷ “Do not hate an Edomite, for he is your brother. Do not hate an Egyptian. For you were a stranger in his land. ⁸ Their great-grandchildren may go into the meeting of the Lord.

The Camp Is to Be Clean

⁹ “When you go as an army against those who hate you, keep yourself away from every sinful thing. ¹⁰ If there is any man among you who is unclean because he had a flow from his body during the night, he must go away from the tents. He must not come among the tents. ¹¹ When evening comes he must wash his body with water. And when the sun goes down he may return to the tents.

¹² “You should have a place to go away from the tents. ¹³ You should have a tool there to dig with. Use it to dig a hole when you sit down outside. Then use it to cover the waste from your body. ¹⁴ Because the Lord your God walks among your tents to set you free and make you win the battle against those who hate you, the place where your tents are must be holy. He must not see anything among you that is unclean and turn away from you.

Different Laws

¹⁵ “If a servant runs away from his owner and comes to you, do not return him to his owner. ¹⁶ Let him stay with you, in the place he chooses in one of your towns, where it pleases him. Do not make it hard for him.

¹⁷ “No daughter of Israel is to sell the use of her body in worship to a strange god. And no son of Israel is to sell the use of his body for a strange god. ¹⁸ You must not bring the pay of a woman who sells the use of her body or of a man who does sex sins into the house of the Lord your God for any promised gift. For the Lord your God hates both of these. ¹⁹ Do not make your brothers pay you for the use of money, food, or anything you might give them to use. ²⁰ You may make a stranger pay you for the use of money, but not your brother. So the Lord your God may bring good to you in all you do in the land you are going into to have for your own.

²¹ “When you make a promise to the Lord your God, do not be slow to pay it. It would be sin in you, for the Lord your God will be sure to ask you for it. ²² But if you do not make a promise, it would not be sin in you. ²³ Be careful to do what you say you are going to do. Keep the promise you have made to the Lord your God because you want to.

²⁴ “When you go into your neighbor’s grape-field, you may eat grapes until you are full. But do not put any in your basket. ²⁵ When you go into your neighbor’s grain field, you may pick the heads with your hand. But do not cut down any of your neighbor’s standing grain.

24 “When a man takes a wife and marries her, and he does not like her because he finds something bad in her, he will write her a paper of divorce and give it to her and send her away from his house. ² When she leaves his house, she may go and become another man’s wife. ³ If the second husband turns against her and gives her a paper of divorce and sends her out of his house, or if the second husband dies who took her for his wife, ⁴ then her first husband who sent her away is not allowed to take her for his wife again, because she has become unclean. It is a hated thing to the Lord and you must not bring sin on the land the Lord your God is giving you.

⁵ “When a man takes a new wife, he must not go with the army or be given any other work. He should be free to be at home one year to make the wife he has taken happy.

⁶ “No one should take a man’s stones that he uses to crush grain as a promise to pay what he owes, for he would be taking away a man’s living.

⁷ “If a man is found stealing one of his brothers of the sons of Israel, and makes it hard for him, or sells him, then that robber must die. You must get rid of the sin from among you.

⁸ “When there is a very bad skin disease, be careful to do all the Levite religious leaders tell you to do. Be careful to do what I have told them. ⁹ Remember what the Lord your God did to Miriam on your way out of Egypt.

¹⁰ “When you let your neighbor use anything of yours, do not go into his house to take what he would give you to make his promise sure. ¹¹ Stay outside. The man who is using something of yours will bring the object out to you. ¹² If he is a poor man, do not keep what he gives you through the night. ¹³ Return his coat to him when the sun goes down so he may sleep in it and be thankful for you. You will be doing what is right before the Lord your God.

¹⁴ “Do not make it hard for a paid servant who is poor and in need, if he is one of your brothers or one of the strangers who is living in one of your towns. ¹⁵ Give him his pay on the day he earns it before the sun goes down. He is poor and he needs it. Then he will not cry to the Lord against you and you would be guilty of sin.

¹⁶ “Fathers are not to be put to death for their children. Children are not to be put to death for their fathers. Each man will be put to death for his own sin.

¹⁷ “Do what is fair for a stranger or a child whose parents are dead. Do not take the clothing of a woman whose husband has died to make sure she will pay what she owes. ¹⁸ Remember that you were servants in Egypt, and that the Lord your God set you free. So I am telling you to do this.

¹⁹ “When you gather the grain in your field and have forgotten some of it, do not return to the field to get it. Leave it for the stranger, the child whose parents have died, and the woman whose husband has died. Then the Lord your God will bring good to you in all the work of your hands. ²⁰ When you beat your olive trees, do not beat the branches a second time. Leave the fruit for the stranger, the child whose parents have died, and the woman whose husband has died. ²¹ When you gather the grapes from your vines, do not gather a second time. Leave them for the stranger, the child whose parents have died, and the woman whose husband has died. ²² Remember that you were servants in the land of Egypt. Because of this, I am telling you to do this.