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23 He that is a eunuch, whether he have been crushed or cut, shall not come into the congregation of Jehovah.

A bastard shall not come into the congregation of Jehovah; even his tenth generation shall not come into the congregation of Jehovah.

An Ammonite or Moabite shall not come into the congregation of Jehovah; even their tenth generation shall not come into the congregation of Jehovah for ever;

because they met you not with bread and with water on the way, when ye came forth out of Egypt, and because they hired against thee Balaam the son of Beor, of Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse thee.

But Jehovah thy God would not listen to Balaam; and Jehovah thy God turned the curse into blessing unto thee, because Jehovah thy God loved thee.

Thou shalt not seek their peace nor their prosperity all thy days for ever.

Thou shalt not abhor an Edomite; for he is thy brother. Thou shalt not abhor an Egyptian; because thou wast a sojourner in his land.

Children that are born to them shall come into the congregation of Jehovah in the third generation.

When thou goest forth into camp against thine enemies, then keep thee from every evil thing.

10 If there be with thee a man that is not clean from what hath happened in the night, then shall he go outside the camp; he shall not come inside the camp;

11 and it shall be, towards evening, he shall bathe in water: and at the going down of the sun he may come inside the camp.

12 Thou shalt have a place also outside the camp, and shalt go forth thither.

13 And thou shalt have a shovel amongst thy weapons, and it shall be, when thou sittest down abroad, thou shalt dig therewith, and shalt turn back and cover that which is come from thee.

14 For Jehovah thy God walketh in the midst of thy camp, to deliver thee, and to give up thine enemies before thee; and thy camp shall be holy, that he see nothing unseemly with thee, and turn away from thee.

15 Thou shalt not hand over to his master a bondman that hath escaped from his master unto thee:

16 he shall dwell with thee, even in thy midst, in the place that he shall choose in one of thy gates, where it seemeth good to him; thou shalt not oppress him.

17 There shall be no prostitute amongst the daughters of Israel, nor any Sodomite amongst the sons of Israel.

18 Thou shalt not bring the hire of a harlot, or the price of a dog, into the house of Jehovah thy God for any vow; for even both these are an abomination to Jehovah thy God.

19 Thou shalt take no interest of thy brother, interest of money, interest of victuals, interest of anything that can be lent upon interest:

20 of a foreigner thou mayest take interest, but of thy brother thou shalt not take interest; that Jehovah thy God may bless thee in all the business of thy hand in the land whither thou goest to possess it.

21 When thou vowest a vow to Jehovah thy God, thou shalt not delay to perform it; for Jehovah thy God will certainly require it of thee, and it shall be sin in thee.

22 But if thou forbear to vow, it shall be no sin in thee.

23 What is gone out of thy lips thou shalt keep and do, as thou hast vowed to Jehovah thy God, the voluntary-offering that thou hast promised with thy mouth.

24 When thou comest into thy neighbour's vineyard, thou mayest eat grapes thy fill, according to thy desire, but thou shalt not put any in thy vessel.

25 When thou comest into the standing corn of thy neighbour, thou mayest pluck ears with thy hand; but thou shalt not wave the sickle against thy neighbour's standing corn.

24 When a man taketh a wife, and marrieth her, it shall be if she find no favour in his eyes, because he hath found some unseemly thing in her, that he shall write her a letter of divorce, and give it into her hand, and send her out of his house.

And she shall depart out of his house, and go away, and may become another man's wife.

And if the latter husband hate her, and write her a letter of divorce, and give it into her hand, and send her out of his house; or if the latter husband die who took her as his wife;

her first husband, who sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after that she is defiled; for it is an abomination before Jehovah; and thou shalt not cause the land to sin, which Jehovah thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.

When a man hath newly taken a wife, he shall not go out with the army, neither shall any kind of business be imposed upon him; he shall be free for his house one year, and shall gladden his wife whom he hath taken.

No man shall take the hand-mill or the upper millstone in pledge; for it would be taking life in pledge.

If a man be found who hath stolen one of his brethren of the children of Israel, and who hath treated him as a slave and sold him, that thief shall die; and thou shalt put evil away from thy midst.

Take heed in the plague of leprosy, that thou take great heed, and do according to all that the priests the Levites shall teach you: as I commanded them shall ye take heed to do.

Remember what Jehovah thy God did unto Miriam on the way, after that ye came forth out of Egypt.

10 When thou dost lend thy brother anything, thou shalt not go into his house to secure his pledge.

11 Thou shalt stand outside, and the man to whom thou hast made a loan shall bring out the pledge to thee without.

12 And if the man be needy, thou shalt not lie down with his pledge;

13 in any case thou shalt return him the pledge at the going down of the sun, that he may sleep in his own upper garment and bless thee; and it shall be righteousness unto thee before Jehovah thy God.

14 Thou shalt not oppress a hired servant [who is] poor and needy of thy brethren, or of thy sojourners who are in thy land within thy gates:

15 on his day thou shalt give him his hire, neither shall the sun go down upon it; for he is poor, and his soul yearneth after it; lest he cry against thee to Jehovah, and it be a sin in thee.

16 The fathers shall not be put to death for the sons, neither shall the sons be put to death for the fathers: every man shall be put to death for his own sin.

17 Thou shalt not pervert the judgment of the stranger, [or] of the fatherless; and thou shalt not take in pledge a widow's garment.

18 And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in Egypt, and that Jehovah thy God redeemed thee from thence; therefore I command thee to do this thing.

19 When thou reapest thy harvest in thy field, and forgettest a sheaf in the field, thou shalt not return to fetch it; it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow; that Jehovah thy God may bless thee in all the work of thy hands.

20 When thou shakest thine olive-tree, thou shalt not go over the boughs again; it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow.

21 When thou gatherest the grapes of thy vineyard, thou shalt not glean it afterwards; it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow.

22 And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt; therefore I command thee to do this thing.

25 If there be a controversy between men, and they resort to judgment, and they judge [their case]; then they shall justify the righteous, and condemn the wicked.

And it shall be if the wicked man have deserved to be beaten, that the judge shall cause him to lie down, and be beaten before his face, according to the measure of his wickedness with a certain number [of stripes].

With forty [stripes] shall they beat him; they shall not exceed, lest, if they continue to beat him with many stripes above these, thy brother become despicable in thine eyes.

Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out [the corn].

If brethren dwell together, and one of them die, and have no son, the wife of the dead shall not marry a stranger abroad: her husband's brother shall go in unto her, and take her to him as wife, and perform the duty of a husband's brother unto her.

And it shall be, that the firstborn that she beareth shall stand in the name of his brother who is dead, that his name be not blotted out from Israel.

But if the man like not to take his brother's wife, his brother's wife shall go up to the gate unto the elders, and say, My husband's brother refuseth to raise up unto his brother a name in Israel: he will not perform for me the duty of a husband's brother.

Then the elders of his city shall call him and speak unto him; and if he stand to it and say, I like not to take her;

then shall his brother's wife come near to him before the eyes of the elders, and draw his sandal from his foot, and spit in his face, and shall answer and say, So shall it be done unto the man that will not build up his brother's house.

10 And his name shall be called in Israel, The house of him that hath his shoe drawn off.

11 When men fight together one with another, and the wife of the one come near to rescue her husband out of the hand of him that smiteth him, and stretch out her hand, and seize him by his secret parts,

12 thou shalt cut off her hand; thine eye shall not spare.

13 Thou shalt not have in thy bag divers weights, a great and a small.

14 Thou shalt not have in thy house divers ephahs, a great and a small.

15 A perfect and just weight shalt thou have; a perfect and just ephah shalt thou have; that thy days may be prolonged in the land that Jehovah thy God giveth thee.

16 For every one that doeth such things, every one that doeth unrighteousness, is an abomination to Jehovah thy God.

17 Remember what Amalek did unto thee on the way, when ye came forth out of Egypt;

18 how he met thee on the way, and smote the hindmost of thee, all the feeble that lagged behind thee, when thou wast faint and weary, and he feared not God.

19 And it shall be, when Jehovah thy God shall have given thee rest from all thine enemies round about, in the land that Jehovah thy God giveth thee for an inheritance to possess it, that thou shalt blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under the heavens; thou shalt not forget it.

Exclusion From the Assembly

23 [a]No one who has been emasculated(A) by crushing or cutting may enter the assembly of the Lord.

No one born of a forbidden marriage[b] nor any of their descendants may enter the assembly of the Lord, not even in the tenth generation.

No Ammonite(B) or Moabite or any of their descendants may enter the assembly of the Lord, not even in the tenth generation.(C) For they did not come to meet you with bread and water(D) on your way when you came out of Egypt, and they hired Balaam(E) son of Beor from Pethor in Aram Naharaim[c](F) to pronounce a curse on you.(G) However, the Lord your God would not listen to Balaam but turned the curse(H) into a blessing for you, because the Lord your God loves(I) you. Do not seek a treaty(J) of friendship with them as long as you live.(K)

Do not despise an Edomite,(L) for the Edomites are related to you.(M) Do not despise an Egyptian, because you resided as foreigners in their country.(N) The third generation of children born to them may enter the assembly of the Lord.

Uncleanness in the Camp

When you are encamped against your enemies, keep away from everything impure.(O) 10 If one of your men is unclean because of a nocturnal emission, he is to go outside the camp and stay there.(P) 11 But as evening approaches he is to wash himself, and at sunset(Q) he may return to the camp.(R)

12 Designate a place outside the camp where you can go to relieve yourself. 13 As part of your equipment have something to dig with, and when you relieve yourself, dig a hole and cover up your excrement. 14 For the Lord your God moves(S) about in your camp to protect you and to deliver your enemies to you. Your camp must be holy,(T) so that he will not see among you anything indecent and turn away from you.

Miscellaneous Laws

15 If a slave has taken refuge(U) with you, do not hand them over to their master.(V) 16 Let them live among you wherever they like and in whatever town they choose. Do not oppress(W) them.

17 No Israelite man(X) or woman is to become a shrine prostitute.(Y) 18 You must not bring the earnings of a female prostitute or of a male prostitute[d] into the house of the Lord your God to pay any vow, because the Lord your God detests them both.(Z)

19 Do not charge a fellow Israelite interest, whether on money or food or anything else that may earn interest.(AA) 20 You may charge a foreigner(AB) interest, but not a fellow Israelite, so that the Lord your God may bless(AC) you in everything you put your hand to in the land you are entering to possess.

21 If you make a vow to the Lord your God, do not be slow to pay it,(AD) for the Lord your God will certainly demand it of you and you will be guilty of sin.(AE) 22 But if you refrain from making a vow, you will not be guilty.(AF) 23 Whatever your lips utter you must be sure to do, because you made your vow freely to the Lord your God with your own mouth.

24 If you enter your neighbor’s vineyard, you may eat all the grapes you want, but do not put any in your basket. 25 If you enter your neighbor’s grainfield, you may pick kernels with your hands, but you must not put a sickle to their standing grain.(AG)

24 If a man marries a woman who becomes displeasing to him(AH) because he finds something indecent about her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce,(AI) gives it to her and sends her from his house, and if after she leaves his house she becomes the wife of another man, and her second husband dislikes her and writes her a certificate of divorce, gives it to her and sends her from his house, or if he dies, then her first husband, who divorced her, is not allowed to marry her again after she has been defiled. That would be detestable in the eyes of the Lord. Do not bring sin upon the land the Lord(AJ) your God is giving you as an inheritance.

If a man has recently married, he must not be sent to war or have any other duty laid on him. For one year he is to be free to stay at home and bring happiness to the wife he has married.(AK)

Do not take a pair of millstones—not even the upper one—as security for a debt, because that would be taking a person’s livelihood as security.(AL)

If someone is caught kidnapping a fellow Israelite and treating or selling them as a slave, the kidnapper must die.(AM) You must purge the evil from among you.(AN)

In cases of defiling skin diseases,[e] be very careful to do exactly as the Levitical(AO) priests instruct you. You must follow carefully what I have commanded them.(AP) Remember what the Lord your God did to Miriam along the way after you came out of Egypt.(AQ)

10 When you make a loan of any kind to your neighbor, do not go into their house to get what is offered to you as a pledge.(AR) 11 Stay outside and let the neighbor to whom you are making the loan bring the pledge out to you. 12 If the neighbor is poor, do not go to sleep with their pledge(AS) in your possession. 13 Return their cloak by sunset(AT) so that your neighbor may sleep in it.(AU) Then they will thank you, and it will be regarded as a righteous act in the sight of the Lord your God.(AV)

14 Do not take advantage of a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether that worker is a fellow Israelite or a foreigner residing in one of your towns.(AW) 15 Pay them their wages each day before sunset, because they are poor(AX) and are counting on it.(AY) Otherwise they may cry to the Lord against you, and you will be guilty of sin.(AZ)

16 Parents are not to be put to death for their children, nor children put to death for their parents; each will die for their own sin.(BA)

17 Do not deprive the foreigner or the fatherless(BB) of justice,(BC) or take the cloak of the widow as a pledge. 18 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt(BD) and the Lord your God redeemed you from there. That is why I command you to do this.

19 When you are harvesting in your field and you overlook a sheaf, do not go back to get it.(BE) Leave it for the foreigner,(BF) the fatherless and the widow,(BG) so that the Lord your God may bless(BH) you in all the work of your hands. 20 When you beat the olives from your trees, do not go over the branches a second time.(BI) Leave what remains for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow. 21 When you harvest the grapes in your vineyard, do not go over the vines again. Leave what remains for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow. 22 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt. That is why I command you to do this.(BJ)

25 When people have a dispute, they are to take it to court and the judges(BK) will decide the case,(BL) acquitting(BM) the innocent and condemning the guilty.(BN) If the guilty person deserves to be beaten,(BO) the judge shall make them lie down and have them flogged in his presence with the number of lashes the crime deserves, but the judge must not impose more than forty lashes.(BP) If the guilty party is flogged more than that, your fellow Israelite will be degraded in your eyes.(BQ)

Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.(BR)

If brothers are living together and one of them dies without a son, his widow must not marry outside the family. Her husband’s brother shall take her and marry her and fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to her.(BS) The first son she bears shall carry on the name of the dead brother so that his name will not be blotted out from Israel.(BT)

However, if a man does not want to marry his brother’s wife,(BU) she shall go to the elders at the town gate(BV) and say, “My husband’s brother refuses to carry on his brother’s name in Israel. He will not fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to me.”(BW) Then the elders of his town shall summon him and talk to him. If he persists in saying, “I do not want to marry her,” his brother’s widow shall go up to him in the presence of the elders, take off one of his sandals,(BX) spit in his face(BY) and say, “This is what is done to the man who will not build up his brother’s family line.” 10 That man’s line shall be known in Israel as The Family of the Unsandaled.

11 If two men are fighting and the wife of one of them comes to rescue her husband from his assailant, and she reaches out and seizes him by his private parts, 12 you shall cut off her hand. Show her no pity.(BZ)

13 Do not have two differing weights in your bag—one heavy, one light.(CA) 14 Do not have two differing measures in your house—one large, one small. 15 You must have accurate and honest weights and measures, so that you may live long(CB) in the land the Lord your God is giving you. 16 For the Lord your God detests anyone who does these things, anyone who deals dishonestly.(CC)

17 Remember what the Amalekites(CD) did to you along the way when you came out of Egypt. 18 When you were weary and worn out, they met you on your journey and attacked all who were lagging behind; they had no fear of God.(CE) 19 When the Lord your God gives you rest(CF) from all the enemies(CG) around you in the land he is giving you to possess as an inheritance, you shall blot out the name of Amalek(CH) from under heaven. Do not forget!

Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 23:1 In Hebrew texts 23:1-25 is numbered 23:2-26.
  2. Deuteronomy 23:2 Or one of illegitimate birth
  3. Deuteronomy 23:4 That is, Northwest Mesopotamia
  4. Deuteronomy 23:18 Hebrew of a dog
  5. Deuteronomy 24:8 The Hebrew word for defiling skin diseases, traditionally translated “leprosy,” was used for various diseases affecting the skin.