Deuteronomy 23-26
New American Standard Bible
Persons Excluded from the Assembly
23 “(A)No one who is [a]emasculated or has his male organ cut off may enter the assembly of the Lord. 2 No one of illegitimate birth may enter the assembly of the Lord; none of his descendants, even to the tenth generation, may enter the assembly of the Lord. 3 (B)No Ammonite or Moabite may enter the assembly of the Lord; none of their descendants, even to the tenth generation, may ever enter the assembly of the Lord, 4 (C)because they did not meet you with [b]food and water on the way when you came out of Egypt, and because they hired against you (D)Balaam the son of Beor from Pethor of [c]Mesopotamia, to curse you. 5 Nevertheless, the Lord your God was unwilling to listen to Balaam, but the Lord your God (E)turned the curse into a blessing for you because the Lord your God (F)loves you. 6 (G)You shall never seek their peace or their prosperity all your days.
7 “You shall not loathe an [d]Edomite, for (H)he is your brother; you shall not loathe an Egyptian, (I)because you were a stranger in his land. 8 The sons of the third generation who are born to them may enter the assembly of the Lord.
9 “When you go out as [e]an army against your enemies, you shall be on guard against every evil thing.
10 “(J)If there is among you any man who is unclean because of a nocturnal emission, then he must go outside the camp; he may not [f]reenter the camp. 11 But when evening approaches, he shall bathe himself with water, and at sundown he may [g]reenter the camp.
12 “You shall also have a place allocated outside the camp, so that you may go out there to relieve yourself, 13 and you shall have a [h]spade among your tools, and it shall be when you sit down outside, you shall dig with it and shall turn and cover up your excrement. 14 Since (K)the Lord your God walks in the midst of your camp to save you and to [i]defeat your enemies before you, your camp must be (L)holy; so He must not see [j]anything indecent among you [k]or He will turn away from you.
15 “(M)You shall not hand over to his master a slave who has [l]escaped from his master to you. 16 He shall live with you in your midst, in the place that he chooses in one of your [m]towns where it pleases him; (N)you shall not mistreat him.
17 “(O)None of the daughters of Israel shall be a cult prostitute, (P)nor shall any of the sons of Israel be a cult prostitute. 18 You shall not bring the earnings of a prostitute or the money for a [n](Q)dog into the house of the Lord your God as payment for any vowed offering, because both of these are an abomination to the Lord your God.
19 “(R)You are not to charge interest to your countrymen: interest on money, food, or anything that may be loaned on interest. 20 (S)You may charge interest to a foreigner, but to your countrymen you shall not charge interest, so that (T)the Lord your God may bless you in all [o]that you undertake in the land which you are about to enter to [p]possess.
21 “(U)When you make a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not delay to pay it, for the Lord your God will certainly require it of you, and it will be a sin [q]for you. 22 However, if you refrain from making vows, it will not be a sin [r]for you. 23 You shall be careful and perform what goes out of your lips, since in fact you have vowed a [s]voluntary offering to the Lord your God, whatever you have [t]promised.
24 “When you enter your neighbor’s vineyard, you may eat grapes [u]until you are satisfied; but you are not to put any in your [v]basket.
25 “(V)When you enter your neighbor’s standing grain, you may pluck the heads of grain with your hand, but you are not to [w]use a sickle on your neighbor’s standing grain.
Law of Divorce
24 “When a man takes a wife and marries her, and it happens, if she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some (W)indecency in her, that (X)he writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and [x]sends her away from his house, 2 and she leaves his house and goes and becomes another man’s wife, 3 and the latter husband [y]turns against her, writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand, and [z]sends her away from his house, or if the latter husband who took her to be his wife dies, 4 then her (Y)former husband who [aa]sent her away is not allowed to take her again to be his wife, after [ab]she has been defiled; for that is an abomination before the Lord, and you shall not bring sin on the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.
5 “(Z)When a man takes a new wife, he is not to go out with the army, nor be assigned any duty; he shall be free at home for one year and shall (AA)make his wife whom he has taken happy.
Various Laws
6 “No one shall seize a handmill or an upper millstone as a pledge for a loan, since he would be seizing the debtor’s [ac]means of life as a pledge.
7 “(AB)If someone is [ad]caught kidnapping any of his countrymen of the sons of Israel, and he treats him as merchandise and sells him, then that thief shall die; so you shall eliminate the evil from among you.
8 “(AC)Be careful about an infestation of leprosy, that you are very attentive and act in accordance with everything that the Levitical priests teach you; just as I have commanded them, you shall be careful to act. 9 Remember what the Lord your God did (AD)to Miriam on the way as you came out of Egypt.
10 “(AE)When you make your neighbor a loan of any kind, you shall not enter his house to take his pledge. 11 You shall stand outside, and the person to whom you are making the loan shall bring the pledge outside to you. 12 And if he is a poor man, you shall not sleep with his pledge. 13 (AF)When the sun goes down you shall certainly return the pledge to him, so that he may sleep in his cloak and bless you; and (AG)it will be righteousness for you before the Lord your God.
14 “(AH)You shall not exploit a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether he is one of your countrymen or one of your strangers who are in your land in your [ae]towns. 15 (AI)You shall give him his wages on his day [af]before the sun sets—for he is poor and sets his [ag]heart on it—so that (AJ)he does not cry out against you to the Lord, and it becomes a sin in you.
16 “(AK)Fathers shall not be put to death for their sons, nor shall sons be put to death for their fathers; everyone shall be put to death for his own sin alone.
17 “(AL)You shall not pervert the justice [ah]due a stranger or [ai]an orphan, nor (AM)seize a widow’s garment as a [aj]pledge. 18 But you are to remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and that the Lord your God redeemed you from there; therefore I am commanding you to do this thing.
19 “(AN)When you reap your harvest in your field and forget a sheaf in the field, you are not to go back to get it; it shall belong (AO)to the stranger, the [ak]orphan, and to the widow, in order that the Lord your God (AP)may bless you in all the work of your hands. 20 (AQ)When you beat the olives off your olive tree, you are not to search through the branches [al]again; that shall be left (AR)for the stranger, the [am]orphan, and for the widow.
21 “When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you are not to [an]go over it again; that shall be left for the stranger, the [ao]orphan, and the widow. 22 And you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I am commanding you to do this thing.
Various Laws
25 “(AS)If there is a dispute between people and they go to [ap]court, and [aq]the judges decide their case, (AT)and they declare the righteous innocent and pronounce the wicked guilty, 2 then it shall be if the wicked person [ar](AU)deserves to be beaten, the judge shall then make him lie down and have him beaten in his presence with the number of lashes according to his [as]wrongful act. 3 (AV)He may have him beaten forty times, but not more, so that he does not have him beaten with many more lashes than these, and that your brother does not (AW)become contemptible in your eyes.
4 “(AX)You shall not muzzle the ox while it is threshing.
5 “When brothers live together, and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the deceased shall not be married outside the family to a strange man. (AY)Her husband’s brother shall have relations with her and take her to himself as his wife, and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her. 6 It shall then be that the firstborn to whom she gives birth shall [at]assume the name of his father’s deceased brother, so that (AZ)his name will not be wiped out from Israel. 7 (BA)But if the man does not desire to take his brother’s widow, then his brother’s widow shall go up to the gate to the elders, and say, ‘My husband’s brother refuses to establish a name for his brother in Israel; he is not willing to perform the duty of a husband’s brother to me.’ 8 Then the elders of his city shall summon him and speak to him. And if he persists and says, ‘I do not desire to take her,’ 9 (BB)then his brother’s widow shall come up to him in the sight of the elders, and pull his sandal off his foot and (BC)spit in his face; and she shall [au]declare, ‘This is what is done to the man who does not build up his brother’s house!’ 10 And in Israel [av]his family shall be called by the name, ‘The house of him whose sandal was removed.’
11 “If two men, a man and his countryman, have a fight [aw]with each other, and the wife of one comes up to save her husband from the hand of the one who is hitting him, and she reaches out with her hand and grasps [ax]that man’s genitals, 12 then you shall cut off her [ay]hand; [az](BD)you shall not show pity.
13 “(BE)You shall not have in your bag [ba]differing weights, a large and a small. 14 You shall not have in your house [bb]differing measures, a large and a small. 15 You shall have a correct and honest [bc]weight; you shall have a correct and honest [bd]measure, (BF)so that your days may be prolonged [be]in the land which the Lord your God is giving you. 16 For (BG)everyone who does these things, everyone who acts unjustly is an abomination to the Lord your God.
17 “(BH)Remember what Amalek did to you on the way when you came out of Egypt, 18 how he confronted you on the way and attacked among you all the stragglers at your rear when you were tired and weary; and he (BI)did not [bf]fear God. 19 So it shall come about, when the Lord your God has given you (BJ)rest from all your surrounding enemies in the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance to [bg]possess, that you shall wipe out the mention of the name Amalek from under heaven; you must not forget.
Offering First Fruits
26 “Then it shall be, when you enter the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, and you take possession of it and live in it, 2 that you shall take some of (BK)the first of all the produce of the ground which you bring in from your land that the Lord your God gives you, and you shall put it in a basket and (BL)go to the place where the Lord your God chooses to establish His name. 3 And you shall go to the priest who is in office at that time and say to him, ‘I declare today to the Lord [bh]my God that I have entered the land which the Lord swore to our fathers to give us.’ 4 Then the priest shall take the basket from your hand and set it before the altar of the Lord your God. 5 And you shall respond and say before the Lord your God, ‘(BM)My father was a [bi]wandering Aramean, and he went down to Egypt and [bj]resided there, (BN)few in number; but there he became a (BO)great, mighty, and populous nation. 6 And the (BP)Egyptians treated us badly and oppressed us, and imposed hard labor on us. 7 Then (BQ)we cried out to the Lord, the God of our fathers, and the Lord heard our voice and saw our wretched condition, our trouble, and our oppression; 8 (BR)and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand, an outstretched arm, and with great terror, and with signs and wonders; 9 and He has brought us to this place, and has given us this land, (BS)a land flowing with milk and honey. 10 And now behold, I have brought the first of the produce of the ground (BT)which You, Lord have given me.’ Then you shall set it before the Lord your God, and worship before the Lord your God; 11 and you, (BU)the Levite, and the stranger who is among you shall (BV)rejoice in all the good which the Lord your God has given you and your household.
12 “(BW)When you have finished paying all the tithe of your produce in the third year, the year of the tithe, then you shall give it to the Levite, to the stranger, to the [bk]orphan, and to the widow, so that they may eat in your [bl]towns and be satisfied. 13 And you shall say before the Lord your God, ‘I have removed the sacred portion from my house, and have also given it to the Levite, the stranger, the [bm]orphan, and the widow, in accordance with all Your commandments which You have commanded me; (BX)I have not violated or forgotten any of Your commandments. 14 I have not eaten of it while mourning, nor have I removed any of it while I was unclean, nor offered any of it to the dead. I have listened to the voice of the Lord my God; I have acted in accordance with everything that You have commanded me. 15 (BY)Look down from Your holy dwelling place, from heaven, and bless Your people Israel, and the ground which You have given us, (BZ)a land flowing with milk and honey just as You swore to our fathers.’
16 “This day the Lord your God commands you to perform these statutes and ordinances. Therefore you shall be careful to perform them (CA)with all your heart and with all your soul. 17 (CB)Today you have declared the Lord to be your God, and [bn]that you will walk in His ways and keep His statutes, His commandments, and His ordinances, and listen to His voice. 18 And the Lord has today declared you to be (CC)His people, His personal possession, just as He promised you, and [bo]that you are to keep all His commandments; 19 and [bp]that He will (CD)put you high above all the nations which He has made, for glory, fame, and honor; and that you shall be (CE)a consecrated people to the Lord your God, just as He has spoken.”
Footnotes
- Deuteronomy 23:1 Lit wounded by crushing of testicles
- Deuteronomy 23:4 Lit bread
- Deuteronomy 23:4 Heb Aram-naharaim
- Deuteronomy 23:7 I.e., a descendant of Esau
- Deuteronomy 23:9 Or a camp
- Deuteronomy 23:10 Lit come to the midst of
- Deuteronomy 23:11 Lit come to the midst of
- Deuteronomy 23:13 Lit peg
- Deuteronomy 23:14 Lit give
- Deuteronomy 23:14 Lit nakedness of anything
- Deuteronomy 23:14 Lit and
- Deuteronomy 23:15 Lit delivered himself
- Deuteronomy 23:16 Lit gates in the good to him
- Deuteronomy 23:18 Prob. refers to a male prostitute
- Deuteronomy 23:20 Lit the putting forth of your hand
- Deuteronomy 23:20 Lit possess it
- Deuteronomy 23:21 Lit in you
- Deuteronomy 23:22 Lit in you
- Deuteronomy 23:23 Or freewill offering
- Deuteronomy 23:23 Lit spoken with your mouth
- Deuteronomy 23:24 Lit according to your soul, your satiation
- Deuteronomy 23:24 Lit container
- Deuteronomy 23:25 Lit brandish
- Deuteronomy 24:1 Or dismisses her
- Deuteronomy 24:3 Lit hates her
- Deuteronomy 24:3 Or dismisses her
- Deuteronomy 24:4 Or dismissed her
- Deuteronomy 24:4 I.e., in relationship to him
- Deuteronomy 24:6 Lit soul
- Deuteronomy 24:7 Lit found stealing
- Deuteronomy 24:14 Lit gates
- Deuteronomy 24:15 Lit that the sun shall not go down on it
- Deuteronomy 24:15 Lit soul
- Deuteronomy 24:17 Lit of
- Deuteronomy 24:17 Or the fatherless
- Deuteronomy 24:17 I.e., for a loan
- Deuteronomy 24:19 Or fatherless
- Deuteronomy 24:20 Lit after yourself
- Deuteronomy 24:20 Or fatherless
- Deuteronomy 24:21 Lit glean it after yourself
- Deuteronomy 24:21 Or fatherless
- Deuteronomy 25:1 Lit the judgment
- Deuteronomy 25:1 Lit they judge them
- Deuteronomy 25:2 Lit is a son of beating
- Deuteronomy 25:2 Or guilt
- Deuteronomy 25:6 Lit stand on
- Deuteronomy 25:9 Lit answer and say
- Deuteronomy 25:10 Lit his name shall be called
- Deuteronomy 25:11 Lit together
- Deuteronomy 25:11 Lit his
- Deuteronomy 25:12 Lit palm
- Deuteronomy 25:12 Lit your eye
- Deuteronomy 25:13 Lit a stone and a stone
- Deuteronomy 25:14 Lit an ephah and an ephah
- Deuteronomy 25:15 Lit stone
- Deuteronomy 25:15 Lit ephah
- Deuteronomy 25:15 Lit on the ground
- Deuteronomy 25:18 Or revere
- Deuteronomy 25:19 Lit possess it
- Deuteronomy 26:3 As in LXX; MT your
- Deuteronomy 26:5 Or perishing
- Deuteronomy 26:5 Or lived as a foreigner
- Deuteronomy 26:12 Or fatherless
- Deuteronomy 26:12 Lit gates
- Deuteronomy 26:13 Or fatherless
- Deuteronomy 26:17 Lit to walk in
- Deuteronomy 26:18 Lit to keep all
- Deuteronomy 26:19 Lit to put you
Deuteronomy 23-26
New King James Version
Those Excluded from the Congregation
23 “He who is emasculated by crushing or mutilation shall (A)not enter the assembly of the Lord.
2 “One of illegitimate birth shall not enter the assembly of the Lord; even to the tenth generation none of his descendants shall enter the assembly of the Lord.
3 (B)“An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter the assembly of the Lord; even to the tenth generation none of his descendants shall enter the assembly of the Lord forever, 4 (C)because they did not meet you with bread and water on the road when you came out of Egypt, and (D)because they hired against you Balaam the son of Beor from Pethor of [a]Mesopotamia, to curse you. 5 Nevertheless the Lord your God would not listen to Balaam, but the Lord your God turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the Lord your God (E)loves you. 6 (F)You shall not seek their peace nor their prosperity all your days forever.
7 “You shall not abhor an Edomite, (G)for he is your brother. You shall not abhor an Egyptian, because (H)you were an alien in his land. 8 The children of the third generation born to them may enter the assembly of the Lord.
Cleanliness of the Campsite
9 “When the army goes out against your enemies, then keep yourself from every wicked thing. 10 (I)If there is any man among you who becomes unclean by some occurrence in the night, then he shall go outside the camp; he shall not come inside the camp. 11 But it shall be, when evening comes, that (J)he shall wash with water; and when the sun sets, he may come into the camp.
12 “Also you shall have a place outside the camp, where you may go out; 13 and you shall have an implement among your equipment, and when you sit down outside, you shall dig with it and turn and cover your refuse. 14 For the Lord your God (K)walks in the midst of your camp, to deliver you and give your enemies over to you; therefore your camp shall be holy, that He may see no unclean thing among you, and turn away from you.
Miscellaneous Laws
15 (L)“You shall not give back to his master the slave who has escaped from his master to you. 16 He may dwell with you in your midst, in the place which he chooses within one of your gates, where it [b]seems best to him; (M)you shall not oppress him.
17 “There shall be no ritual [c]harlot (N)of the daughters of Israel, or a (O)perverted[d] one of the sons of Israel. 18 You shall not bring the wages of a harlot or the price of a dog to the house of the Lord your God for any vowed offering, for both of these are [e]an abomination to the Lord your God.
19 (P)“You shall not charge interest to your brother—interest on money or food or anything that is lent out at interest. 20 (Q)To a foreigner you may charge interest, but to your brother you shall not charge interest, (R)that the Lord your God may bless you in all to which you set your hand in the land which you are entering to possess.
21 (S)“When you make a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not delay to pay it; for the Lord your God will surely require it of you, and it would be sin to you. 22 But if you abstain from vowing, it shall not be sin to you. 23 (T)That which has gone from your lips you shall keep and perform, for you voluntarily vowed to the Lord your God what you have promised with your mouth.
24 “When you come into your neighbor’s vineyard, you may eat your fill of grapes at your pleasure, but you shall not put any in your container. 25 When you come into your neighbor’s standing grain, (U)you may pluck the heads with your hand, but you shall not use a sickle on your neighbor’s standing grain.
Law Concerning Divorce
24 “When a (V)man takes a wife and marries her, and it happens that she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some [f]uncleanness in her, and he writes her a (W)certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house, 2 when she has departed from his house, and goes and becomes another man’s wife, 3 if the latter husband detests her and writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house, or if the latter husband dies who took her as his wife, 4 (X)then her former husband who divorced her must not take her back to be his wife after she has been defiled; for that is [g]an abomination before the Lord, and you shall not bring sin on the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.
Miscellaneous Laws
5 (Y)“When a man has taken a new wife, he shall not go out to war or be charged with any business; he shall be free at home one year, and (Z)bring happiness to his wife whom he has taken.
6 “No man shall take the lower or the upper millstone in pledge, for he takes [h]one’s living in pledge.
7 “If a man is (AA)found [i]kidnapping any of his brethren of the children of Israel, and mistreats him or sells him, then that kidnapper shall die; (AB)and you shall put away the evil from among you.
8 “Take heed in (AC)an outbreak of leprosy, that you carefully observe and do according to all that the priests, the Levites, shall teach you; just as I commanded them, so you shall be careful to do. 9 (AD)Remember what the Lord your God did (AE)to Miriam on the way when you came out of Egypt!
10 “When you (AF)lend your brother anything, you shall not go into his house to get his pledge. 11 You shall stand outside, and the man to whom you lend shall bring the pledge out to you. 12 And if the man is poor, you shall not [j]keep his pledge overnight. 13 (AG)You shall in any case return the pledge to him again when the sun goes down, that he may sleep in his own garment and (AH)bless you; and (AI)it shall be righteousness to you before the Lord your God.
14 “You shall not (AJ)oppress a hired servant who is poor and needy, whether one of your brethren or one of the aliens who is in your land within your gates. 15 Each day (AK)you shall give him his wages, and not let the sun go down on it, for he is poor and has set his heart on it; (AL)lest he cry out against you to the Lord, and it be sin to you.
16 (AM)“Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor shall children be put to death for their fathers; a person shall be put to death for his own sin.
17 (AN)“You shall not pervert justice due the stranger or the fatherless, (AO)nor take a widow’s garment as a pledge. 18 But (AP)you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you from there; therefore I command you to do this thing.
19 (AQ)“When you reap your harvest in your field, and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it; it shall be for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, that the Lord your God may (AR)bless you in all the work of your hands. 20 When you beat your olive trees, you shall not go over the boughs again; it shall be for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow. 21 When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not glean it afterward; it shall be for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow. 22 And you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I command you to do this thing.
Laws of Social Responsibility
25 “If there is a (AS)dispute between men, and they come to [k]court, that the judges may judge them, and they (AT)justify the righteous and condemn the wicked, 2 then it shall be, if the wicked man (AU)deserves to be beaten, that the judge will cause him to lie down (AV)and be beaten in his presence, according to his guilt, with a certain number of blows. 3 (AW)Forty blows he may give him and no more, lest he should exceed this and beat him with many blows above these, and your brother (AX)be humiliated in your sight.
4 (AY)“You shall not muzzle an ox while it [l]treads out the grain.
Marriage Duty of the Surviving Brother
5 (AZ)“If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies and has no son, the widow of the dead man shall not be married to a stranger outside the family; her husband’s brother shall go in to her, take her as his wife, and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her. 6 And it shall be that the firstborn son which she bears (BA)will succeed to the name of his dead brother, that (BB)his name may not be blotted out of Israel. 7 But if the man does not want to take his brother’s wife, then let his brother’s wife go up to the (BC)gate to the elders, and say, ‘My husband’s brother refuses to raise up a name to his brother in Israel; he will not perform the duty of my husband’s brother.’ 8 Then the elders of his city shall call him and speak to him. But if he stands firm and says, (BD)‘I do not want to take her,’ 9 then his brother’s wife shall come to him in the presence of the elders, (BE)remove his sandal from his foot, spit in his face, and answer and say, ‘So shall it be done to the man who will not (BF)build up his brother’s house.’ 10 And his name shall be called in Israel, ‘The house of him who had his sandal removed.’
Miscellaneous Laws
11 “If two men fight together, and the wife of one draws near to rescue her husband from the hand of the one attacking him, and puts out her hand and seizes him by the genitals, 12 then you shall cut off her hand; (BG)your eye shall not pity her.
13 (BH)“You shall not have in your bag differing weights, a heavy and a light. 14 You shall not have in your house differing measures, a large and a small. 15 You shall have a perfect and just weight, a perfect and just measure, (BI)that your days may be lengthened in the land which the Lord your God is giving you. 16 For (BJ)all who do such things, all who behave unrighteously, are [m]an abomination to the Lord your God.
Destroy the Amalekites
17 (BK)“Remember what Amalek did to you on the way as you were coming out of Egypt, 18 how he met you on the way and attacked your rear ranks, all the stragglers at your rear, when you were tired and weary; and he (BL)did not fear God. 19 Therefore it shall be, (BM)when the Lord your God has given you rest from your enemies all around, in the land which the Lord your God is giving you to possess as an inheritance, that you will (BN)blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. You shall not forget.
Offerings of Firstfruits and Tithes
26 “And it shall be, when you come into the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, and you possess it and dwell in it, 2 (BO)that you shall take some of the first of all the produce of the ground, which you shall bring from your land that the Lord your God is giving you, and put it in a basket and (BP)go to the place where the Lord your God chooses to make His name abide. 3 And you shall go to the one who is priest in those days, and say to him, ‘I declare today to the Lord [n]your God that I have come to the country which the Lord swore to our fathers to give us.’
4 “Then the priest shall take the basket out of your hand and set it down before the altar of the Lord your God. 5 And you shall answer and say before the Lord your God: ‘My father was (BQ)a [o]Syrian, (BR)about to perish, and (BS)he went down to Egypt and [p]dwelt there, (BT)few in number; and there he became a nation, (BU)great, mighty, and populous. 6 But the (BV)Egyptians mistreated us, afflicted us, and laid hard bondage on us. 7 (BW)Then we cried out to the Lord God of our fathers, and the Lord heard our voice and looked on our affliction and our labor and our oppression. 8 So (BX)the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm, (BY)with great terror and with signs and wonders. 9 He has brought us to this place and has given us this land, (BZ)“a land flowing with milk and honey”; 10 and now, behold, I have brought the firstfruits of the land which you, O Lord, have given me.’
“Then you shall set it before the Lord your God, and worship before the Lord your God. 11 So (CA)you shall rejoice in every good thing which the Lord your God has given to you and your house, you and the Levite and the stranger who is among you.
12 “When you have finished laying aside all the (CB)tithe of your increase in the third year—(CC)the year of tithing—and have given it to the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, so that they may eat within your gates and be filled, 13 then you shall say before the Lord your God: ‘I have removed the [q]holy tithe from my house, and also have given them to the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, according to all Your commandments which You have commanded me; I have not transgressed Your commandments, (CD)nor have I forgotten them. 14 (CE)I have not eaten any of it [r]when in mourning, nor have I removed any of it [s]for an unclean use, nor given any of it for the dead. I have obeyed the voice of the Lord my God, and have done according to all that You have commanded me. 15 (CF)Look down from Your holy [t]habitation, from heaven, and bless Your people Israel and the land which You have given us, just as You swore to our fathers, (CG)“a land flowing with milk and honey.” ’
A Special People of God
16 “This day the Lord your God commands you to observe these statutes and judgments; therefore you shall be careful to observe them with all your heart and with all your soul. 17 Today you have (CH)proclaimed the Lord to be your God, and that you will walk in His ways and keep His statutes, His commandments, and His judgments, and that you will (CI)obey His voice. 18 Also today (CJ)the Lord has proclaimed you to be His special people, just as He promised you, that you should keep all His commandments, 19 and that He will set you (CK)high above all nations which He has made, in praise, in name, and in honor, and that you may be (CL)a [u]holy people to the Lord your God, just as He has spoken.”
Footnotes
- Deuteronomy 23:4 Heb. Aram Naharaim
- Deuteronomy 23:16 pleases him best
- Deuteronomy 23:17 Heb. qedeshah, fem. of qadesh (next note)
- Deuteronomy 23:17 Heb. qadesh, one practicing sodomy and prostitution in religious rituals
- Deuteronomy 23:18 detestable
- Deuteronomy 24:1 indecency, lit. nakedness of a thing
- Deuteronomy 24:4 a detestable thing
- Deuteronomy 24:6 life
- Deuteronomy 24:7 Lit. stealing
- Deuteronomy 24:12 Lit. sleep with his pledge
- Deuteronomy 25:1 Lit. the judgment
- Deuteronomy 25:4 threshes
- Deuteronomy 25:16 detestable
- Deuteronomy 26:3 LXX my
- Deuteronomy 26:5 Or Aramean
- Deuteronomy 26:5 As a resident alien
- Deuteronomy 26:13 hallowed things
- Deuteronomy 26:14 Lit. in my mourning
- Deuteronomy 26:14 Or while I was unclean
- Deuteronomy 26:15 home
- Deuteronomy 26:19 consecrated
Luke 11
New American Standard Bible
Instruction about Prayer
11 It happened that while [a]Jesus was praying in a certain place, when He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John also taught his disciples.” 2 And He said to them, “(A)When you pray, say:
‘[b]Father, [c]hallowed be Your name.
[d]Your kingdom come.
3 Give us (B)each day our [e]daily bread.
4 And forgive us our sins,
For we ourselves also forgive everyone who (C)is indebted to us.
And do not lead us into temptation.’”
5 And He said to them, “[f]Suppose one of you has a friend, and goes to him at midnight and says to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves, 6 because a friend of mine has come to me from a journey and I have nothing to serve him’; 7 and from inside he answers and says, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been shut and my children [g]and I are in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.’ 8 I tell you, even if he will not get up and give him anything just because he is his friend, yet (D)because of his [h]shamelessness he will get up and give him as much as he needs.
9 “So I say to you, [i](E)ask, and it will be given to you; [j]seek, and you will find; [k]knock, and it will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, it will be opened. 11 Now [l]which one of you fathers will his son ask for a [m]fish, and instead of a fish, he will give him a snake? 12 Or he will even ask for an egg, and his father will give him a scorpion? 13 So (F)if you, despite being [n]evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will [o]your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”
Pharisees’ Blasphemy
14 (G)And He was casting out a mute demon; when the demon had gone out, the man who was previously unable to speak talked, and the crowds were amazed. 15 But some of them said, “He casts out the demons (H)by (I)Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons.” 16 Others, [p]to test Him, (J)were demanding of Him a [q]sign from heaven. 17 (K)But He knew their thoughts and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste; and a house divided against [r]itself falls. 18 And if (L)Satan also has been divided against himself, how will his kingdom [s]stand? For you claim that I cast out the demons by (M)Beelzebul. 19 Yet if by (N)Beelzebul I cast out the demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore, they will be your judges. 20 But if I cast out the demons by [t]the (O)finger of God, then (P)the kingdom of God has come upon you. 21 When [u]a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are [v]secure. 22 But when someone stronger than he attacks him and overpowers him, that man takes away his armor on which he had relied and distributes his plunder. 23 (Q)The one who is not with Me is against Me; and the one who does not gather with Me scatters.
24 “(R)When the unclean spirit comes out of [w]a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and not finding any, it then says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ 25 And when it comes, it finds it swept and put in order. 26 Then it goes and brings along seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they come in and live there; and the last condition of that person becomes worse than the first.”
27 While [x]Jesus was saying these things, one of the women in the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, “(S)Blessed is the womb that carried You, and the breasts at which You nursed!” 28 But He said, “On the contrary, blessed are (T)those who hear the word of God and follow it.”
The Sign of Jonah
29 Now as the crowds were increasing, He began to say, “(U)This generation is a wicked generation; it (V)demands a [y]sign, and so no [z]sign will be given to it except the [aa]sign of Jonah. 30 For just as (W)Jonah became a [ab]sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this generation. 31 The (X)Queen of the South will rise up with the men of this generation at the judgment and condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to listen to the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, something greater than Solomon is here. 32 The men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation at the judgment and condemn it, because (Y)they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.
33 “(Z)No one lights a lamp and puts it away in a cellar nor under a basket, but on the lampstand, so that those who enter may see the light. 34 (AA)Your eye is the lamp of your body; when your eye is [ac]clear, your whole body also is full of light; but when it is [ad]bad, your body also is full of darkness. 35 So watch out that the light in you is not darkness. 36 Therefore if your whole body is full of light, without any dark part, it will be wholly illuminated, as when the lamp illuminates you with its light.”
Woes upon the Pharisees
37 Now when He had spoken, a Pharisee *asked Him to have lunch with him; and He went in and reclined at the table. 38 When the Pharisee saw this, he was surprised that Jesus had not first [ae](AB)ceremonially washed before the [af]meal. 39 But (AC)the Lord said to him, “Now (AD)you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and of the dish; but your inside is full of greed and wickedness. 40 (AE)You foolish ones, did He who made the outside not make the inside also? 41 But (AF)give that which is within as a charitable gift, and [ag]then all things are (AG)clean for you.
42 “(AH)But woe to you Pharisees! For you (AI)pay tithes of mint, rue, and every kind of garden herb, and yet you [ah]ignore justice and the love of God; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others. 43 Woe to you Pharisees! For you (AJ)love the seat of honor in the synagogues and personal greetings in the marketplaces. 44 (AK)Woe to you! For you are like [ai]unseen tombs, and the people who walk over them are unaware of it.”
45 One of the [aj](AL)lawyers *said to Him in reply, “Teacher, when You say these things, You insult us too.” 46 But He said, “Woe to you (AM)lawyers as well! For (AN)you load people with burdens that are hard to bear, [ak]while you yourselves will not even [al]touch the burdens with one of your fingers. 47 (AO)Woe to you! For you build the [am]tombs of the prophets, and it was your fathers who killed them. 48 So you are witnesses and you approve of the deeds of your fathers; because it was they who killed them, and you build their [an]tombs. 49 For this reason also, (AP)the wisdom of God said, ‘(AQ)I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill, and some they will [ao]persecute, 50 so that the blood of all the prophets, shed (AR)since the foundation of the world, may be charged [ap]against this generation, 51 from (AS)the blood of Abel to (AT)the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the house of God; yes, I tell you, it shall be charged [aq]against this generation.’ 52 Woe to you [ar](AU)lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge; (AV)you yourselves did not enter, and you hindered those who were entering.”
53 When He left that place, the scribes and the Pharisees began to be very hostile and to interrogate Him about many subjects, 54 (AW)plotting against Him (AX)to catch [as]Him in something He might say.
Footnotes
- Luke 11:1 Lit He
- Luke 11:2 Later mss add phrases from Matt 6:9-13 to make the two passages closely similar
- Luke 11:2 I.e., treated as sacred or holy
- Luke 11:2 Or May Your...come
- Luke 11:3 Or bread for the coming day; or needful bread
- Luke 11:5 Lit Which one of you will have...and will go
- Luke 11:7 Lit are with me
- Luke 11:8 Prob. by continued knocking
- Luke 11:9 Or keep asking
- Luke 11:9 Or keep seeking
- Luke 11:9 Or keep knocking
- Luke 11:11 Lit which of you, the father, will the son ask
- Luke 11:11 One early ms inserts loaf, he will not give him a stone, will he, or for a
- Luke 11:13 I.e., as sinful mankind
- Luke 11:13 Lit the Father from heaven
- Luke 11:16 Lit testing
- Luke 11:16 I.e., confirming miracle
- Luke 11:17 Lit a house
- Luke 11:18 I.e., remain stable
- Luke 11:20 I.e., an undeniable act of God
- Luke 11:21 Lit the
- Luke 11:21 Lit in peace
- Luke 11:24 Lit the
- Luke 11:27 Lit He
- Luke 11:29 I.e., confirming miracle
- Luke 11:29 I.e., confirming miracle
- Luke 11:29 I.e., confirming miracle
- Luke 11:30 I.e., confirming miracle
- Luke 11:34 Or healthy
- Luke 11:34 Or evil
- Luke 11:38 Lit baptized; here, immersed the hands
- Luke 11:38 Or lunch
- Luke 11:41 Lit behold
- Luke 11:42 Or neglect
- Luke 11:44 I.e., unmarked
- Luke 11:45 I.e., experts in the Mosaic Law
- Luke 11:46 Lit and
- Luke 11:46 I.e., to assist them
- Luke 11:47 Or monuments to
- Luke 11:48 Or monuments
- Luke 11:49 Or drive out
- Luke 11:50 Or to
- Luke 11:51 Or to
- Luke 11:52 I.e., experts in the Mosaic Law
- Luke 11:54 Lit something out of His mouth
Luke 11
New King James Version
The Model Prayer(A)
11 Now it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.”
2 So He said to them, “When you pray, say:
(B)Our[a] Father [b]in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come.
[c]Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
3 Give us day by day our daily bread.
4 And (C)forgive us our sins,
For we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us.
And do not lead us into temptation,
[d]But deliver us from the evil one.”
A Friend Comes at Midnight
5 And He said to them, “Which of you shall have a friend, and go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves; 6 for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; 7 and he will answer from within and say, ‘Do not trouble me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give to you’? 8 I say to you, (D)though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs.
Keep Asking, Seeking, Knocking(E)
9 (F)“So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; (G)seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. 11 (H)If a son asks for [e]bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? 13 If you then, being evil, know how to give (I)good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”
A House Divided Cannot Stand(J)
14 (K)And He was casting out a demon, and it was mute. So it was, when the demon had gone out, that the mute spoke; and the multitudes marveled. 15 But some of them said, (L)“He casts out demons by [f]Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons.”
16 Others, testing Him, (M)sought from Him a sign from heaven. 17 (N)But (O)He, knowing their thoughts, said to them: “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and a house divided against a house falls. 18 If Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? Because you say I cast out demons by Beelzebub. 19 And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. 20 But if I cast out demons (P)with the finger of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you. 21 (Q)When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are in peace. 22 But (R)when a stronger than he comes upon him and overcomes him, he takes from him all his armor in which he trusted, and divides his [g]spoils. 23 (S)He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters.
An Unclean Spirit Returns(T)
24 (U)“When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ 25 And when he comes, he finds it swept and put in order. 26 Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and (V)the last state of that man is worse than the first.”
Keeping the Word
27 And it happened, as He spoke these things, that a certain woman from the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, (W)“Blessed is the womb that bore You, and the breasts which nursed You!”
28 But He said, (X)“More than that, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”
Seeking a Sign(Y)
29 (Z)And while the crowds were thickly gathered together, He began to say, “This is an evil generation. It seeks a (AA)sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah [h]the prophet. 30 For as (AB)Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so also the Son of Man will be to this generation. 31 (AC)The queen of the South will rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and indeed a (AD)greater than Solomon is here. 32 The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for (AE)they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a greater than Jonah is here.
The Lamp of the Body(AF)
33 (AG)“No one, when he has lit a lamp, puts it in a secret place or under a (AH)basket, but on a lampstand, that those who come in may see the light. 34 (AI)The lamp of the body is the eye. Therefore, when your eye is [i]good, your whole body also is full of light. But when your eye is [j]bad, your body also is full of darkness. 35 Therefore take heed that the light which is in you is not darkness. 36 If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, the whole body will be full of light, as when the bright shining of a lamp gives you light.”
Woe to the Pharisees and Lawyers
37 And as He spoke, a certain Pharisee asked Him to dine with him. So He went in and sat down to eat. 38 (AJ)When the Pharisee saw it, he marveled that He had not first washed before dinner.
39 (AK)Then the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees make the outside of the cup and dish clean, but (AL)your inward part is full of [k]greed and wickedness. 40 Foolish ones! Did not (AM)He who made the outside make the inside also? 41 (AN)But rather give alms of [l]such things as you have; then indeed all things are clean to you.
42 (AO)“But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and (AP)pass by justice and the (AQ)love of God. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. 43 (AR)Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the [m]best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces. 44 (AS)Woe to you, [n]scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! (AT)For you are like graves which are not seen, and the men who walk over them are not aware of them.”
45 Then one of the lawyers answered and said to Him, “Teacher, by saying these things You reproach us also.”
46 And He said, “Woe to you also, lawyers! (AU)For you load men with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers. 47 (AV)Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets, and your fathers killed them. 48 In fact, you bear witness that you approve the deeds of your fathers; for they indeed killed them, and you build their tombs. 49 Therefore the wisdom of God also said, (AW)‘I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill and persecute,’ 50 that the blood of all the prophets which was shed from the foundation of the world may be required of this generation, 51 (AX)from the blood of Abel to (AY)the blood of Zechariah who perished between the altar and the temple. Yes, I say to you, it shall be required of this generation.
52 (AZ)“Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter in yourselves, and those who were entering in you hindered.”
53 [o]And as He said these things to them, the scribes and the Pharisees began to assail Him vehemently, and to cross-examine Him about many things, 54 lying in wait for Him, [p]and (BA)seeking to catch Him in something He might say, [q]that they might accuse Him.
Footnotes
- Luke 11:2 NU omits Our
- Luke 11:2 NU omits in heaven
- Luke 11:2 NU omits the rest of v. 2.
- Luke 11:4 NU omits But deliver us from the evil one
- Luke 11:11 NU omits bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for
- Luke 11:15 NU, M Beelzebul
- Luke 11:22 plunder
- Luke 11:29 NU omits the prophet
- Luke 11:34 Clear, or healthy
- Luke 11:34 Evil, or unhealthy
- Luke 11:39 Lit. eager grasping or robbery
- Luke 11:41 Or what is inside
- Luke 11:43 Or places of honor
- Luke 11:44 NU omits scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites
- Luke 11:53 NU And when He left there
- Luke 11:54 NU omits and seeking
- Luke 11:54 NU omits that they might accuse Him
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
